Autumnsong: 25 Days of Christmas | Sunvalley Serenade, 1941

Sunvalley Serenade | 1941

I liked this poster the best with the drawing
of the skyiers in the top and Glen Miller's
trombone squeezed in...

The Darthmouth Trobadours are a band (played by Glenn Miller’s orchestra). Phill Corey conducts, Ted Scott plays the piano, and the boys have just scored a Christmas gig at sunvalley, alongside Miss Vivian Dawn (Lynn Bari), who already enjoys a reputation as a famous singer.

Things couldn’t be better, especially for Ted, who caught Vivian’s eye and started going out with the singer. Untill his ‘uncle Sam’ comes for him, that is, a representatuve of the government! Months earlier, the band’s manager decided that for better press, the band should help a foreign refugee, and it was Ted who signed the papers. Well, their refugee has arrived and he’s expect to show up at Ellis Island to receive the child.

Except that when they get there it isn’t a child at all, it’s a young woman, Karen Benson (Sonja Henie), from Norway. And Ted’s gotta figure out how to handle the situation, looking after the new girl and making sure everything is okay with his girlfriend at the same time.

I wish I could say more about the story, but the thing about Sunvalley Serenade is that there isn’t much of a story at all. Pretty soon it becomes clear that Karen’s plan is to find an American guy she can marry so she can secure her position in the US and she’s determined that Ted is going to be the guy. When Vivian notices that she decides to mark her territory,and the film is about this competition of sorts between the two women, with Ted more or less clueless in the middle. Eventually Karen follows them to Sunvalley for the Christmas gig, and the film becomes a sequence of skiing scenes and music numbers.

That’s a problem, because Karen’s character is not likable at all and I couldn’t find it in me to root for her to be with Ted at all. She’s an empty minded girl, with an obvious agenda and even her tragic past (the fact that she is a refugee) is not enough to make the character less dislikable. Vivian, on the other hand, is spoiled and annoying, and it’s not easy to root for her either. So in the end there’s no going around the fact that Ted is surrounded by horrible women, and it would be best if he found a way to get rid of them both…

But Ted is not a strong character at all. He is an okay guy, and John Payne’s acting makes him the only guy in the whole film that I actually cared about. But he’s pushed around by the two girls most of the time, which makes him come off as quite week.

There are a lot of skiing scenes in the film, some of them quite cool, in fact, the movie got me thinking about taking skiing lessons some time, trying that out. In addition to that, the snowy landscapes are the most Christmassy thing in the movie…

And there’s a reason for that setting: Sonja Heine was not only one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood at the time she was also a three times Olympic champion in Ladie’s single figure skating (10 times World champion, 6 times European and 6 times Norwegian champion). In the movie, her character tries to replace Vivian’s singing with an elaborate ice skating act.

Be that as it may, her important sporting career is not the most interesting aspect of Sonja’s private history. As a wealthy celebrity she moved in the same social circles as royalty and heads of state. She had several connections with high-ranking Nazi officials, and she was a personal friend of Hitler himself, as well as his favourite figure skater. She was seen doing the Nazi salute once in the Olympics, and during the Nazi ocupation of Norway, her wealth and properties were spared because of an autographed picture of Hitler prominently displayed at the piano. Learning all this has made it even harder for me to enjoy the film – as if disliking her character wasn’t enough.

Love the way Ted Looks to Karen in this picture, sporting his cute Christmas jumper... On the rigth, Glenn Miller and his trombone...

The music of course is fantastic. This is one of only two films to include Glenn Miller’s orchestra, and there are some favourites in it, like Moonlight Serenade, Chattanooga Choo Choo (in an elaborate dance number), In the mood and I know why (and so do you).

Overall, however the film is not very good, not one I recommend or intend to see again…