Till the Clouds Roll By

It was surprising to me that when Lin-Manuel Miranda and his team decided to release Hamilton on Disney+ earlier this month, it was not a musical adaptation as is typically the case in Hollywood, but instead a filmed version of the staged show in 2016. This seems like a risky way to adapt the famous musical, but it worked. Marian Watts noted in Newsweek that the approach Hamilton took to adapt the musical for the screen was successful, whereas the 2004 film The Phantom of the Opera was not, comparing the latter to an overstuffed painting. 

Till the Clouds Roll By, the 1946 MGM musical based on the life of Broadyway composer Jerome Kern, tries to take the Hamilton route, but it is much more of a Phantom. It's not a musical adaptation of anything, but its musical numbers are all staged productions of some of his most famous hits, like "How'd You Like to Spoon With Me" and "Ol' Man River," and neither the numbers nor the scenes of dialogue are particularly interesting.

Indeed, at first it seems that that's all it will be: some kind of collection of uninspiring numbers, one after the other failing to excite. anyone other than music history lovers. Some of these songs are immortal, but none of them are compelling to watch in this film, directed by Richard Whorf and produced by Arthur Freed (who once exposed himself to a twelve-year-old Shirley Temple). The musical numbers are boring, even the ones featuring Judy Garland, Angela Lansbury, Lena Horne, and Frank Sinatra. All the star power couldn't help this film stay afloat. 

Many critics at the time. Bosley Crowther at the New York Times questioned why such a film should be made. "Why quibble about the story?" is how Variety put it. That's a very good question. While relatively more recent biographical films of famous musicians, like Ray or Walk the Line, may share a similar sense of being unnecessary, at least there are stakes in those films. Those musicians' stories featured real rises and falls. No such drama exists in Till the Clouds Roll By, an overly sentimental yawn that goes on and on for 132 minutes in an era in which the average full-length motion picture was between 90 and 100 minutes. With all due respect to Kern, in terms of an engaging story, he was no Ray Charles or Johnny Cash.  

Kern is played by Robert Walker. Trying to climb the musical ladder in an era when England ruled Broadway, he travels across the Atlantic, where he meets lots of English people who speak with American accents, like a lady he falls for named Eva (played by Dorthy Patrick). Walker and Patrick may have at least some chemistry, but it's the bare minimum. After some time in the middle of the film in which he respectfully woos her (except for when he tells her she's "pretty for a working girl"), the two flirt and banter and eventually marry. 

Then she more or less disappears from the film, ceding again to focus on the real relationship of the film: the songwriting partnership between Kern and James Hessler (Van Heflin), a fictional character, but their relationship isn't much more interesting. We see these two grow "a little grayer," but we're never given a reason to care. The film tries to add some element of drama by having Salling, Hessler's daughter, grow up to become a singer. Kern writes a song for her, but the producer of the show thinks the song should be sung by real-life actress Marilyn Miller (Garland). Sally, played by Lucille Bremer, is heartbroken, jealous, and disillusioned, and she's treated paternalistically by "Uncle Jerry," so much so that she runs off. A few minutes are devoted to Kern's search for her, mostly in the form of a montage of men shaking their heads "no," presumably to answer if they know her whereabouts. But she eventually shows up in unremarkable fashion. Hurray!

Till the Clouds Roll By is a disappointing and tremendously boring biographical film, one that often feels awkward and clumsy. These sort of films are almost always tedious, bu this one is especially so. It doesn't help that most of the non-singing cast is not putting much effort into it. It takes about an hour and a half before Garland appears. She sings a few numbers by Vincent Minnelli, her husband at the time. Her voice always is exceptional, even if the material she is singing is not. Till the Clouds Roll By would have been much more interesting from her perspective instead of from that of Jerome Kern. 

This article was originally published at the Public Domain Film Review, found here.