cricket30 Review of The Glenn Miller Story

The Glenn Miller Story (1954)

If trumpeter "Joe" hadn't split his lip . . .

[8/10 · 12 January 2014]

. . . on the eve of the band's big debut, The Glenn Miller Orchestra (Version 2.1) would NOT have been a success, according to THE GLENN MILLER STORY. This movie shows how the least little incident in an artist's life--a belated birthday gift, a random phone number--becomes fodder for national hits in the right hands. Apparently Karma plays the lead role in separating the wheat from the chaff. Take Joe's fragile lip, which forces James Stewart (as the title character) to rearrange all his band's songs overnight with his NEXT best instrumentalist--a clarinet player--now in the lead trumpet role. This produces the mellow jazz sound that distinguishes the Miller band forevermore. But Karma is a two-way street, as anyone who has watched Fred Astaire as dancer Vernon Castle or Petulia Clark as Mrs. Chips may recall. Glenn has solemnly pledged to his wife Helen (June Allyson) NEVER to let his band play "her" song, "Little Brown Jug." Sure enough, the minute Glenn feels cocky enough to tempt fate by renouncing this vow, he disappears into the Channel's fog.