Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: THE GLENN MILLER STORY 1954

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Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 02-12-2009, 04:12 PM:

I was at Sam's Club yesterday when I came across a collection of five of James Stewart's movies from Universal Studios on DVD. One of the movie in the collection was THE GLENN MILLER STORY. I first saw the movie at my hometown theatre, the Waipahu in 1954 and the auditorium was packed. In addition to James Stewart, the film also featured June Allyson, Harry Morgan as well as cameo performances by Louie Armstrong, Gene Kruppa and a few other legendary performers of the time. I do not remember if the Waipahu was equipped for scope and stereo sound yet but the movie was released in 1.66:1 or a 1.85:1 ratio and four track mag stereo. I saw the movie in mono at the Waipahu but I wish it was in stereo because the DVD I saw last night had a fantastic stereo sound mix. The sound was so good, it won the 1954 Best Sound Academy Award. Beside a charming story, the movie featured all of Glenn Miller's music. After not seeing the movie for at least twelve years,watching this great film last night on DVD was like seeing it for the very first time. I wasted no time this morning when I got out my ipod and listened to a modern digital recording of Glenn Miller's music from an album titled IN A DIGITAL MOOD.

-Claude

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 02-12-2009, 05:28 PM:

I'd like to see and hear the mix it but I'll wait for the Blue Ray....

Mark

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 02-12-2009, 06:02 PM:

Until Blu ray becomes mainstream, it does not appear you will get to see THE GLENN MILLER STORY in the near future, Mark I forgot to mention in my review that the TGMS picture quality on the DVD was outstanding and in my opinion much better than MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION I had reviewed last weeK. The Rock Hudson film was a Criterion release and came with the original version and regular priced. The James Stewart collection is a three disc set and beside THE GLENN MILLER STORY featured four other films he had made for Universal Pictures and cost only $16.95 at Sam's Club. At that price, why not get and enjoy the DVD now and when the BD is released buy that too and enjoy it again. Why wait?

-Claude

Posted by Joe Tommassello (Member # 4632) on 02-13-2009, 01:03 PM:

Claude - GMS is indeed a wonderful movie, but the CD you mention is even better. I believe it was recorded way back in 1982 - an early experiment in all-digital recording. If I remember correctly jazz pianist Dave Grusin was the driving force behind it.

When CD players were brand new and very expensive I was managing a high-end audio department for the Sam Goody chain and we had that CD playing through top quality equipment. I think I was using SAE power amps and AR 9 speakers with our one and only Denon CD player. People used to come back to see "the band" and were amazed it was a recording. It is one of the first CDs I ever bought and I still marvel at the sound every time I play it.

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 02-13-2009, 06:24 PM:

Joe,

The compact disc was introduced on October 1, 1982 by Sony with it first player, the CDP-101 with a $900.00 price tag. I used to be a gadget freak at that time and I had to have it as soon as it was introduced and was able to sweet talk a good friend who who was one of Sony's primary dealer in Honolulu to sell me one of the two players they got before the release date and I am very proud of the fact that I might have been the first person in Hawaii to get hold of a CD player. I was a frequent Tower Records customer at the time until they went out of business and all they had during introduction of the compact disc were only about ten titles in a cardboard box. Yes, IN A DIGITAL MOOD was one of the early titles to be released by a label I believe founded by Dave Grusin. There was another excellent CD they released at about the same time as IADM and it was a album of solo piano movie music played by Dave Grusin and it was titled NOW PLAYING with "On Golden Pond" and other themes. I still have it as well as the Glen Miller album and the hundreds of CDs I purchased since I bought that first CD player.

-Claude

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 02-13-2009, 06:51 PM:

Yea, may just have to check it out Claude... thanks for the reccomendation.

Mark

Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 02-13-2009, 07:27 PM:

Mark,

I was wrong about NOW PLAYING. I thought it was as old as IN A DIGITAL MOOD but it is a recent recording. It came out in 2004 and easy to obtain through Amazon and other source. IN A DIGITAL MOOD is now out of print but new and used copies can still be obtained through Amazon.

-Claude