Product Description

A new bride faces the strain of life on the road in this musical romance that features the Glenn Miller Orchestra. Miller is featured as band leader Gene Morrison, who embarks on a whirlwind national tour with his orchestra. While on the tour, trumpeter Bill Abbott (George Montgomery) impulsively marries one of his many ardent fans, a naïve young women named Connie (Ann Rutherford). At first Connie is more than willing to put up with such problems as not spending time with her new husband and the malicious gossip of other wives. But when she comes to believe that Bill is still involved with an old flame, the ensuing quarrel threatens to end both the new marriage and the entire band.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28069 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-11-01
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dubbed, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Dubbed in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 98 minutes

Amazon.com
"It's Hep! It's Hot! It's Hilarious!" reads the tagline for Orchestra Wives, a frothy slice of celluloid made in 1942 and featuring the great Glenn Miller Band. And that tagline is, well, sort of true. As is often the case with films of this genre (musical comedy with the occasional touch of drama), the story is largely superfluous: a naïve, smalltown girl (Ann Rutherford) falls for a fast-talking, smooth-playing trumpeter (George Montgomery); he proposes after spending, oh, about fifteen minutes with her (and before he even knows her name); she joins the band on tour, where the female members of the troupe, wives and singers alike, while away the downtime gossiping and rumor-mongering; trouble ensues, but all ends happily (and predictably). The main attraction here is seeing Miller (going by the nom du cinema Gene Morrison), then at the height of his popularity, and some of his fine musicians in action. Though not an innovator on the level of Benny Goodman and some of his other peers, Miller had a band that could swing like mad, and performances of tunes like "At Last," "Kalamazoo," and the rockin' "Bugle Call Rag" are a definite gas. The musicians are virtually all uncredited, but they include singer Marion Hutton, saxophonist-singer Tex Beneke, singer Ray Eberle, and the great drummer Moe Purtill (also look for Jackie Gleason, the Great One himself, in a substantial role as the band's bass player), as well as the Nicholas Brothers, an amazing dance team. The black & white transfer is nice, the music has been remastered in stereo, and the fact that Miller disappeared during a plane flight over the English Channel in late 1944 makes Orchestra Wives (which includes a commentary track by Rutherford and Fayard Nicholas, along with a photo gallery) something of a collector's item. --Sam Graham

Customer Reviews

"Orchestra Wives" on DVD... At Last!
Glenn Miller made two films for 20th Century Fox during the early 1940s the first film was "Sun Valley Serenade," released in 1941, the second was "Orchestra Wives," released in 1942. Personally, I find "Orchestra Wives" the better of the two and am happy to know Fox will be releasing a DVD of this entertaining film.

When Glenn Miller signed on to have himself and his band appear in two films for Fox he insisted that the band play an integral part in the story. Up until this point bands had made brief appearances in feature films, usually in nightclub or dance hall scenes, but had never been fully worked into the storyline. "Orchestra Wives" fully integrates the Glenn Miller Band into the storyline with great success.

The story centers on the arrival of the Miller band into a small Midwest town. Ann Rutherford plays a naive, young woman obsessed with the orchestra's trumpet player played by George Montgomery. By chance Rutherford meets Montgomery and they fall instantly in love (that's how it happened in these old movies folks) and before too long they marry, thus throwing her among the pack of backbiting, backstabbing orchestra wives of the title. Lynn Bari plays a scheming vixen, also the band's principal girl singer, who already had designs on Montgomery. Bari plots to breakup the newlyweds in order to get her catty claws into Montgomery herself. So that's the basic plot. Although the story is kind of corny it's simply a vehicle for some great musical numbers by the Miller orchestra.

The songs in the film, mostly written by Fox's songwriting team of Harry Warren and Mack Gordon, became hits for Miller and most have gone on to become American standards. "At Last" tops that list for me and the subtle musical number featuring a duet with singer Ray Eberle and Lynn Bari (who's voice was ghosted by singer Pat Friday) is one of the highlights of the film. The film also includes the songs "Serenade in Blue" and "I've Got A Girl in Kalamazoo." The later song being the film's climactic showstopping number featuring a vocal by band members Tex Beneke, Marion Hutton, The Modernaires and the singing and dancing talents of The Nicholas Brothers.

The cast is comprised of some big talents. Along with the above mentioned Ann Rutherford, George Montgomery and Lynn Bari, Fox saw fit to round out the cast with Cesar Romero, Carole Landis and a very young, pre-Ralph Kramden, Jackie Gleason. Character actor Harry Morgan, who went on to costar in "Dragnet" and "M*A*S*H" on the small screen, also has a small part as a sodajerk friend of Miss Rutherford's.

Because of the enormous success of both "Sun Valley Serenade" and "Orchestra Wives," Fox picked up an option to make two more films with Miller and his band. The next film had the working title of "Blind Date" but, alas, it was never made. Miller became a captain in the U.S. Army and disappeared during a flight to Paris on December 15, 1944. Although Glenn Miller's life was cut short prematurely the film "Orchestra Wives" lives on to give generations of Americans a chance to enjoy his great music and to relive the long-gone days of the Big Bands.

Musical Knockout!
This amazing musical from the early forties has more songs that became classics still heard today than "Meet Me in St. Louis." Glenn Miller and his merry troupe of musicians are the real stars. The story is forgettable but the music is what you really want. "People Like You and Me", "At Last," "Serenade in Blue" and the rousing "I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo." Lynn Bari has a strange role: she's bitchy and cold but when she lip-synchs to her numbers, you love her. The knockout performer, who never even got a movie credit, was blonde, dynamic Marion Hutton, the sister of once great musical star, Betty Hutton. Marion captures your attention in her terrific rendition, along with the Modernaires, "I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo." She looks fantastic in her black, sequined gown and matching hair piece. That's Dorothy Dandridge dancing with the Nicholas Brothers in their extended sequence of "I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo." Marion made several movies during the forties, all musicals. If fate had been more favorable, she was the Hutton sister who should have achieved big-time stardom.

What a wonderful classic!
I LOVE this movie - makes me wish I had been born about 20 years earlier - when sexy women were still called "dames," and the styles of hair and dress were classy all the way. The music is the best of the best - this stuff really influenced the jazz of today - Ray Eberle's smooth vocals, the vocal jazz quartet - and lets not forget Tex Benneke (he's that hip cat playing the tenor sax and doing those cool vocals - God, my kingdom for a zoot suit!). The humor is priceless, and Glenn Miller actually could act. The final number, "Kalamazoo", makes ya wanna get out of your chair and find someone to jitterbug with. Get this movie and get out your saddle shoes :)