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Sun Valley Serenade

Sun Valley Serenade
SunValleySerenade.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone
Produced by Milton Sperling
Written by Art Arthur (story)
Robert Harari (story)
Screenplay by Robert Ellis
Helen Logan
Starring Sonja Henie
John Payne
Milton Berle
Glenn Miller
Lynn Bari
Music by David Buttolph
Cyril J. Mockridge
Cinematography Edward Cronjager
Edited by James B. Clark
Production
company
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date
  • August 21, 1941 (1941-08-21)
Running time
86 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Sun Valley Serenade is a 1941 musical film starring Sonja Henie, John Payne, Glenn Miller, Milton Berle, and Lynn Bari. It features the Glenn Miller Orchestra as well as dancing by the Nicholas Brothers and Dorothy Dandridge, performing "Chattanooga Choo Choo", which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song, was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1996, and was awarded the first Gold Record for sales of 1.2 million.

Ted Scott (John Payne) is a band pianist whose publicity manager decides that, for good press, the band should adopt a foreign refugee. The band goes to Ellis Island to meet the girl and soon discovers that the refugee isn't a 10-year-old child, but a young woman, Karen Benson (Sonja Henie). The surprise comes right before the band is to travel to Sun Valley, Idaho for a Christmas gig. While on the ski slopes Ted soon falls for Karen's inventive schemes to win the heart of her new sponsor, much to the chagrin of his girlfriend, Vivian Dawn (Lynn Bari), a soloist with the band. Vivian promptly quits the band out of jealousy, and Karen stages an elaborate ice show as a substitute.

Of particular note is the elaborate "Chattanooga Choo Choo" sequence. The scene begins at a rehearsal with the Glenn Miller Orchestra practicing "Chattanooga Choo Choo" and includes two choruses of the song whistled and sung by Tex Beneke in a musical exchange with The Modernaires. As the Miller band concludes their feature the camera pans left to reveal a railway station set. The band continues with the production number and accompanies Dorothy Dandridge and The Nicholas Brothers in their song and dance routine.


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