roslein-674-874556 This musical has the Glenn Miller band and some wonderful songs-- Chattanooga Choo Choo (charmingly performed by Dorothy Dandridge and the Nicholas Brothers), I Know Why, At Last. It has John Payne, a real sweetie, and the unusual snow-filled setting. But it also has Sonia Henie, a horrible little pep pill from Norway. The character she plays is utterly obnoxious--manipulative, insensitive, and deceitful in her shameless campaign to get Payne away from Lynn Bari, a mature, glamorous woman who, uniquely for such a plot, is kind and sensible and does nothing wrong. Looking younger than her age (she is short, slender, and flat-chested), and a great deal younger than Bari, she comes across as an oversexed teenager and makes Payne look like something of a pedophile. One can only imagine how much damage this kind of plot did to young, innocent girls, who thought that the way to make a man love you and propose to you is to stick to him every minute and to manipulate him into kissing you and being alone with you. And one can also imagine how women Bari's age felt at seeing her dismissed in favour of a pushy little pest who is always whooshing gaily down mountains and flashing her panties at everybody in her ice routines (her skirt must have had a little tube of compressed air underneath it at the rear--I've never seen a short skirt fly up so many times--and the camera even shoots up between her legs when they're both in the air, as someone is holding her up!). It seems Henie was as repellent in person as in this film--she was a Nazi sympathiser, and, as a biography written by her brother said, extremely nasty and utterly self-centred. Watching her in this movie, it's easy to imagine she's just playing a nicer version of herself.

ccthemovieman-1 There were nice characters in here, played by pleasant-looking actors and actresses, plus it had a famous band and some famous dancers.....yet the film just didn't work. By the time this was almost over, I was bored to death. The dialog was dumb, the humor (mainly Milton Berle's) was downright stupid and the music was just not up my alley.I've never been a big-band fan, anyway, and if I hear "In The Mood" one more time I'll puke.This was my first look at famous skater-actor Sonja Henie and I have no complaints about her. Almost part of the problem, at least with the humor, is that it's so dated it isn't funny anymore. Berle, Phil Silvers, Bob Hope, Red Skeleton, Abbot & Costello, etc. etc. were hilarious to the crowds in the 40s and 50s but humor changes, and what was funny back then is not today.

Bari2 For the first time the 'Sun Valley Serenade' was shown in the USSR at the time of WW2. It was never forbidden by the Soviet censorship, so it could be watched in the following years as well. The film made formidable impression on Soviet citizens. It conjured up 'the American dream' in which the USA appeared as a country where everything is excellent, all women are beautiful, life is extremely easy and cheerful, where money lies on the streets - bend down and take!Opposite to that paradise picture they saw around them a surly Soviet reality, lack of liberty, empty shops, shabby life in overcrowded communal apartments where people had to stand in turns to get to WC, etc.Surely, Stalin made a great mistake permitting his subjects to see this film.A friend of mine watched this film 46 times. Glen Miller became the greatest composer to him. I saw it twice, and at the second time left the cinema long before the end.That dream about America continued to live in hearts and minds of many people in the Soviet Union. It had been one of the factors which gave birth to the dissident movement, and at the end, made a contribution to the fall of Communism in Russia.I'm sure that there are some people who participated in creation of the movie who are living now: do they know about their part in the History?From the point of view of pure art, the rating, I think, is 6 out of 10.

John (opsbooks) John Payne, one of those often underated actors who turn up with regularity in the 1940s, makes a good partner for the sensuous Sonja Henie in this entertaining big band romp in the snow. I've lost count of the number of times I've watched this movie but still delight in the sight and sound of the race down the mountain and of course the brilliant Nicholas Brothers. A good supporting cast and faultless production values makes this movie one to remember.