Strike Up the Band (film)

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Strike Up the Band
Strike-Up-the-Band-1940.jpg
theatrical release poster
Directed by Busby Berkeley
Screenplay by John Monks Jr.
and Fred Finklehoffe
Produced by Arthur Freed
Starring Mickey Rooney
Judy Garland
Cinematography Ray June, A.S.C.
Edited by Ben Lewis
Music by Roger Edens
Production
company
Distributed by Loew's, Inc.
Release date
  • September 27, 1940 (1940-09-27) [1]
Running time
120 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$854,000 [2]
Box office$3,494,000 [2]

Strike Up the Band is a 1940 American musical film produced by the Arthur Freed unit at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film was directed by Busby Berkeley and stars Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, in the second of a series of musicals they co-starred in, after Babes in Arms , all directed by Berkeley. The story written for the 1927 stage musical Strike Up the Band , and its successful 1930 Broadway revision, bear no resemblance to this film, aside from the title song. [1]

Contents

Plot

Jimmy Connors (Mickey Rooney), a student at Riverwood High School, plays the drums in the school band but dreams of playing in a dance band. He and his "gal" Mary Holden (Judy Garland) sell the school principal on the idea of forming a dance orchestra and putting on a dance to raise money. The principal is initially doubtful but then agrees to buy the first ticket. The event is a success, and the school's debt for the instruments is paid off.

Famous band leader Paul Whiteman (played by himself) sponsors a contest in Chicago for the best high school musical group, and Jimmy decides that the band must compete. In three weeks, the kids write, plan, and put on a show. The melodrama, called "Nell from New Rochelle", is also a success and raises almost enough money for the band to go to Chicago, but they're still short. A loan from Whiteman himself solves that problem. However, when, Willie, a member of the band who had been injured, needs a critical and urgent operation, the band uses the money so that the injured student can be flown to Chicago for the operation.

The band gets a last minute gift of a free ride on a fast train to Chicago. The band competes in Chicago and wins the $500 prize. Jimmy gets the honor of leading all of the bands in a grand finale performance of the title song. [3]

Cast

Uncredited (in order of appearance)
Virginia Sale Music teacher
Margaret Marquis Girl in library who asks Mary for Anthony and Cleopatra
Vondell Darr Girl in library who asks Mary for Indian Love Lyric
Charles Smith Boy in library who asks Mary for Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Henry Roquemore Mr. Mollison
Sidney Miller Sid, one of the students
Victoria Vinton One of the students
Don Castle Charlie
Joe Yule Ticket seller at fair
Jack Albertson Barker at fair
Jack Mulhall Man on telephone announcing winner of contest

Songs

In keeping with MGM's practice of the time, the film soundtrack was recorded in stereophonic sound but released with conventional monaural sound. At least some of the original stereo recording has survived and been included in some home video releases, including the Mickey Rooney – Judy Garland Collection. [4]

Reception

Box office

According to MGM records the film earned $2,265,000 in the US and Canada and $1,229,000 elsewhere resulting in a profit of $1,539,000. [2]

Critical response

Daily Variety :

"While all the young principals do themselves proud, Garland particularly achieves rank as one of the screen's great personalities. Here she is for the first time in the full bloom and charm which is beyond childhood, as versatile in acting as she is excellent in song - a striking figure and a most oomphy one in the wild abandon of the La Conga."

Movie and Radio Guide, 1940:

"The La Conga danced by Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in Strike Up the Band is nothing less than sensational. For that reason, Movie and Radio Guide hereby christens the number 'The Roogaronga.' This title is a combination of the first three letters of Mickey's and Judy's last names, to which has been added the identifying dance classification."

Variety , September 18, 1940:

"Strike Up the Band is Metro's successor to Babes in Arms with Mickey Rooney, assisted by major trouping on the part of Judy Garland ... Picture is overall smacko entertainment ... and Mickey Rooney teamed with Judy Garland is a wealth of effective entertainment."

Awards and honors

In 1941, the year after the film was released, the film was nominated for three Academy Awards. [5] Douglas Shearer (M-G-M's Sound Director) won a Best Sound, Recording and Roger Edens and George Stoll were nominated for an Oscar in the category of Best Music, Original Song for the song "Our Love Affair". George Stoll and Roger Edens were also nominated for an Oscar in the category of Best Original Score.

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

Home media

As well as being commercially released in its own right on VHS on January 30, 1991 by MGM, the DVD version was released on September 25, 2007 by Warner Home Video as part of The Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland Collection. It was finally given an individual release on October 2, 2018 by Warner Archive Collection who also released a Blu-ray edition on June 23, 2020. [7]

Strike Up the Band is featured in:

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References

Notes

  1. 1 2 Strike Up the Band at the American Film Institute Catalog
  2. 1 2 3 The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  3. Green, Stanley (1999) Hollywood Musicals Year by Year (2nd ed.), pub. Hal Leonard Corporation ISBN   0-634-00765-3 page 96
  4. "The Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland Collection". Amazon. 25 September 2007.
  5. "The 13th Academy Awards (1941) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2011-08-12.
  6. "AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals Nominees" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-08-13.
  7. IMDb.com

Further reading