The Glenn Miller Story is a 1954 American biographical film about the eponymous American band-leader, directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart in their second non-western collaboration.
The film follows big band leader Glenn Miller (1904–1944) from his early days in the music business in 1929 through to his 1944 death when the airplane he was flying in was lost over the English Channel during World War II. Prominent placement in the film is given to Miller's courtship and marriage to Helen Burger, and various cameos by actual musicians who were colleagues of Miller.
Several turning points in Miller's career are depicted with varying degrees of accuracy, including: the success of an early jazz band arrangement; his departure from the Broadway pit and sideman work to front a band of his own; the failure of his first band on the road; and the subsequent re-forming of his successful big band and the establishment of the "Miller Sound" as typified by "Moonlight Serenade". Also depicted is Miller's international success touring his band in support of the Allies in World War II.
Historical accuracy
There are several anachronisms in the picture. When the military band led by Miller is playing in front of General "Hap" Arnold, a B-29 bomber is in the background. The marching troops are desegregated, which did not occur until 1948. Scenes ostensibly shot in England are clearly staged in the U.S., as witness the presence of RCA Type 44 microphones during a BBC broadcast. In reality, the BBC could not afford them and designed and built its own, cheaper version.
In addition, several key plot points are either highly fictionalized from actual events or were invented for the film:
Miller is shown as disliking the tune "Little Brown Jug" and only performing it in 1944 as a "special arrangement" for his wife, who only hears it for the first time the morning after his disappearance and presumed death. The song was actually first performed and recorded in 1939,[1] became one of his most popular early hits, and was performed numerous times by both the civilian and AAF Orchestras. The 1939 recording went on to sell over a million copies.[2]
Miller was, in fact, dressed down for performing jazz marches and told by a superior officer that Sousa's marches served the military well in World War I. However, in the film, his character apologizes sheepishly and is only rescued by General Arnold whose children are fans. Miller's biographer George T. Simon states that his actual response was "Are you still flying the same planes you flew in the last war?",[3] after which the jazz marches stayed.
Mann said "The reason I became interested in it was that I wanted to dramatize a sound. And it’s the story of finding a new sound... To tell the story of a man who is hunting something new and finally finds it, and who, during the war years, became one of the great heroes. We tried to make the narrative a little different too. When he proposes to June Allyson, it’s very humorous, because she has curlers in, and so forth. At the end when he’s dead, instead of very sentimental music, we played ‘Little Brown Jug,’ so that it gave it a different feeling from just sentimentality. Of course the film was fraught with sentimentality."[4]
Release
The film opened in New York City on February 10, 1954.[5]
An alternate cut of the film, running 3–4 minutes shorter than the original theatrical release was re-released in 1985 with a stereo soundtrack. The film was originally recorded in stereo but was initially released in mono.[6] It was screened out of competition at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival.[7]
Home media
The film was originally released on home video in the VHS format in 1986. On March 4, 2003, the film was released onto DVD with an anamorphic display, remastered surround sound, and subtitles. The film can also be found in a James Stewart DVD collection that was released in 2007.
The film was released on Blu-ray in Germany on July 24, 2014.
Shout Factory released the film on Blu-ray in the United States on November 20, 2018.[8] This release includes both the original theatrical version, at 1h 56m, and the 1985 alternate cut, running 1h 52m. A detailed comparison of the differences in the two versions can be found at movie-censorship.com.
Reception
The critical reception to The Glenn Miller Story was generally positive. The film holds an 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 8 reviews.[9]
Box-office
Upon release in 1954, The Glenn Miller Story was massively successful at the box-office and earned theatrical rentals of over $7million, placing it third for the year behind White Christmas and The Caine Mutiny.[10] It was Universal's highest-grossing film overseas, with rentals of $5million,[11] for worldwide rentals of $12million.
Stewart took a percentage of the profits. In 1955, William Goetz estimated that Stewart had earned $2million from the film.[12]
Glenn Miller Orchestra pianist John "Chummy" MacGregor was a technical advisor on the movie. Composer Henry Mancini composed the musical score with Joseph Gershenson, who conducted the Universal-International studio orchestra's recreations of Miller's arrangements on the soundtrack. Miller's band was portrayed by The Airmen of Note, an ensemble of the United States Air Force Band originally created in 1950 to carry on the Glenn Miller tradition.
The soundtrack included many big band pieces originally performed by Glenn Miller's orchestra.
The original soundtrack to the movie, The Glenn Miller Story---Sound Track, Decca DL 5519 (USA)/BML 8647 (UK), was number one for 10 weeks on the Billboard albums chart in 1954. The 1954 album contained eight selections. The soundtrack was re-released with an expanded track list. The album Glenn Miller Plays Selections From the Film "The Glenn Miller Story" was number one for 11 weeks on the Billboard albums chart the same year, released as RCA Victor LPT 3057. The original 1954 album contained eight selections. An expanded version of the latter album was certified Gold in 1961 by the RIAA.
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