SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

A Major Disappointment

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

I always used to wish Ann Miller had found herself at MGM earlier in her career but after viewing a few of these Columbia gems I don't think MGM could have used her more advantageously. Sure the story lines were juvenile and she usually only got to dance at the end of the movie but my, what dances!!! They were always spectacular and used her quick, rhythmic tapping to great advantage - And the movies themselves were filled with the top bands and singers performing their latest hits!!!The film starts off with a bang - the fabulous Louis Armstrong and his rendition of "I Can't Give You Anything But Love", obviously slotted in at the beginning so it could be discreetly removed for some Southern audiences. The story, such as it was, involved a dancing contest winner, Terry (a vibrant Ann Miller) storming Hollywood then realising she is just a small fish in a big pond. The eight musical numbers, to be fair, are incorporated into the plot ie a taxi driver turns on his radio and suddenly there is the Jan Garber Orchestra performing "I Lost My Sugar in Salt Lake City"!! With a passing nod to the wartime housing shortage, Terry wangles herself into a secretarial job with George Haven (Jess Barker), an up and coming script writer for "Superba Pictures", even though she doesn't know the first thing about taking shorthand. "You're easy on the eyes" George coos and she certainly is!! Another musical break with the Alvino Rey Orchestra taking a novel approach to "St. Louis Blues" featuring a steel guitar no less. Another novelty song "Murder, He Said" is given a feisty rendition by vocalist Peggy Mann to her zoot suited romeo, backing by the Teddy Powell Orchestra and yet another singing interlude featuring The Pied Pipers showing they were never as good once Frank Sinatra left them.In between acts the story progresses - George dictates a sure fire story but because Terry can't take shorthand she doodles, then has to hire a stenographer while she dictates what she remembers. The finished product is pronounced very amateurish ie "we ate tons and tons of ice cream", George loses his job and Terry pours out her woes to a nice tramp in the park, who just happens to be the head of the studio. Terry and George go dancing to the Glen Gray and His Casa Loma Orchestra with "No Name Jive". There is a very limp rendition of "Cherokee" by Charlie Barnett's Orchestra but "Brazil" as sung by Nan Wynn is more like it - you can't go wrong with "Brazil". Terry finally gets an audition but when they enthuse she thinks they are making fun of her and she storms out, fortunately she storms back for a scintillating finale "Vict'ry Polka" and I agree with another reviewer, if only she had been given a couple more dances at the expense of some of the bands.Jess Barker didn't have a huge career - his wife's left him completely in the shade - she was Susan Hayward!!!

It took me decades to finally view this film and I am glad I kept busy all those years for JAM SESSION is a bit of a miss-fire.The fact that there is no story of consequence is moot point. The reason to see the film is the bands, singers and Ann Miller.I must say that I have never seen Ann Miller look lovelier and more appealing. Sadly, she only gets one number at the end and it isn't a stunner.The bands and the vocalists - a first rate line up of largely disappointing appearances with the emphasis on novelty tunes.Armstrong - excellent.Garber - much better then expected for Garber.Rey - weird novelty number.Powell - dreary comedy performance of a clever tune. What a waste of a good, forgotten band.Barnet - the great Charlie Barnet band plays their immortal hit CHEROKEE. Well played, but no visual excitement.Glen Gray/Casa Loma - same as above with NO NAME JIVE.Nan Gray - OK Jo Stafford and the Pied Pipers perform their old Tommy Dorsey hit, IT STARTED ALL OVER AGAIN. Excellent! Jo Stafford never looked better! She was 25 years old and looks right off the farm with a fresh face and big eyes to match her high hair do. An exceptional performance by Jo and the Pied Pipers in an unexceptional film. I think she hit 91 years old this year, so God bless her! Clean. crisp photography.That sums it up.

Sprightly Ann Miller musical featuring many of the top bands and vocalists of the day. Notable too for a rather tough-minded look at the movie industry, as Kansas contest winner Miller tries to break into the big time. The studio scenes are an occasional hoot-- like the stagecoach driving in from the street to shoot an Old West scene! However, the business side gets a pretty realistic and none-to-flattering treatment (maybe the writers' revenge). Some other nice touches-- Alvino Rey's "echo-box dummy" that sings electronic lyrics (that one spooked me); Miller's under-the-staircase bedroom, about big enough for a midget if she doesn't stand up; and the big-finish "marching at ya" tribute to the boys overseas. Miller is engaging throughout, wholesomely pretty with a lot of verve and sparkle. This was perfect war-time escapism, a programmer with no pretensions that despite the years continues to entertain.

Copying the format used in Ann Miller's previous film, "Reveille With Beverly", once again the plot is an excuse to piece together musical performances by popular recording artists of the day.Nevertheless, it's an opportunity to enjoy the lovely Miller, who was only in her early 20s at the time of filming. I read that Dorothy Parker was once quoted as saying Miller "was the most statuesque broad in Hollywood". While she dances only once, it's a nice production number with a World War II theme. She remarked in her autobiography that her Columbia films were intended as entertainment of the troops.