Till the Clouds Roll By is a 1946 American Technicolor musical film made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It is a story about composer Jerome Kern, played by Robert Walker. Kern helped with the film, but he died before it was finished. This movie was the first in a series of MGM films about Broadway composers. The film became available to the public because MGM did not renew its copyright.

Plot

In 1927, Kern attends the opening night of Show Boat, an important musical that helped him become popular. After hearing some of the show's famous songs, Kern takes time to think back about his early life as a young songwriter.

Kern recalls meeting Jim Hessler, a musical teacher, and Hessler's daughter Sally. Kern and the Hesslers become close friends, and later, Kern visits them in London. Taking Sally to a fair inspires Kern to create a stage production for one of his songs. At the London Gaieties revue, Kern's song catches the attention of theatrical producer Charles Frohman.

When Kern meets Eva Leale, he feels an immediate connection, but their relationship ends quickly. He must leave for New York to adapt The Girl from Utah for its Broadway debut. After the show's success, Kern narrowly misses returning to London on the ill-fated ship RMS Lusitania.

In 1917, the opening night of Oh, Boy! includes the musical number "Till the Clouds Roll By." Kern proposes to Eva and returns to New York to continue his successful career, including works like Leave It to Jane. His 1920 musical Sally, starring Marilyn Miller, popularized the song "Look for the Silver Lining."

As an adult, Sally Hessler asks her uncle Jerry to help her get a role on stage. He writes the song "Who?" for her to perform in the 1925 musical Sunny. However, the show's producers give the song to star Marilyn Miller, and Sally leaves in protest. At the opening of Sunny, Kern learns that Sally has run away, leaving her father very sad.

Efforts to find Sally fail, and Jim Hessler dies, leaving Kern deeply upset and unable to work. Oscar Hammerstein visits Kern and shares a copy of the 1926 novel Show Boat. That same night, Kern learns that Sally will be performing at a club in Memphis, Tennessee. He goes to find her, and they reconcile. He then spends the night listening to the sounds of the Mississippi River.

After recounting his life story, Kern believes his career may have ended with Show Boat. However, he continues to write successful shows, including The Cat and the Fiddle (1931) and Roberta (1933). While visiting a sound stage at MGM, Kern is happy to learn that the studio has cast Sally to perform in a new film featuring his songs.

The film ends with highlights of Kern's Hollywood career, including songs from Swing Time (1936), Cover Girl (1944), and Broadway Rhythm (1944); the montage concludes with songs from Sweet Adeline and Show Boat.

Cast

• Robert Walker as Jerome Kern
• June Allyson as herself and as Jane in Leave It to Jane
• Lucille Bremer as Sally Hessler (fictional character)
• Judy Garland as Marilyn Miller
• Kathryn Grayson as Magnolia Hawks in Show Boat and as herself
• Van Heflin as James I. Hessler, Kern’s (fictional) mentor
• Lena Horne as Julie LaVerne in Show Boat and as herself
• Dorothy Patrick as Eva Kern, born as Leale
• Van Johnson as the bandleader in Elite Club
• Tony Martin as Gaylord Ravenal in Show Boat and as himself
• Dinah Shore as Julia Sanderson
• Frank Sinatra as himself
• Gower Champion as a specialty dancer in Roberta
• Cyd Charisse as a specialty dancer in Roberta
• Angela Lansbury as a London specialty performer
• Ray McDonald as a dance specialty performer in Oh, Boy! and Leave It to Jane
• Virginia O'Brien as Ellie Mae in Show Boat and as herself
• Mary Nash as Mrs. Muller
• Joan Wells as Young Sally Hessler
• Harry Hayden as Charles Frohman
• Paul Langton as Oscar Hammerstein II
• Paul Maxey as Victor Herbert

• Esther Williams appeared briefly in the film.
• Sally Forrest and Mary Hatcher appeared as "chorus girls" in the film.
• Kathryn Grayson played the role of Magnolia Hawks again in the 1951 movie version of Show Boat made by MGM.

• Bruce Cowling
• Dorothy Patrick
• Dinah Shore
• Judy Garland
• Lena Horne
• Frank Sinatra
• Angela Lansbury

Production

The working title for the film was "As the Clouds Roll By." Gene Kelly was planned to play Kern, with Gloria DeHaven, Jacqueline White, Imogen Carpenter, and Jeanette MacDonald in important roles. None of these actors appeared in the film.

When production began in the fall of 1945, Judy Garland was cast as Broadway singer-dancer Marilyn Miller. She had recently returned to California after a long honeymoon in New York with her new husband, director Vincente Minnelli. Later that year, Kern returned to New York but died in November 1945.

It took six months to film the movie, and producer Arthur Freed had to hire many different directors. Lemuel Ayers, a set designer, was supposed to direct the film but was replaced by Busby Berkeley in late August 1945. At the same time, Minnelli, who was said to possibly take over as director, began filming Garland’s scenes before principal photography started because she was pregnant and expected to give birth in March 1946. Garland’s filming ended on November 8, 1945. When full filming began in mid-December, Berkeley was replaced by Henry Koster, who was later replaced by Richard Whorf. Whorf received the onscreen credit for directing. Production paused from sometime in January 1946 until mid-March of the same year.

The film includes two versions of "Ol' Man River": the first performed by Caleb Peterson and an African-American chorus as part of the Show Boat medley, and the second, a "crooner version" by Frank Sinatra, which appears as the final scene.

Barbette provided guidance for creating the film’s circus sequence.

Surviving Judy Garland outtake

A video of a musical scene that was removed from the film still exists, but some parts of the soundtrack are missing. In this scene, Judy Garland plays the character Marilyn Miller and sings the song "D'Ya Love Me?" to two clowns in a circus setting, which is based on the Broadway musical Sunny. The clowns are performed by Swedish actors Jean and Rene Arnaut, who are known as the Arnaut Brothers. They are not listed in the film's credits but appear in the edited version of the movie during the walk-around scene at the beginning of the Sunny circus.

Soundtrack album

The film was among the first movies to have a music album released at the same time as its theater premiere. The album was created by MGM Records and originally sold as four 78-rpm records. These records included songs from the film performed by different artists and featured cover art designed by Lennie Hayton. The album was also released on LP format. To date, no official CD version has been approved for sale, though some unofficial copies have been sold. Rhino Entertainment now has the rights to produce an official CD version under a license from Turner Entertainment. Previously, MCA Records and Sony Music Entertainment held these rights.

Reception

Bosley Crowther, who wrote about the film in The New York Times, stated:

Variety magazine had a different opinion, beginning its review with "Why argue about the story?" and compared the film to another similar movie, Night and Day starring Cary Grant. In a later review, American film critic Pauline Kael wrote, "This big movie, created by M-G-M, was intended to be the life of Jerome Kern."

On the review website Rotten Tomatoes, all 6 critics gave positive reviews, with an average score of 6.3 out of 10.

The film made $4,748,000 in the United States and Canada, and $1,976,000 in other countries. However, because the film cost a lot to make, it earned a profit of $732,000.

The film is recognized by the American Film Institute in these lists:

• 2006: AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals – Nominated

Home media

The film is one of several MGM musicals, such as Royal Wedding, that became available to the public 28 years after they were made because the studio did not renew its copyright. Because of this, it is one of the most commonly found MGM musicals on home video. Warner Home Video released its first completely restored DVD version on April 25, 2006.

Related films

Till the Clouds Roll By was the first movie in a series of MGM films about Broadway composers. It was followed by Words and Music about Rodgers and Hart in 1948, Three Little Words about Kalmar and Ruby in 1950, and Deep in My Heart about Sigmund Romberg in 1954.