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Author
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Topic: Till The Clouds Roll By 1946 M.G.M
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted August 04, 2018 11:28 AM
Here’s an often overlooked musical but one that I thoroughly enjoy and i bet some of you do to …
TILL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY
This came out in 1946 and while it’s not in the average “vein" for a musical, it has some wonderful differences to the average musical and I’ll explain why.
This is a biography of one Film-doms great musical composers, Jerome Kerns. The story takes place from his early adulthood and finding the partner that would rocket him to stardom, (played by the always reliable Van Heflin, Jerome being played by Robert Walker, who you might know more-so by his great Alfred Hitchcock film, “Strangers on a Train” as the more than slightly pcychotic killer), and beyond, through his ups and downs, through finding his lifelong wife and maneuvering through this or that hard spot in composing.
To be honest, this is a “Hollywood” biography, so it plays fast and loose with the facts, but that is to be expected, quite frankly, with any Hollywood bio pic. The story, by the way, is told in “flashback” starting near the end of his career and looking back.
The great pleasure to this musical is the star studded cast of Hollywood and otherwise, musical talents. Often, with musicals, you will have two or three of the big names, Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra ect, and a few really memorable songs.
In this musical, you get 21, yes 21 musical numbers and 21 separate musical performers of the songs! You get the likes of Judy Garland, June Allyson, Kathrine Grayson, Tony Martin, Virginia O Brien and Dinah Shore, (some that you may not know today but trust me, they were great) ...
... but you also get a number of future movie stars right at the beginning of they’re careers! You get a very skinny, young Frank Sinatra, (remember those cartoons where Frank Sinatra was so thin that he’s disappear behind a microphone stand? You can see why in this film!), just starting out, as well as a VERY young Angela Landsbury, (who most people know today through her TV show, “Murder She Wrote”), looking young and lovely and a very young and truly gorgeous Lena Horne who belts out a great memorable tune.
Beyond even that, you get, for the first time on film, a “digest” version of Jerome Kerns classic “Showboat” musical, which takes up the very first 15 minutes of the film, which is about 5 or so years before the full length “Showboat” feature film would be made!
Sadly, in most cases, this is a film that, while it made it onto super 8, was largely printed in quick fade Eastman and the surviving prints today are a pinked out mess.
Well, luckily for us, someone actually printed this in Low Fade L.P.P. film stock! (I don't know who released this on low fade. it could be Red Fox or it might be a reprint by either Derann or some other company. If someone is "in the know" about this, please ad you're info to this series of posts).
For those who have only seen faded out messes, you really should seek out an L.P.P. print of this, as you have really missed out. I’ll have some screenshots from this print on this review, just to show you just how good it actually looked.
Though this is an L.P.P. print, (and appears to have been largely taken from a Technicolor or I.B. Tech source material/negative), there are some sections of the print that have a slightly muted color scheme, leaning more towards the greenish spectrum. The print, however, shines in the most important sections of the film. That is, the musical portions, especially the 15 minute “Showboat” section as well as the outdoor scenes. In fact, the few places where it is less than desired is in the indoor scenes, but I have found that quite often, in a number of technicolor films, indoor scenes can be less than desired, even in restored technicolor films.
The source material does have some wear and scratching, but not enough to take away from the enjoyment of the film and it is a good sharp print, not “Derann” sharp, but I’d say slightly better than average.
But hey! I’m certainly not going to “quibble” over that! The audio track (mono, of course) has very good sound and it is well worth the seeking out. So, save you’re pennies and don’t settle for a Eastman quick fade print, seek out this on L.P.P. film stock! Seeing this on the big screen is well worth the time and effort of the search!
… and, as always
LONG LIVE SUPER 8!!!!
[ August 04, 2018, 06:14 PM: Message edited by: Douglas Meltzer ]
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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted August 06, 2018 11:27 AM
Thanks Burton and Robert!
I was comparing this film to the restored print that has been cireculating on bluray, and the colors, (at least for a lot of the film) on spot on to the original.
I'm not sure if it gives away the origin of the original negative used, but I noticed, when looking at the individual frames with a lense, that at the very top edge of the frame, there is a very thin blue line, instead of the standard black seperating each frame.
For those who know, what does that mean?
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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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