TILL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY (MGM, 1946) Warner Home Video

The pantheon of MGM’s most celebrated anthology musicals begins with director, Richard Whorf’s Till the Clouds Roll By (1946); a mighty colossus, anticipated in the winter of 1940 by producer, Arthur Freed to be an homage to the works of composer, Jerome Kern. For perhaps only the second or third time in Metro’s history, L.B. Mayer authorized his minions to throw open the gates of its vast storehouse, presenting virtually any and all stars and production facilities at Freed’s disposal. Indeed, the project ought never have materialized, as Freed had initially engaged Kern in talks to produce a movie version of ‘Very Warm for May’ – Kern’s latest Broadway smash. However, Freed was soon to discover the book’s plot was too contrived to be successfully translated to the screen. And thus, not wanting to offend Kern, Freed proposed his musical bio-pic on the composer instead. Till the Clouds Roll By predates the cycle of movies based on the lives of famous songwriters that would continue to steadily permeate the market from the mid-forties onward. And while Freed did not immediately concern himself with the fact that Kern’s life was rather straight-forward, and without much in the way of drama to sustain a movie, his back-catalog of songs stretched all the way back to the turn of the century and over 100 shows. Under the working title, Silver Lining: A Cavalcade of Kern Songs, Freed set the arduous task of song selection for his pending project to musical arranger Roger Edens, while he – Freed – became inveigled in clearing the international copyrights to Kern’s cavernous catalog from publishers, London and Broadway theatrical producers, motion-picture companies and individual lyricists.  Edens eventually paired down this mountainous material into a selection of 100 hit songs, from which the resultant movie would showcase a staggering 27. It took 2 years of legal haranguing, but at the end of it, Freed was granted unprecedented access to one of the richest song catalogs in the world.

The logical choice to write Kern’s cinematic memoir was Guy Bolton, a close collaborator of Kern’s over the last 30 years. With few exceptions, Kern’s life story was fairly uneventful. Born to privilege, he basically graduated from school and then went off, without much strife, to write one hit show after another. To add dramatic tension to the story, Bolton reminded Kern of his missed opportunity to sail with imminent Broadway showman, Charles Frohman with whom Kern might have signed a lucrative deal, except that Frohman, along with many more, died when the Lusitania was torpedoed at the start of WWI. Bolton also added sparkle to the true story of Kern’s ‘cute meet’ with his wife, Eva. This, in fact happened pretty much as it does in the film; Kern, overhearing a young girl practicing her scales, politely inquiring whether he might borrow the piano for a moment’s inspiration on a new song he had in his head. At some point during this preliminary period, Freed telephoned Kern to inquire what he thought about Robert Walker to play him in the movie. Turning to his wife, Kern concurred, telling Freed, “She said, ‘You stay there and send Bob Walker to me!’” The project, re-titled Till the Clouds Roll By for sentimental reasons (Freed remembered the song from Kern’s 1917 masterpiece, ‘Oh Boy!’, the same year the two maestros in their respective mediums had first met), Freed set about casting the rest of the picture from an enviable roster of Metro’s biggest and brightest stars.

For the fictional Kern’s love interest, Freed hand-picked Dorothy Patrick, a Canadian-born beauty under contract who, unfortunately never made much of a splash in pictures thereafter. Freed was also grooming another contract player, Lucille Bremer for better things; cast, her as Kern’s spoiled niece, Sally Hessler, the daughter of his best friend and promoter, James (Van Heflin). For the musical program, Freed came up with an embarrassment of riches - Metro’s biggest and brightest money makers of this, or any other year; Kathryn Grayson, Tony Martin, Lena Horne, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Dinah Shore, June Allyson, Angela Lansbury, and, a very young Gower Champion, making his MGM debut. The book would be directed by Busby Berkeley, and the musical numbers – with the exception of Garland’s – by Robert Alton. Indeed, Vincente Minnelli, who had recently wed Garland, took over the duties of staging Garland’s routines.  Regrettably, by the time Till the Clouds Roll By went into production, Garland was pregnant with Liza, an announcement that necessitated pushing her two splashy numbers ahead of schedule before the baby began to show. While ‘Look for the Silver Lining’ was a relatively easy number to stage – the girth of Garland’s pregnancy concealed behind a washboard sink, the actress surrounded by dirty dishes, pots and pans, the most lavishly appointed number in the movie – save its finale – was a Garland tour de force - ‘Sunny/Who?’  Begun as a circus routine, complete with live elephants and horses, neither of which Garland was particularly fond of, and thus, for whom most of the stunt work (riding atop a pony) was performed by a double, the latter half of this gargantuan production number called for Garland, as Broadway superstar, Marilyn Miller, to descend an ornate staircase, accompanied by tuxedo-clad gentlemen, before performing a spirited gavotte.

Additionally, Garland was to have sung ‘D’ Ye Love Me’ as an interlude to two circus clowns. And although this was photographed, it did not survive the final cut. In the meantime, Freed busied himself on a lavish recreation of Kern’s immortal Show Boat – the prologue, to include no less than 6 songs from that masterpiece.  From here, the screenplay ironed out by Myles Connolly and Jean Holloway regressed into an extended flashback, illustrating the supposed hardships Kern had endured on his way to fame and fortune.  Although the young Kern (Robert Walker) could find no one to take his talent seriously, he found a sincere friend in composer/arranger, James Hessler, raising his young daughter, Sally (Joan Wells) and presumably, with no time to take on another songwriting protégée. For the Gaieties, Kern would write the ditty, ‘How’d You Like To Spoon With Me’ – inspired by the kiddie swings at the fair, and later, staged with Angela Lansbury and brightly-clad buskers, also riding swings, tossing roses into the audience. The number intrigues producer, Charles Frohman (Harry Hayden); just not enough for him to delay his trip to Europe to buy up another show. Frohman’s death on the Lusitania puts a period to Kern’s early aspirations. However, while in England he meets and falls in love with Eva (Dorothy Patrick). Encountering no objections, the couple marry.  Time passes. Hessler’s daughter, Sally (now played by Lucille Bremer) grows up and aspires to be a great Broadway star. Although talented, she is more self-centered than accomplished, and, is deeply wounded when Kern acquiesces to his producers’ demands to give the song, he has expressly written for her to the show’s star, Marilyn Miller (Judy Garland) instead.

Sulking and spoiled, Kern calls out Sally for her inability to consider ‘the good of the show’ over personal gain. In the meantime, Hessler falls ill and quietly dies, knowing Kern has always been his very best friend. Now, Kern makes every attempt to find Sally and give her another part in another show. Alas, the girl is nowhere to be found, but turns up in a fashionable New York nightclub, performing a spirited version of ‘I Won’t Dance’ with a playful Van Johnson. Meeting Sally backstage, and offering her his assistance, Sally politely turns Kern down, reminding him of the words he once accused her of ‘using other people’. “I’m not using anybody anymore,” Sally insists. With little opportunity to change her mind, the movie advances into its opus magnum. Kern is invited to Hollywood to partake of a musical extravaganza of his greatest moments immortalized on film.  Arriving at MGM, he and Eva are treated to front row seats while the movie’s director (William Forrest) prepares for the first camera set-up. Miraculously, when the number begins, Kern is delighted to discover Sally Hessler as one of its featured players, introducing a medley of Kern standards with ‘The Land Where The Good Songs Go’.  From here, the camera gradually ascends a tiered platform of pylons draped in translucent cloth; atop each, an MGM star, introducing another Kern standard. The MGM chorus abridges these performances with a chorus of ‘Yesterdays’. Tony Martin blissfully warbles the romantic ballad, ‘All the Things You Are’, Kathryn Grayson – ‘Long Ago and Far Away’, Lena Horne – ‘Why Was I Born?’, and, Virginia O’Brien – A Fine Romance. This sublime and escapist moment is capped off by a very young Frank Sinatra, re-interpreting Kern’s ‘Ole Man River’; the camera, pulling back to reveal the entire edifice, appearing to float on a white fluffy cloud in the midst of a pink sky.

The finale as it exists today, was not as it was originally conceived.  Regrettably, just as principle photography was about to get underway on the picture, Kern suffered a massive stroke while on a casual trip to his antique dealer, dying 11 days later in hospital on Nov. 11, 1945. The moment Freed received word of Kern’s untimely passing, all production on Till The Clouds Roll By was shuttered. Indeed, the movie ought to have been book-ended by a lavishly appointed birthday party in Kern’s honor, given by his friends as they listen to a radio broadcast of his greatest hits. While some of the production numbers, including ‘Leave It To Jane’ and ‘Spoon With Me’ were already in the can, Freed spent an additional $167,000 on rewrites to the pro and epilogue.  Eschewing the urge to acknowledge Kern’s death in more concrete terms, Till The Clouds Roll By would instead finish on the penultimate triumph of Kern’s lengthy career – his Hollywood debut for the fictional movie within this movie, supposedly meant to launch him on celluloid. Lost in the shuffle were several songs Roger Edens sincerely hoped to include: The Touch of Your Hand, I Dream Too Much, and You Are Love – although Edens would diligently work to have virtually all of these heard as background orchestral support during some of the dramatic scenes. For Hessler’s deathbed sequence, Eden’s plucked Kern’s nearly forgotten melody, ‘Go Little Boat’ – a sweetly fragile melody that epitomized the epic loss for the fictional Kern.

At $2,841,608, Till The Clouds Roll By was a costly super-musical that easily went on to gross in excess of $6,724,000 when it was released on Jan. 3, 1947. As an interesting footnote, MGM’s newly acquired subsidiary, M-G-M Records marked the occasion with a soundtrack album.  As many of the numbers in the movie were presented in truncated form, the audio could not simply be translated verbatim to disc, but instead required special editing and newly bridged orchestrations to make it commercially marketable. Nevertheless, Till The Clouds Roll By became the very first ‘movie soundtrack’ to be released to the public. The picture was so wildly popular with audiences, Freed was approached by the Hollywood Bowl Association to stage a memorial concert for Kern, divided into three sections and featuring virtually all of the movie’s players, with the exception of Lena Horne who refused to show up, in live performances of the songs they had made famous on celluloid, with Robert Walker serving as the concert’s Master of Ceremonies and narrator. As a matter of record, Horne’s last-minute withdrawal necessitated some fast substitution in the musical program, Judy Garland, reportedly to have stepped up to the task with only a single dry run with Edens in the back before the concert began.

Till the Clouds Roll By was MGM's first all-star musical biography and likely, its best. The picture’s immediate and overwhelming success ensured it would not be the last of its kind. Moreover, it began a trend for bio-pics based on popular composers of the day that is still very much with us today. Sharing the photographic duties, cinematographers, George J. Folsey and Harry Stradling Sr. painted a rich and glowing homage to Kern in blazing Technicolor. The picture’s other great virtue is its production design, co-credited to Daniel B. Cathcart and Metro’s éminence grise, Cedric Gibbons, whose peerless career – said to have influenced architectural design of the great movie palaces – dated all the way back to 1924: the year MGM began its operations. Having put the studio’s finest musical arrangers behind the podium, including Robert Alton, Lennie Hayton, Conrad Salinger and Kay Thompson, Till The Clouds Roll By could not but help but come together as a spellbinding spectacular. Today, it remains one of the finest anthology musical movies ever created, and justly deserves to be seen as the high-water mark in MGM’s forties’ film fantasy froth.

After having to contend with numerous badly done public domain copies on DVD, Warner Home Video’s restored and remastered DVD of Till The Clouds Roll By, released back in 2004, was much appreciated.  But where, oh where, is the Blu-ray? For now, we must content ourselves with this standard-def release – good, but could be much better in 1080p. On DVD, colors are mostly bold, vibrant and fully-saturated. Exteriors continue to suffer by comparison to the numbers shot on a sound stage where controlled lighting conditions, and banks of overhead arc lamps, helped to expose the full aperture of vintage 3-strip Technicolor to its very best effect. Reds are blood red, and greens, blues and yellows pop like dynamite. Flesh tones toggle between pink and a slightly orange caste. But on the whole, Warner Home Video has done wonders with this release. Extras include a very brief featurette and some musical outtakes. Still, Till The Clouds Roll By is a cultural touchstone, deserving of a more high-profile hi-def release. Were that Warner would consider farming this one out to Criterion for a lavishly appointed set or, at least restore and remaster it for their own Warner Archive. We will hope for better things ahead.  For now, this DVD comes very highly recommended. If you want to witness what a studio like MGM was capable of in those gala days of studio-bound gigantism, Till The Clouds Roll By remains a titanic effort, blindingly all-star and magnificently achieved. Very highly recommended!

FILM RATING (out of 5 – 5 being the best)

4.5

VIDEO/AUDIO

4

EXTRAS

1