Till the Clouds Roll By

1946 "The mammoth musical of Jerome Kern's dramatic life story"
6.3| 2h16m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 05 December 1946 Released
Producted By: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
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Light bio-pic of American Broadway pioneer Jerome Kern, featuring renditions of the famous songs from his musical plays by contemporary stage artists, including a condensed production of his most famous: 'Showboat'.

Genre

Music

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Director

Richard Whorf, Vincente Minnelli

Production Companies

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

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Till the Clouds Roll By Audience Reviews

Hellen I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.
Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.
Stephan Hammond It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
earlytalkie This was MGM's slogan throughout most of it's heyday, and it's never more apparent than in this lavish Technicolor film, which was the studio's big Christmas 1946 release. This may have been released somewhat earlier, if not for a strike at Technicolor which held up sufficient release prints for a general release. If some criticize the story for taking liberties with Jerome Kern's less-than-thrilling real life story, this is more than made up for by showcasing MGM's finest talent in a Niagara Falls cascade of terrific musical numbers. The first section of the film is devoted to a capsule digest version of "Show Boat", and that whets the appetite for the many now-classic numbers which follow. This film exemplifies why the MGM musical is held in such high regard. Beautiful orchestrations, top-talent, and an overall lavishness that would have made Ziegfeld himself proud. Back in 1973, this film made headlines with the fact that the MGM lawyers failed to renew the copyright on this picture, so it, along with Royal Wedding and several others, have made it, over the years, to the public-domain VHS and DVD releases. This is one of many classic all-star films which MGM released over the years. While this film is rather long, it goes by quickly due to the constant stream of great musical numbers contained within. If you love "classic" talent, the kind our parents and grandparents grew up with, you will enjoy "Till The Clouds Roll By".
museumofdave During the period of the late 1940's and 50's, Hollywood decide to treat the public to musical biopics, and because of censorship difficulties, demands from living relatives and ethnic considerations, most of them--whether dealing with Larry Hart, George Gershwin, Cole Porter or in this case, Jerome Kern, were whitewashed and innocuous life stories, skirting life episodes that might have given the films some genuine punch.While there are enough well-staged MGM candy-colored musical treats to keep this biopic afloat, this odd and frequently dull postwar musical features a dreadfully miscast (but popular in 1946) Robert Walker as the tunesmith Kern (Walker was also stuck in another film as Johannes Brahms);the fine actor Van Heflin acts as Kern's mentor (a person who never existed in real life) and there is far too much repetitive dialogue between the two men used to pad out the 137 minute running time.Definitely worth watching are Judy Garland (in brilliant joyous numbers staged by her husband at the time, Vincent Minnelli), June Allyson, Lucille Bremer, and other major singing stars in tiny cameos--a word of warning about the film print quality: years ago, someone at MGM forgot to renew the copyright, and this film drifted into public domain; many mediocre copies were produced with bad sound and poor color, usually included in bargain collections or close-out stores for a buck. There is now an official studio copy available, and because the Technicolor is such an important part of the film's impact, it is recommended you avoid the cheapies and get the real thing--and gape in wonder as a very young Frank Sinatra, clad in white tuxedo, standing alone on a giant white mountain of a column, sings "Old Man River." The mind boggles!
dsewizzrd-1 Rated 'G' for gagworthy this tortuously long (over two hours) musical–come–medley–come-extended video clip purportedly follows the life of musical musician Jerome Kern.With only one even half decent song ("Old Man River"), and only one even half decent show ("Sunny"), the rest is dreary wailing of interminable length.The clips from the musicals is interspersed with a dull and reactionary story about Kern's life, marrying an 'English' woman with an American accent as thick as ketchup.The not very attractive daughter of an associate learns her place after being turned down for a part in the show. It ends with a medley and finally with Frank Sinatra singing his (bad) version of "Old Man River".
j-lacerra Till the Clouds Roll By is a collection of Jerome Kern tunes strung together by a plot that is supposed to be Kern's bio. We get no struggle or conflict from the bio; apparently Kern was immediately successful. Robert Walker, an actor of high potential, is miscast as Kern and asea in this role. But, IMHO, the real letdown in this picture is the lackluster music. Either the performances are second-rate or I just don't like Kern's stuff. I never have liked Show Boat (except for 'Old Man River'), and this did nothing to change that opinion.Van Heflin seems as out of place as Walker, here in a role as Kern's fictional buddy Hessler. And many of the dance numbers seem as if the dancers were just plodding through. Not the usual high MGM musical standard.Revelations: Angela Lansbury can actually sing and dance! Dinah Shore had an incredible slim-waisted shape! Jerome Kern was an incredibly boring individual! A last resort watch (I got mine from the $1 rack).