This is an excellent colour film from 1953 telling the story of musician Glenn Miller (James Stewart) from his early days as a sideman and pit-orchestra player, when his trombone was always in and out of the pawnbroker's shop, through his arranging songs for others and extremely bad luck days to his band leading performances as an army Captain and then Major during the Second World War period.

The diminutive but none-too-attractive June Allyson plays his girl/wife. There's also a performing appearance by the great Louis Armstrong and Gene Krupa.

Even as a life-long rock fan, I've always loved Glenn Miller's music, having it on both vinyl and CD and in the film we get to hear most of his well-known tunes such as "In the Mood", "String of Pearls", "Chattanooga Choo Choo", "Moonlight Serenade", "Tuxedo Junction", "American Patrol", "Pennsylvania 65-000" and "Little Brown Jug" (the latter done specially for his wife just prior to his death as he hated it and told her he would… more »

This is an excellent colour film from 1953 telling the story of musician Glenn Miller (James Stewart) from his early days as a sideman and pit-orchestra player, when his trombone was always in and out of the pawnbroker's shop, through his arranging songs for others and extremely bad luck days to his band leading performances as an army Captain and then Major during the Second World War period.

The diminutive but none-too-attractive June Allyson plays his girl/wife. There's also a performing appearance by the great Louis Armstrong and Gene Krupa.

Even as a life-long rock fan, I've always loved Glenn Miller's music, having it on both vinyl and CD and in the film we get to hear most of his well-known tunes such as "In the Mood", "String of Pearls", "Chattanooga Choo Choo", "Moonlight Serenade", "Tuxedo Junction", "American Patrol", "Pennsylvania 65-000" and "Little Brown Jug" (the latter done specially for his wife just prior to his death as he hated it and told her he would never do it).

The ending makes even grown men cry, including me.

There were rumours that, when he died, Miller was flying out on a mission for the British Secret Service and others that his plane got underneath returning British bomber aircraft jettisoning their unused bombs over the sea but who really knows what happened. The only thing that is certain is that he flew out of GB on a plane, never to be seen again.

The film won an Academy Award in 1954/5 for the best sound recording and I can't fault that aspect (except that given the expansive nature of the music a 5.1 surround mix would have been nice, as opposed to stereo (which is better than mono and for which we are grateful nevertheless)).

The picture, however, is not so perfect. Whilst the early 1950s colour is magic, unfortunately there are quite a few unwanted sparklies on display. Clearly this has not been cleaned up to the expected high standards of today, which is a shame for such a great film. Also the DVD is a bare-bones job with not an extra in sight. Let's hope it soon comes out in a special edition and is given the treatment it deserves.