Sun Valley Serenade (1941)

For a publicity stunt, the piano player (John Payne) in a big band suggests the band adopt a foreign refugee. Instead of a child, the refugee arrives in the form of a young Norwegian blonde hustler (Sonja Henie). The deceitful blonde then lies and manipulates every one around her in her attempt to break up the romance between Payne and his girlfriend (Lynn Bari) and get him for herself. No, this isn't a film noir, this is a "wholesome" Fox musical! Somehow we're supposed to find this duplicitous ice skating bitch adorable! In the movies, what Esther Williams was to the swimming pool, Sonja Henie was to the ice rink. I'll fess up that this is the only Sonja Henie film I've seen and it doesn't encourage me to seek out any more. Fox had a thing for bland blondes (Grable, Faye, Haver) and Henie fits right in. It's not all bad, however. We get some swell Glenn Miller music and a killer Oscar winning song Chattanooga Choo Choo performed by Miller, The Modernaires and The Nicholas Brothers with Dorothy Dandridge which alone justifies the film's existence. Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone. With Milton Berle, Joan Davis (whose part seems to have been cut) and Ann Doran.