Sun Valley Serenade (1941)

Sun Valley Serenade (Dir: H Bruce Humberstone, 1941).

Produced by 20th Century Fox, Sun Valley Serenade was conceived as a star vehicle for popular figure skating champ turned film star Sonja Henie. Of greater significance, it also provided Glenn Miller and his Orchestra with a rare feature film appearance. 

As a publicity stunt, band pianist Ted Scott (John Payne) agrees to sponsor a Norwegian refugee. Expecting a child he is surprised when the emigre turns out to be attractive skating expert Karen Benson (Sonja Henie). Ted's band, including his fiancee Vivian (Lynn Bari) and bandleader Phil Corey (Glenn Miller) are due to begin a Christmas season at Idaho ski resort Sun Valley. Supposedly staying behind Karen, sneaks aboard the train to Idaho, with the plan to bust up Ted and Vivian and hook herself a husband to boot. Along for the ride is Milton Berle as the band's manager.

In the leads Henie and John Payne are likeable, albeit a little bland, while Milton Berle adds appeal as the comic relief. Preeminent bandleader Glenn Miller is no actor but his main purpose here is to provide the soundtrack and he serves up a doozie! A handful of his biggest hits accompany the light romance, including Moonlight Serenade, In the Mood and best of all Chattanooga Choo Choo. Band sequences are imaginatively staged by director H Bruce Humberstone and are less static than you might imagine; Chattanooga Choo Choo, however, is something extra special! What begins as a band rehearsal develops into an elaborately staged song and dance number, with vocals from the legendary Dorothy Dandridge and the the amazing athletic dancing of the Nicholas Brothers. The number is utterly joyous and easily the movie’s highlight. 

Built around Ms Henie, of course there are a couple of ice skating numbers shoehorned in. The finale, a dazzling ice ballet performed on reflective black ice makes little narrative sense but is pure spectacle! There is also some fancy ski slope action thrown in for good measure. 

Sun Valley Serenade is very much a movie of its time, but this is no bad thing. Mainly of interest to fans of the era swing music and Miller in particular, it has plenty to offer to more casual fans of golden age Hollywood movies. Released mere months before the US entered WWII, it is a quaintly charming record of an era which would all too soon be over. It’s featherweight stuff, certainly, but it is also a lot of fun!