Sun Valley Serenade
Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone
Written by Art Arthur, Robert Harari, Robert Ellis, and Helen Logan
1941/USA
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
First viewing/YouTube
[box] I want to do with skates what Fred Astaire is doing with dancing. — Sonja Henie[/box]
The story line of this one drove me crazy but I’d still have to recommend it if it were only for the ” Chattanooga Choo Choo” sequence.
Phil Corey (Glenn Miller) and his band are broke and out of work. They pick up a gig at Sun Valley when famous singer Vivian Dawn (Lynn Bari) argues with her regular orchestra. Vivian and Phil’s pianist Ted (John Payne) quickly fall in love and he asks her to marry him.
In the meantime press agent ‘Nifty’ Allen (Milton Berle) has arranged for Ted to adopt a refugee as a publicity stunt. Everyone is expecting a child but imagine their surprise when grown Norwegian refugee Karen Benson (Sonja Henie) turns up at the airport. Karen immediately starts a campaign to marry Ted. She will not take no for an answer. She shows up uninvited to Sun Valley and then proceeds to lie and scheme non-stop until she gets her way. With the 18-year-old Dorothy Dandridge and the Nicholas Brothers appearing in the “Chatanooga Choo Choo” number.
I think Sonie Henie is meant to be cuter than newborn kittens in this but I felt like slapping her throughout. The entire plot just rubbed me the wrong way. I hate it when stalker behavior is rewarded. I must admit that Henie’s actual skating scenes, while not too impressive by today’s standards, are OK. The finale of her skating on “black ice” looks really beautiful with her reflection. (She was actually skating on a shallow layer of liquid black dye, which couldn’t have been easy.)
But the reason to see this is as one of only two film outings by the Glenn Miller Orchestra. Along with “Choo Choo” they play “Take the A Train” and “In the Mood” and are simply fab. The lesser-known musical numbers are good as well.
Harry Warren and Max Gordon were nominated for an Academy Award for their song “Chattanooga Choo Choo”. Sun Valley Serenade was also nominated for Best Black-and-White cinematography and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture.
Clip – “Chattanooga Choo Choo”
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