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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
The Glenn Miller Story (1953)

The Glenn Miller Story (1953)

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Released 21-Mar-2005

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Drama Main Menu Audio
Rating ?
Year Of Production 1953
Running Time 107:46
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Anthony Mann
Studio
Distributor

Universal Pictures Home Video
Starring James Stewart
June Allyson
Harry Morgan
Charles Drake
George Tobias
Barton MacLane
Sig Ruman
Irving Bacon
James Bell
Kathleen Lockhart
Katherine Warren
Frances Langford
Louis Armstrong
Case ?
RPI $14.95 Music Julian Dash
Edgar De Lange
Buddy Feyne


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.37:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    The Big Band era ran from 1935 to 1945 and saw dance halls packed as people danced to the full brassy sound. The most successful of all the big bands was the Glenn Miller Orchestra, dominating the recording charts and churning out hit after hit. The first gold record in history was awarded to the Glenn Miller Orchestra for its recording of "Chattanooga Choo-Choo". So influential and popular was this band that it is still playing to full houses, with an international touring schedule that most rock bands must be envious of.

    The Glenn Miller Story is the story of the band's leader and creator, Glenn Miller. Miller is played by James Stewart who brings his characteristic naturalness and believable awkwardness to the role. He is supported by June Allyson as Miller's wife and a youthful Harry Morgan (billed as Henry) as his best friend. (Harry Morgan later became best known for his role as Col. Potter on the TV series MASH). Credibility is added to the cast with a number of Glenn Miller's contemporaries making appearances as themselves, notably Louis Armstrong and The Modernaires, a vocal group who often appeared with the Glenn Miller Orchestra. However, the real star of this picture is the music.

    This is not a biography that delves deeply into Glenn Miller's life, but it is the story of his music. Little of Miller's private life is covered, only his relationship with his wife where she is shown to be both his anchor and his rudder.

    The film opens in the 1920s with Miller, a young musician, struggling to find work and playing in a variety of bands and shows. It is in the second half that the film finds its legs, when the Glenn Miller Orchestra is formed and his Big Band sound discovered. Most of Miller's best known numbers are featured as the story follows Miller through his success with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, to his military service leading the Army Air Force Band (really just the Glenn Miller Orchestra in uniform) as it played for the troops in Europe, until Miller's untimely death when his plane disappeared over the English Channel in 1944. That's the significance of Glenn Miller - his career at the top was only six years, and three of those were with the Army, yet he had a huge musical impact still felt today.

    If you approach this film expecting a probing biography of Glenn Miller the man, you will be disappointed. Even his dark days without work and broke are covered only lightly. If you just want to know the highlights of Miller's career and listen to the music, then this disc may be a pleasant way to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    Although presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 aspect and 16x9 enhanced, the video on this disc is not all it could be. While not unpleasant to view, it is a straight transfer with no restoration. As such, it suffers from problems that you would expect from a 50 year old film.

    The image is not sharp with an overall softness that borders on out of focus at times. This is further accentuated by the graininess of the film, particularly in large, bright areas such as sky, walls and so forth. Shadow detail is lacking in some scenes as is common in early colour films.

    Video artefacts in the form of black and white specks appear throughout the film, most notably around 55:30.

    The most irritating artefact is a colour shift, almost a rapid brightening and darkening of the image, in some scenes. This is most obvious at 15:45 where June Allyson's face changes from full colour to pallid and back again a number of times. It is also very apparent at 21:50 and 84:08, but does occur at a few other points in the movie. This effect made those scenes difficult to watch.

    The layer change occurs at 58:02 and produces a slight, but noticeable pause near the end of a scene.

    English subtitles are available and, judging by the brief look I had, seem to be handled well.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The Glenn Miller Story won the 1954 Academy Award for Best Sound Recording. The audio transfer on this disc is crisp and clean throughout the movie. Dialogue is always easy to understand and the music, while not reference quality, is full and clear. For a 50 year old film, it is a good soundtrack.

    Although Dolby English 2 Channel, most of the audio is centred. Good stereo separation has been provided for the big band pieces. The rears and sub-woofer are left to do very minor duty, if anything at all. Even bomb blasts during the war scenes do not utilise the sub-woofer.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    The menu is static with background music.

    There are no other extras.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

     Both a Region 1 and a Region 2 version are available. There seems to be no difference between them, aside from the obvious NTSC encoding for Region 1.

Summary

    If you are a fan of Glenn Miller, you will like this movie (if fact you have probably seen it already). If you haven't had much exposure to the Big Band sound and era, this is a good introduction, particularly the second half of the film. If you fall into neither of these categories, you will probably find this movie slow and unrewarding. There is no unearthing of dark Miller secrets here, the movie is more about his music and career than a study of the man within. This is a movie that sets out to paint a flattering portrait, not stir controversy (if indeed there was any to stir in Miller's life).

    The video transfer is disappointing with many artefacts, grain and a soft look.

    Audio is excellent although only two channel.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Glen Randall (If you're really bored, you can read my bio)
Friday, March 04, 2005
Review Equipment
DVDToshiba SD-1200Y, using S-Video output
DisplayGrundig M84-210 80cm. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum.
AmplificationYamaha RX-V596
SpeakersRichter Wizard fronts, Richter Lynx centre, Richter Hydra rears, Velodyne CT-100 sub-woofer

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