Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

The Glenn Miller Story Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson April 27, 2021

James Stewart is perhaps best known for the great films he made with Frank Capra and Alfred Hitchcock but it's his collaboration with Anthony Mann that's arguably the most fruitful of the three directors. Stewart and Mann made eight movies together that include such distinguished Westerns as Winchester '73 (1950) and The Naked Spur (1953). The Glenn Miller Story (1954), their sixth picture together, was more Stewart's passion project than it was Mann's. In the audio commentary recorded for this disc, Jim Hemphill argues that Mann agreed to direct the picture out of a debt of loyalty to Stewart. The actor began listening to Glenn Miller's songs while in college and relished the opportunity to play him. Stewart and the top brass at Universal courted Helen Burger, Miller's widow, about making a big-screen biopic. Burger was understandably hesitant to accept offers to dramatize her husband's life in the years immediately following the disappearance of his flight over the foggy English Channel. In interviews he did with film journalists for the 1985 reissue of The Glenn Miller Story, Stewart recalled that Burger agreed to let Universal make the film only if she approved each and every page of Valentine Davies and Oscar Brodney's screenplay. Burger also stipulated that the filmmakers allow her to be on set every day so she could monitor and approve each scene. Universal acquiesced to all of her wishes and the picture was a "go."

I want to buy myself a trombone.

The Glenn Miller Story is a traditional Hollywood musical biopic that follows Miller's travails from a southern California ballroom to the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band overseas. Miller's career had modest beginnings as a trombonist-arranger in Ben Pollack's Californians. The film shows the elongated period Miller had as a music arranger before becoming his own band conductor. The musical interludes are dovetailed with Miller's romance and later marriage to Helen Burger (June Allyson), who first met the other while students at the University of Colorado. One subplot that could have added more tension to their relationship is Helen's engagement to Ed Healy. Glenn first phones Helen and tells her that he'll come for a visit at her parents' home. He calls another time to invite Helen to New York where he proclaims they'll be married. Helen hesitates to commit because Ed is her fiancé and she can't just break it off. But the audience never sees Healy and his absence is a conspicuous pothole.

The best part of The Glenn Miller Story is the Big Band music and a parade of Miller's greatest hits: Moonlight Serenade, Tuxedo Junction, Little Brown Jug, St. Louis Blues March, Basin St. Blues, In the Mood, A String of Pearls, Pennsylvania 6-5000, American Patrol, and Otchi-Tchor-Ni-Ya. The musical adaptation was by Henry Mancini in one of the earliest films he worked on. In a 1985 interview with Roger Ebert, Stewart remembered that Mancini did the orches­trations. Mancini also observed Stewart at piano while was coming up with "the origin of the Glenn Miller sound."

The Glenn Miller Story Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Glenn Miller Story arrives on North American Blu-ray courtesy of Shout Select on this MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-50. Shout has included both the 1954 theatrical cut (which runs 1:56:20) and the 1985 re-release (which runs 1:52:25) with the stereo track restored. Both cuts appear in the aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The Kansas City Times reported that Universal Studios and Universal International Pictures (UIP) spent $250,000 on the re­storation. (The companies split the costs.) According to Tom Harrison, a writer for The Greenville (SC) News who interviewed Stewart, the actor served as a tech­nical consultant during the restoration process. Stewart assisted the edi­tors in reworking sequences and pruning excessive dialogue.

Harrison praised the theatrical revival for sporting "a sumptuous Technicolor print." Colors ranging from the red on June Allyson's lips (Screenshot #2) to the violet worn by the performers in #3 boldly stick out. The transfer looks softer in the early scenes when Miller hocks a trombone. Mann and his cinematographer William Daniels employ a revolving color wheel for a jam session (see #4). Gene Siskel lauded this scene at a press screening featuring the restored print. He described the atmosphere and colors as a "smoke-filled room" that gives way to oscillating "hazy purples and blues and reds across the musicians' stage." I watched both versions and that's also the impression I got. The theatrical cut receives an average video bitrate of 25497 kbps while the reissue clocks in at 21498 kbps. Contrary to one website listing the resolution for the '85 print at 480i, my scans reveal it to be a genuine 1080p transfer.

Screenshots 1-10 = 1954 Original Theatrical Version
Screenshots 11-20 = 1985 Reissue Version

Both cuts of the movie have twelve scene selections apiece.

The Glenn Miller Story Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Shout supplies a DTS-HD Master Audio Stereo (1573 kbps, 24-bit) and a DTS-HD Master Audio Dual Mono (1567 kbps, 24-bit) for the theatrical cut. The reissue only includes the restored Dolby stereo mix rendered here as a DTS-HD Master Audio Stereo (1579 kbps, 24-bit). The syndicated movie reviewer Jack Garner reported in the mid Eighties that while UIP executive Michael Williams-Jones and James Stewart were having dinner in London during a promotional tour for the re-release of Rear Win­dow, the conversation shifted to The Glenn Miller Story which Stewart recalled first having a stereo sound track when he initially saw the film at a December 1953 Hollywood sneak preview. Marke Andrews of The Vancouver Sun added that this Long Beach, California premiere indeed had a stereo track but UIP had to released a monaural ver­sion instead since many photoplay houses and movie theaters didn't have the stereophonic equipment required to play it. Stewart told Williams-Jones and later Tom Harrison that the advanced screening included the movie's stars, Big Band luminaries, and Glenn Miller's parents. The audience was "overwhelmed." More than three decades later, Universal Studios publicist Paul Lindenschmid discovered the print with the stereo track at MCA Records' archives in Chicago. Harrison reported that seven cans of 35mm film contained the complete soundtrack and the uncut 118-minute version of The Glenn Miller Story. The stereo version had a screening on May 19, 1985 at the Cannes Film Festival and audience reception was positively rapturous, according to media accounts at the time. Earlier that month, Siskel cited Louis Armstrong's performance of "Basin Street Blues" as a standout in the private screening he attended. When the film was exported to Australia, The Sydney Morning Herald observed "lots of big band classics sounding pretty good in the much-discussed Dolby stereo version."

The stereo mixes also sound wonderful on this Blu-ray. Musical notes strike a nice balance along the center and front channels. Dialogue is always crisp and intelligible. There is little to no hiss. Please note that Stewart's trombone performances were dubbed by Joe Yuki.

Shout delivers optional English SDH for each cut of the film.

The Glenn Miller Story Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• NEW Audio Commentary with Film Historian Jim Hemphill - Hemphill is a humongous fan of Anthony Mann's work and puts him on a pedestal with Hollywood's greatest directors. He covers both Mann and Stewart's careers in great depth. Hemphill admits that he's not a Glenn Miller scholar so he can't vouch for how accurate the film is or isn't of his life. Hemphill acknowledges the scholarship of Jeanine Basinger and Jim Kitses, who both provided him with many of the nuggets he supplies on this track. In English, not subtitled.

• US Theatrical Trailer (2:35, 1080i) - an unrestored original trailer for The Glenn Miller Story that's presented in 1.33:1.

The Glenn Miller Story Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

James Stewart called The Glenn Miller Story a "sentimental favorite" and one of the most cherished movies he made during his long career. The film didn't break any new ground for the musical biopic but it captures the Swing Era in all its boldness and simplicity. Shout Select has brought together the full theatrical version and the re-edited 1985 reissue with the restored stereo track. While extras are rather bare, the disc contains another information-rich audio commentary with Jim Hemphill. Koch Media also released the film on Blu-ray in Germany with two other Stewart titles as part of the label's James Stewart Collection. I can't verify if Koch includes both versions but I'm almost positive it doesn't have the commentary track. A STRONG RECOMMENDATION for this Shout package.