ORCHESTRA WIVES

US, 1942, 97 minutes, Black and white.
Ann Rutherford, George Montgomery, Lynn Bari, Glenn Miller and his orchestra, Carole Landis, Jackie Gleason.
Directed by Archie Mayo.

Orchestra Wives is an enjoyable musical, a vehicle for Glenn Miller and his band with such favourites as 'At Last', 'Serenade in Blue', 'I've Got A Girl in Kalamazoo' and echoes of the more popular music such as "Moonlight Serenade'. It is also the story of a band on tour, the pressures on the wives - and their cattiness towards one another. This latter is reminiscent of Claire Booth Luce's play The Women (so popular on film two years earlier). George Montgomery and Cesar Romero were regulars in Fox Musicals at this time. Ann Rutherford has a good role as the heroine who is naive but is made to become more sophisticated. The ladies are led by Carole Landis and Lynn Bari. Jackie Gleason can be seen as a member of the band. Direction is by Archie Mayo, a director of a great range of entertainment features in the '30s and '40s.

1. Entertaining musical? The big bands of the '40s? Human comedy and drama?

2. Black and white photography, the American cities, the country towns, big bands on tour?

3. Glenn Miller and his presence, style, his big band and its sound? His popular music? its impact in the '30s and '40s?

4. The title and its focus on the big band, the wives on tour? The echoes of plays like The Women?

5. The focus on the band, its success, the necessity for going on tour, the hazards of the tour, train trips, pressures, separations, clashes? Bands breaking up and coming together?

6. Bill and his skill as a trumpeter, his place in the band, friendship with St. John? His way with the women? Attracted towards Connie, her coming back, his looking for her, the quick marriage? on tour? Janie and her jealousy? The set-up in Des Moines? Connie's disappointment, his assertiveness? Leaving the band? St. John and his getting the bad together? Bill discovering the truth about Connie, his clash with her father, happily dancing at the end? Conventional hero? Connie as the small-town girl, the soda jerk taking her to the
concert, her infatuation, going again, her promise to her father, delayed and not being able to get into the concert, the wedding, on tour, her relationship with the wives, the borrowing of the nightie, their cattiness, setting her up? her returning home, her organising the band's reunion, the happy ending? The sketch of her understanding doctor father?

7. Gene Harrison (Glenn Miller) and his leadership of the band, skills, needs to go on the road, the break-up, the reconciliation?

8. St. John and his being the genial buddy, his wife and the alimony? His getting the band together again? The other men and their performance, their wives, friendship on the tours, the break-up, coming together again?

9. The wives and their jealousies, cattiness? Janie as the singer in the band, her niceness to Connie, the phone call from the wives, her setting Bill up? Natalie and her tongue? Elsie and the others? The contrast with Ben and his wife and their domestic happiness?

10. The comedy and the one-liners? The music? The tensions between men and women? A piece of '40s Americana (with the wartime propaganda touch)?