The Glenn Miller Story (1954)

by Tristi Pinkston | More from this Blogger

27 May 2008 08:00 AM

You absolutely cannot name the greats of the Big Band era without listing Glenn Miller. His unique combination of jazz and Big Band made him a legend. In "The Glenn Miller Story," we see his life portrayed by Jimmy Stewart as filmed in 1954, ten years after Miller's death.

Glenn has always wanted to be a musician. His greatest love is doing arrangements, but he has difficulty in selling his arrangements and has to pawn his trombone frequently in order to eat. As soon as he gets some money, he rescues his instrument, only to pawn it again later.

He gets bit work with various different bands, and this time around the band he's with is performing in Denver. His college girlfriend, Helen Berger (June Allyson) lives in nearby Boulder, and he decides to go see her. She hasn't heard from him in two years, and she's been seeing someone pretty seriously, but she decides to see Glenn that night anyway. He promises to come over right after work, but it's the middle of the night when he finally arrives, and she's asleep. He wakes her up and explains that when you work in a band, right after work means the middle of the night. She forgives him, and they spend a wonderful time together. But then he has to take off again, and it's another two years before they see each other again.

In the meanwhile, Glenn is still working on his arrangements, but he hasn't hit on just the sound he's looking for. He knows it's out there, but he's not feeling fully satisfied with his work.

One night, realizing how much he misses Helen, he calls her and asks her to come to New York and marry him. Taking a total leap of faith, she comes and they are married, and she becomes the inspiration into his success. She suggests that he start up his own band, and he does, going into a bit of debt to do it. When the trumpet player cuts his lip and needs stitches, Glenn rescores the number with a clarinet as the lead, and suddenly realizes he's hit on that special sound he's been looking for. Armed with this knowledge, the band starts cranking out hits, and soon they are world famous.

Wanting to do his bit for the world, Glenn goes into the Army and travels over to Europe to entertain the troops. However, while flying to a show, his plane goes down, and he dies, leaving behind Helen and their two young children. However, we still have his music and will always remember him as being one of the greats.

This film was not rated.

Related Blogs:

The Benny Goodman Story

Young Man with a Horn

Vertigo

Learn more about Tristi Pinkston

I've been a blogger for Families.com since August of 2006.

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