Alex da Silva Glenn Miller's band go on tour and so we get some swing music to enjoy. For a storyline, we get naïve small-town girl Ann Rutherford (Connie) hooking up with trumpet player George Montgomery (Bill) and becoming part of the troupe of back-stabbing orchestra wives. After a simpleton start, she plays them at their own game with admirable determination and this leads on to a good slap or two or three. Everyone reunites in the end for a quality musical finale.The story isn't much – it's contrived and has leaps of absurdity – but that's not the point. Watch it for the music. The film is encased in between two show-stopping numbers. We begin with "People Like You and Me" and end with "(I've Got a Gal in) Kalamazoo" and these two pieces are the film's highlights. The last includes a dance routine from the Nicholas Brothers that shows what gymnasts they are as well as crazy dancers. Both these songs also include Tex Beneke singing along with the Modernaires. As regards the Modernaires, there is a very noticeable blonde singer who immediately reminded me of Betty Hutton. Well,……I found out after watching the film that it's her sister. Far less blustery, though, thank goodness.In terms of acting, I don't know why people refer to Glenn Miller as being a wooden actor. Maybe he is but he's perfectly fine as himself. It's irrelevant. I did feel that there was not enough of pianist Cesar Romero (St. John) and bass player Jackie Gleason (Ben) and too much of the love interest between Montgomery and Rutherford. Neither of these two leads were particularly interesting – more like a couple of wet fishes. Montgomery is actually quite a nasty character in the beginning with his treatment of soda jerk Harry Morgan (Cully).So, if you fancy life on the road as an orchestra wife, don't forget to pack your hoover. And be prepared for a fight. And, of course, good music.

bkoganbing Unlike his fellow big band leaders Glenn Miller resisted the call of Hollywood because he felt that in too many cases the bands of his peers were just grafted into a film. He need not have worried about Orchestra Wives because his band was an integral part of the story.Orchestra Wives is a grand musical film with a great score of original songs written by Harry Warren and Mack Gordon. They include Serenade In Blue, People Like You And Me, and the Oscar nominated I've Got A Gal In Kalamazoo. All of them best sellers for the Glenn Miller Band.The plot as it were is about trumpet player George Montgomery who when the Miller Band is doing a gig in a small Michigan town has a whirlwind courtship with Ann Rutherford and marries her. She goes off to live and travel with her husband and the band. Ann's a naive kid who was not ready for the general cattiness among all the other wives who include such people as Carole Landis, Mary Beth Hughes, and Virginia Gilmore.But her biggest problem is with the band singer Lynn Bari who Montgomery was going with and who is determined to break up that marriage. She slings a lot of gossip around and does some considerable damage, so much so that the band nearly breaks up.Although Miller had the difficult role of playing himself under an alias, he handles his dialog reasonably well. Jackie Gleason plays a bass fiddle player and I wish we saw more of him. He was under utilized terribly in his early Hollywood films. Cesar Romero is the band's piano player and a wolf at heart, but someone who turns out to be a real pal to Montgomery and Rutherford.I have to single out the Nicholas Brothers who did a really great dance number after the band played I've Got A Gal In Kalamazoo for the finale. Also note a young Harry Morgan who is a soda jerk, accent on the last word, who Rutherford was originally going out with. He and Rutherford do a mean jitterbug and Morgan does make with the Forties jive talk.Orchestra Wives is a fine view of the early Forties big band era with a great score of music played by the one and only Glenn Miller.

musica1 I had never heard of this movie, but I just came across it on a movie channel on TV. Wow! I was in 7th heaven with all the wonderful music! I've always been curious about the big band era and have listened to quite a few of the bands (or orchestras, as they were apparently called back then), and the sweetest sound by far comes from The Glenn Miller Orchestra. This movie has the actual Glenn Miller Orchestra and Glenn Miller himself playing the band. The interaction among the wives is interesting in that it seems that at least that part of life hasn't changed. Women were always their own worst enemies and still are. You can see updated versions of the back-biting and gossiping in the current (2011) reality shows on TV. And the parts of the movie set in Connie's home town show a glimpse into 1942 small-town America.This movie is well worth watching for the amazing music.

PWNYCNY Delightful movie but dated. The music of Glen Miller is the main star of this interesting and entertaining period piece. The cast of this movie include three performers who were to become superstars, Dale Evans, Jackie Gleason and Harry Morgan. Interesting to watch them when they were relative unknowns. I wonder what Harry Morgan would have said if he was told that 35 years later he would be a nationally known star in a television sitcom. The cast was wonderful. Ann Rutherford and George Montgomery had that special chemistry and the ladies, Mary Beth Hughes, Virginia Gilmore, Carole Landis and the beautiful Lynn Bari were beautiful, charming ... and naughty. Hey, what's a girl supposed to do when her husband musician is on the road and playing before ... women? And let's not forget the incomparable and always classy Cesar Romero and the incredible dance number performed by the Nicholas Brothers. Their act alone makes this movie worth watching. So if you are looking for some light entertainment featuring 1940s jazz numbers and snappy dialog, then this is the movie for you. Bravo to Archie Mayo.