Till the Clouds Roll By
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| Till The Clouds Roll By | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Richard Whorf |
| Produced by | Arthur Freed |
| Written by | Guy Bolton |
| Starring | Judy Garland Frank Sinatra Kathryn Grayson Robert Walker |
| Cinematography | George J. Folsey |
| Editing by | Harry Stradling Sr. |
| Distributed by | MGM |
| Release date(s) | 5 December 1946 |
| Running time | 132 min |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2,841,000 (estimated) |
| IMDb profile | |
Till The Clouds Roll By is an American musical-biographical film made by MGM in 1946.
The film is a fictionalized biography of composer Jerome Kern, who was originally involved with the production of the film, but died before it was completed. Robert Walker portrays Kern.
Till the Clouds Roll By is best remembered for its large cast of well-known musical stars of the day who appear in cameo roles performing Kern's songs. The first 15 minutes of the film consist of a condensed adaptation of Show Boat.
Stars appearing in the film include: Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Kathryn Grayson, Virginia O'Brien, Dinah Shore, Van Johnson, June Allyson, Lena Horne, Lucille Bremer, Van Heflin, Tony Martin, Cyd Charisse, and Angela Lansbury. Horne's appearance is of particular interest as she is shown performing as Julie in the Show Boat segment — a role she was considered for but ultimately denied when MGM came to adapt the complete show in 1951. Garland, meanwhile, was pregnant with her daughter, Liza Minnelli, when she filmed her segments, which required creative filming to hide her condition.
Till the Clouds Roll By is one of several MGM musicals (Royal Wedding being another) that have lapsed into the public domain due to MGM failing to renew copyright in the early-1970s. As such, it is one of the most widely circulated MGM musicals on home video, although the quality of these copies varies wildly. Warner Home Video gave the film its first fully restored DVD release on April 25, 2006.
Till the Clouds Roll By is also credited as one of the first motion pictures to have a soundtrack album released concurrent with the film arriving in theaters. The soundtrack was produced by MGM Records. The album originally contained four 78-rpm records featuring various artists and songs from the movie and front-cover artwork by Lennie Hayton. Later this album was released on LP. No official authorized version has yet been released on CD, but several unauthorized versions have. This is because MGM allowed the film to fall into the public domain.
