| The Glenn Miller Story | |
|---|---|
 Promotional movie poster for the film | |
| Directed by | Anthony Mann |
| Written by | Valentine Davies Oscar Brodney |
| Produced by | Aaron Rosenberg |
| Starring | James Stewart June Allyson Harry Morgan |
| Cinematography | William H. Daniels |
| Edited by | Russell F. Schoengarth |
| Music by | Glenn Miller Joseph Gershenson Henry Mancini |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Universal-International |
Release date |
|
Running time | 116 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $12 million (rentals) |
The Glenn Miller Story is a 1954 American biographical film about the eponymous Americanband-leader, directed byAnthony Mann. It starsJames Stewart asMiller (in his second non-western collaboration with Mann), alongsideJune Allyson. The film was released in February 1954 and was nominated for threeAcademy Awards, winning forBest Sound Recording.
The film followsbig band leaderGlenn Miller (1904–1944) from his early days in the music business in 1929 through to his 1944 death when the airplane he was flying in was lost over theEnglish Channel during World War II. Prominent placement in the film is given to Miller's courtship and marriage to Helen Burger, and various cameos by actual musicians who were colleagues of Miller.
Several turning points in Miller's career are depicted with varying degrees of accuracy, including: the success of an early jazz band arrangement; his departure from theBroadway pit and sideman work to front a band of his own; the failure of his first band on the road; and the subsequent re-forming of his successful big band and the establishment of the "Miller Sound" as typified by "Moonlight Serenade". Also depicted is Miller's international success touring his band in support of theAllies in World War II.
There are severalanachronisms in the picture. When the military band led by Miller is playing in front ofGeneral "Hap" Arnold, aB-29 bomber is in the background. The marching troops aredesegregated, which did not occur until 1948. Scenes ostensibly shot in England are clearly staged in the U.S., as witness the presence ofRCA Type 44 microphones during aBBC broadcast. In reality, the BBC could not afford them and designed and builtits own, cheaper version.
In addition, several key plot points are either highly fictionalized from actual events or were invented for the film:
The following artists all appeared as themselves (listed alphabetically):
Universal-International's first public announcements, early in 1953, employed the soon-discarded title, "Moonlight Serenade."
This is the second of three movies that paired Jimmy Stewart and June Allyson, the others beingThe Stratton Story andStrategic Air Command.
Mann said "The reason I became interested in it was that I wanted to dramatize a sound. And it’s the story of finding a new sound... To tell the story of a man who is hunting something new and finally finds it, and who, during the war years, became one of the great heroes. We tried to make the narrative a little different too. When he proposes to June Allyson, it’s very humorous, because she has curlers in, and so forth. At the end when he’s dead, instead of very sentimental music, we played ‘Little Brown Jug,’ so that it gave it a different feeling from just sentimentality. Of course the film was fraught with sentimentality."[4]
The film opened in New York City on February 10, 1954.[5]
The film was re-released in 1960.[5]
An alternate cut of the film, running 3–4 minutes shorter than the original theatrical release was re-released in 1985 with a stereo soundtrack. The film was originally recorded in stereo but was initially released in mono.[6] It was screened out of competition at the1985 Cannes Film Festival.[7]
The film was originally released on home video in theVHS format in 1986. On March 4, 2003, the film was released onto DVD with ananamorphic display, remastered surround sound, and subtitles. The film can also be found in a James Stewart DVD collection that was released in 2007.
The film was released on Blu-ray in Germany on July 24, 2014.
Shout Factory released the film on Blu-ray in the United States on November 20, 2018.[8] This release includes both the original theatrical version, at 1h 56m, and the 1985 alternate cut, running 1h 52m. A detailed comparison of the differences in the two versions can be found at movie-censorship.com.
The critical reception toThe Glenn Miller Story was generally positive. The film holds an 88% rating onRotten Tomatoes based on 8 reviews.[9]
Upon release in 1954,The Glenn Miller Story was massively successful at the box-office and earnedtheatrical rentals of over $7 million, placing it third for the year behindWhite Christmas andThe Caine Mutiny.[10] It was Universal's highest-grossing film overseas, with rentals of $5 million,[11] for worldwide rentals of $12 million.
Stewart took a percentage of the profits. In 1955,William Goetz estimated that Stewart had earned $2 million from the film.[12]
In 1954, the film was nominated for threeAcademy Awards, including Best Screenplay (byValentine Davies andOscar Brodney) and Best Score (byHenry Mancini and Joseph Gershenson). The film won theAcademy Award forBest Sound Recording, byLeslie I. Carey.[13]
Glenn Miller Orchestra pianist John "Chummy" MacGregor was a technical advisor on the movie. Composer Henry Mancini composed the musical score with Joseph Gershenson, who conducted the Universal-International studio orchestra's recreations of Miller's arrangements on the soundtrack. Miller's band was portrayed byThe Airmen of Note, an ensemble of theUnited States Air Force Band originally created in 1950 to carry on the Glenn Miller tradition.
The soundtrack included many big band pieces originally performed by Glenn Miller's orchestra.
The film contains songs by musicians who also make cameo appearances in the film. These cameos include:Louis Armstrong,Barney Bigard,Cozy Cole,Ray Conniff,Gene Krupa,Frances Langford,Skeets McDonald,The Modernaires,Marty Napoleon,Ben Pollack,Babe Russin,Arvell Shaw, andJames Young.
The original soundtrack to the movie,The Glenn Miller Story---Sound Track, Decca DL 5519 (USA)/BML 8647 (UK), was number one for 10 weeks on theBillboard albums chart in 1954. The 1954 album contained eight selections. The soundtrack was re-released with an expanded track list. The albumGlenn Miller Plays Selections From the Film "The Glenn Miller Story" was number one for 11 weeks on theBillboard albums chart the same year, released as RCA Victor LPT 3057. The original 1954 album contained eight selections. An expanded version of the latter album was certified Gold in 1961 by theRIAA.
A tribute albumI Remember Glenn Miller, Capitol H 476, byRay Anthony was number nine on the same Billboard album chart for that week. The extended play versions of the same albums also reached the same position on theBillboard EP charts for that week.The Modernaires released a 45 single on Coral Records, 9–61110, "A Salute to Glenn Miller," which included medleys in two parts from the movie soundtrack, Parts 1 and 2:(I've Got a Gal In) Kalamazoo/Moonlight Cocktail/Elmer's Tune/Moonlight Serenade/Chattanooga Choo Choo/String of Pearls/Serenade in Blue/At Last/Perfidia, that reached number 29 on the Billboard charts in 1954.
