STRIKE UP THE BAND

[IMAGE]

CREDITS

1940, 120 minutes, B&W.
Producer, Arthur Freed; Director, Busby Berkeley; Screenplay, John Monks, Jr. and Fred Finklehoffe; Cinematography, Ray June; Music Direction, Roger Edens; Choreography, Busby Berkeley; Sound, Douglas Shearer.

CAST

Jimmy Connors, Mickey Rooney; Mary Holden, Judy Garland; Paul Whiteman, Himself; Barbara Frances Morgan, June Preisser; Philip Turner, William Tracy; Willie Brewster, Larry Nunn; Annie, Margaret Early; Mrs. Connors, Ann Shoemaker; Mr. Judd, Francis Pierlot; Mrs. Holden, Virginia Brissac.

SONGS

Strike Up the Band by George and Ira Gershwin; Nobody; Drummer Boy; Do the La Conga; Nell of New Rochelle by Roger Edens; Our Love Affair by Edens and Arthur Freed; I Just Can't Make My Eyes Behave by Will Cobb and Gus Edwards; Sing Sing Sing by Louis Prima; Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl by Edgar Smith and A. Baldwin Sloane; The Curse of an Aching Heart by Henry Fink and Al Piantadosi; The Sidewalks of New York by James W. Blake and Charles B, Lawlor; Over the Waves by Juvenito Rosas.

PLOT SYNOPSIS

"In this one, instead of putting on a show, Mickey puts together a high school orchestra featuring Judy as his vocalist and lots of his own drumming. After several melodramatic hurdles - plus the distraction of cuddlesome June Preisser and some sanctimonious moralizing - Mickey and his band win Whiteman's radio contest and perform the rousing title song. . ."
- Stanley Green, Hollywood Musicals Year By Year

NOTES

"Another in the 'let's put on a show' mould, Strike Up the Band was an exuberant paean to youth, with Mickey Rooney, now the nation's number one box-office attraction. . .on the very top of his form. . .his perfect foil was Judy Garland whose natural, unassuming performance was in such marked contrast to his own larger-than-life, bull-dozing effort, that it was to underestimate her overall contribution to the film."
- Clive Hirschhorn, The Hollywood Musical

". . .an MGM musical directed by Busby Berkeley that is so klunky and poorly paced, and so loaded with sanctimonious moral lessons, that even the George and Ira Gershwin score doesn't save it. (The Andy Hardy pictures were never this square.)"
- Pauline Kael, 5001 Nights At The Movies

ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS:
Best Song - "Our Love Affair"
Best Score

ACADEMY AWARD WINNER:
Sound Recording

[IMAGE]

Return to The Great MGM Musicals Page