TILL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY, a star-studded, mercilessly hokey ‘biography’ of composer Jerome Kern, drew enough patrons into theaters to make it the 9th most-seen movie of 1946. Maybe as a sign of tension relief from the war ending, eight of the year’s top twenty hits were musicals of one sort of another, including two more bull-peddles of famed songsters, The Jolson Story, belting out bromides to the tune of #3, and Night And Day, placing 16th with Cary Grant as Cole Porter. Mr. Kern wasn’t a preening egoistical jerk flamboyant self-promoter like the self-sainted Jolson (expertly mimicked by Larry Parks) or as complex a character as Porter, and while their cine- bios were monuments to wishful thinking and evasion they at least had more to work with: other than his obvious gift for composing, Kern’s life story was mundane by comparison. So MGM’s tag team of writers and directors just made stuff up and to keep people listening past the pathetic dialogue they stuffed in no less than 26 numbers, ably performed by a slew of the studio’s ballyhooed roster of stars.

The glossy Technicolor production had a cost reported as either $2,841,000 or $3,316,000. Richard Whorf took over direction after several others had shots at the helm, and segments featuring Judy Garland were done by her husband Vincente Minnelli. Myles Connolly and Jean Holloway got credit for the script: were they proud? Critics snorted, but audiences lined up to dish out over $12,000,000. One person who didn’t get to enjoy or dismiss the 132 minutes of melodies and make-believe was Kern, who passed away shortly after the shoot got under way. He was sixty years old.

Robert Walker, 37, plays Kern, the clockwork progression of fateful meetings, near-misses and rousing successes covering a struggle in New York to get noticed for his songwriting, a trip to England where he meets Eva Leale (Dorothy Patrick) who becomes his wife, and  ultimately finding ever-increasing fame and respect back in the States. A fictional mentor/best buddy is shoehorned in, played by Van Heflin. Sections from Kern shows like Show Boat and selections from other works are sung (with a good deal of dancing) in vignettes from Judy Garland, Van Johnson (a swell dance number with Lucille Bremer), Lena Horne, Dinah Shore, Tony Martin, June Allyson, Angela Lansbury, Kathryn Grayson, Cyd Charisse, Gower Champion and Frank Sinatra who closes out the picture with an impressive rendition of “Ol’ Man River”. Esther Williams show up for the cameo heck of it. Walker and Heflin do what they can with Iowa-flat situations and tripe dialogue that would make a high school play seem like “Becket”. Some of the old school tunes hold their charm, others make you appreciate why rock & roll was a godsend waiting to happen.

In the wings: Paul Langton (as Oscar Hammerstein II, one of a number of name-drops in the script), Stanley Andrews, Byron Foulger, May McAvoy and Ray Teal.