Look for the Silver Lining (1949) Reviews

• A Broadway BIOP

  Michel_Russell2006-08-06

  I have read a lot about Marilyn Miller from Indiana to Broadway and it seems that she was indeed a great Broadway star, especially in the 20s. I think this is the best movie June Haver ever done, of her 15 she made,and the whole concept of the time, era, clothes and background seems to come to life, with an extra lift. MM was supposed to have been a perfectionist on stage and did not like anyone in the cast who was not the same. JH does not quite get this part correct but at least she has a damn good try. The supporting cast from Ray Bolger to Gordon Macrae are also good and overall a thoroughly entertaining musical. I eagerly watch for it to come on TV and I would not miss it for the world.

• A splendid backstage look at a great Broadway star

  daneldorado2003-12-06

  "Look for the Silver Lining" (1949) is, admittedly, not renowned as one of the great Technicolor musicals of all time. It is not usually discussed in the same breath as "Cover Girl" (1944), "Easter Parade" (1948), or "On the Town" (1949). But "...Silver Lining" is nevertheless a first-rate musical entertainment, the only major biopic of the great Broadway star Marilyn Miller, and the one film to fully employ the bountiful assets of its star, June Haver. Miss Haver began in films as a 20th Century-Fox contract player, appearing in small roles in "The Gang's All Here" (1943) and "Home in Indiana" (1944). She graduated to co-starring status, appearing as Betty Grable's sister (and stage partner) in "The Dolly Sisters" (1945). That was the role that established her as a bankable star, and she continued to perform, mostly in Technicolor, in Fox musicals for the remainder of the decade. In 1949, June Haver was loaned to Warner Bros. for that studio's spectacular biography film of Marilyn Miller, 1920s' Broadway star par excellence. It was the role that Miss Haver would make her own. When she sings the Miller trademark song, "Who," she upstages Miss Miller's own performance (whose rendition is viewable on YouTube) and even invites comparison to Judy Garland's brief cameo as Miller in "Till the Clouds Roll By" (1946). Ray Bolger co-stars as real-life dancer Jack Donahue and very nearly steals the show... but Ms. Haver swipes it right back, with her winning performances of "Sunny," "Shine on Harvest Moon," and the title song. She also dances en pointe in one of the ballet numbers, and shares a love duet with Gordon MacRae, "Time on my Hands." "Look for the Silver Lining" was the high point of June Haver's career, a career that could have lasted much longer but for her decision, in 1952, to enter a Catholic convent and become a nun. She was not strong enough to endure convent life and eventually left with permission. But instead of resuming her promising movie career, she married Fred MacMurray, who had been one of her leading men, and was content to be a housewife and mother to their adopted twin girls. Dan Navarro (daneldorado93@yahoo.com)

• Entertaining sanitized Marilyn Miller song and dance biop

  weezeralfalfa2013-09-02

  A mostly rather fanciful biop of early 20th century musical star Marilyn Miller, who died at age 37 of complications from surgery attempting to correct her sinus problem. This Warners Technicolor film only suggests that something was wrong with her from a combination of overindulgences and overwork. It would perhaps have been more appropriate for Marilyn Monroe to star in such a biop, since her stage name was inspired by the original MM, she would become Marilyn Miller during her marriage to Arthur Miller, and she would die at about the same age, having also suffered an unstable romantic life. However, June Haver was an acceptable screen facsimile for a musical star whose most effective medium was live performances rather than the few films she made in the very beginning of soundies. Incidentally, June's romantic life was also a mess during her too brief Hollywood years. Being short, 23 y.o. June was fixed with pigtails in the first segment, to suggest she was an underage teenager when she joined the rest of her family in their vaudevillian act, correctly named The Columbians in the film. The actual MM was only 4 when she joined the act. Thus, she had 10 years of acting experience when she was asked to go single, around age 15-16, as indicated in the film. Also, as suggested in the film , the family sometimes had to flee authorities enforcing child labor or public school laws, although the solution was hardly as portrayed in the film. Impressive baritone Gordon MacRae, in his first film with a singing role, plays MM's first husband, who in contrast, was actually primarily an acrobatic dancer, more like veteran Ray Bolger: the 3rd lead in the film. Ray is given the name of Jack DonAhue, in remembrance of J. DonOhue, who was a dancer and dance instructor of this era. The real MM probably knew him, but he certainly didn't play the sort of role credited in this film, being 10 years younger than MM, not 22 years older, as was Ray relative to June.. The statements of several reviewers that MM married Donahue, either in the film or in real life are incorrect, although in the film, MM does express a desire to marry him. ... Gordon is given the name of the real MM's first husband: Frank Carter. As suggested in the film, their marriage did not long last, due to his fatal auto accident. However, this was actually earlier in her career than suggested in the film, giving Gordon more time to be in the film. In the latter part of the film, another forthcoming marriage is suggested, but bears no relation to MM's actual subsequent marriages. Thus, Ray serves as her only consistent friend and costar throughout the film, which provides an excellent opportunity to sample his inimical eccentric clownish dance style outside of his scarecrow costume("The Wizard of Oz"). The film begins with a stage performance by the rest of MM's family, dressed in Georgian costumes, to "Shine on Harvest Moon" and "Back to Baltimore". The actual Wilde twin sisters play the other 2 sisters in the family. After meeting Donahue, he invites Marylyn to try dancing with him, on stage and at a Christmas party. Throughout the film, June and Ray sometimes perform alone, and sometimes together. Gordon and June initially sing or dance to a backstage trial of the standard "Time on My Hands", then on stage he sings and she dances to "Just a Kiss in the Dark". Later, she asks him to marry her, but he first joins the army to fight the Huns. MM's father(played by Charles Ruggles) comically mistakes victory fireworks sounds for a Zeppelin attack. Gordon's final musical performance is a half-hearted backstage trial of Jerome Kern's title song. June would sing and dance to this song(from "Sally") in a European setting, in the company of the inimical "Cuddles" Sakal. Judy Garland, who also played MM in the previous Kerns biop "'Til the Clouds roll By" , also sang this song, over a pile of dirty dishes. Both are good performances, if quite different. Remember that in this later stage of June's career, her singing was being dubbed. Judy's big production number in that film , to "Who?", is instead sung and danced to by Ray in his most elaborate solo performance. In the later part of this routine, he pours sand on a large drum-like cylinder to give a scraping sound when he danced. Fred Astaire repeated this device in the dance "I Wanna Be a Dancing Man" in the later released "The Belle of New York". June's equivalent big production number, again surrounded by a large bevy of men, would be the finale, sung and danced to "The Wild Wild Rose", followed by the title song. June, a contract player with Fox, would again be loaned out to Warner for another nostalgic screenplay: "The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady". Gordon and Sakal would have more prominent parts in that film, and Gordon's singing was more impressive. Gene Nelson would replace Ray as June's primary dance partner and as a sometimes soloist. Again, June was the only significant female musical star, in contrast to most of her Fox musicals. I can't give a definitive answer to the question of which is the best of these two films. Clearly , some reviewers regard her performance in the present film as the best in her career. Most who so comment find Gordon's subsequent films costarring Doris Day more entertaining. I find these two ladies equally likable in their own ways. Doris's films tended to include more standards.

• Beautiful music

  jjnxn-12012-02-12

  Colorful but with only a cursory acquaintance with the actual facts of Marilyn Miller's life this is an enjoyable musical but worthless as biography. June Haver is sunny and beautiful as the legendary star but misses giving any real sense of who she was. Charlie Ruggles and Rosemary DeCamp do what they can with thinly written roles as her parents and S. Z. Sakall does his usual charming sputtering and cheek slapping. Gordon McRae, portraying perhaps the one character with any semblance to reality, Frank Carter, Miller's first husband sings wonderfully as always. The real standout is Ray Bolger who manages to inject some real feeling into his part and gets to showcase his talents well. A very prettied up version of the facts this still is chock full of great songs well performed and on that basis a good show.

• Almost the "Ray Bolger" show, nice biopic of Marilyn Miller.

  TxMike2005-01-10

  Marilyn Miller was a song and dance star of the 1920s. Her career was short, as she died in her 30s after complications from sinus surgery. This movie is based on her life, and appears to be fairly faithful, although it apparently leaves out a couple of husbands. The full color movie is fun to watch and has a number of fine musical numbers. But Ray Bolger shows why he was one of the best entertainers. Cute little (5'2") June Haver was in her early 20s, but had to play Miller starting as a 15 year old. Except for a rather mature face, she fit the part with her skinny legs and youthful exuberance. The story starts about 1913, her dad, mom, and two sisters are a successful Vaudeville act, and they aren't anxious to let the talented little girl join them. When the four were quarantined for several days with mumps, famous dancer Jack Donahue (Ray Bolger ) helps out. During his stage act he stops to ad lib, and invites little Marilyn on stage with him, and they dance. She was a hit, and joined her family act. She and Donahue became good friends and, in real life, married. When she became a stage star, she did a role with Frank Carter (Gordon MacRae, with his superb baritone voice), and eventually, after his stint in the Army during the war, they married. While waiting for him for an opening night, and he didn't show up, after the performance she found he had died in a car wreck, driving to be with her. She married another man, she had a successful career, and near the end when her sinus problems made her dizzy at times, she still looked for the silver lining. Charles Ruggles played her dad, Caro Miller, Rosemary DeCamp her mom, and her sisters were played by the twins, Lee and Lyn Wilde.