Strike Up the Band is a 1940 American
musical film produced by the
Arthur Freed unit at
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film was directed by
Busby Berkeley and stars
Mickey Rooney and
Judy Garland, in the second of a series of musicals they co-starred in, after Babes in Arms, all directed by Berkeley. The story written for the 1927 stage musical Strike Up the Band, and its successful 1930 Broadway revision, bear no resemblance to this film, aside from the title song.[1]
Plot
Jimmy Connors (
Mickey Rooney), a student at Riverwood High School, plays the drums in the school band but dreams of playing in a dance band. He and his "gal" Mary Holden (
Judy Garland) sell the school principal on the idea of forming a dance orchestra and putting on a dance to raise money. The principal is initially doubtful but then agrees to buy the first ticket. The event is a success, and the school's debt for the instruments is paid off.
Famous band leader
Paul Whiteman (played by himself) sponsors a contest in Chicago for the best high school musical group, and Jimmy decides that the band must compete. In three weeks, the kids write, plan, and put on a show. The melodrama, called "Nell from New Rochelle", is also a success and raises almost enough money for the band to go to Chicago, but they're still short. A loan from Whiteman himself solves that problem. However, when, Willie, a member of the band who had been injured, needs a critical and urgent operation, the band uses the money so that the injured student can be flown to Chicago for the operation.
The band gets a last minute gift of a free ride on a fast train to Chicago. The band competes in Chicago and wins the $500 prize. Jimmy gets the honor of leading all of the bands in a grand finale performance of the title song.[3]
In keeping with MGM's practice of the time, the film soundtrack was recorded in
stereophonic sound but released with conventional monaural sound. At least some of the original stereo recording has survived and been included in some home video releases, including the Mickey Rooney – Judy Garland Collection.[4]
"While all the young principals do themselves proud, Garland particularly achieves rank as one of the screen's great personalities. Here she is for the first time in the full bloom and charm which is beyond childhood, as versatile in acting as she is excellent in song - a striking figure and a most oomphy one in the wild abandon of the La Conga."
Movie and Radio Guide, 1940:
"The La Conga danced by Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in Strike Up the Band is nothing less than sensational. For that reason, Movie and Radio Guide hereby christens the number 'The Roogaronga.' This title is a combination of the first three letters of Mickey's and Judy's last names, to which has been added the identifying dance classification."
"Strike Up the Band is Metro's successor to Babes in Arms with Mickey Rooney, assisted by major trouping on the part of Judy Garland ... Picture is overall smacko entertainment ... and Mickey Rooney teamed with Judy Garland is a wealth of effective entertainment."
As well as being commercially released in its own right on VHS on January 30, 1991 by MGM, the DVD version was released on September 25, 2007 by
Warner Home Video as part of The Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland Collection. It was finally given an individual release on October 2, 2018 by
Warner Archive Collection who also released a Blu-ray edition on June 23, 2020.[7]