Another weird Sonja Henie romantic comedy! Sun Valley Serenade has many of the same bits as 1939's Second Fiddle, although the plot is totally different. But there is much skiing and much ice skating and many musical numbers. Most of the musical numbers are diegetic, but there is a very strange non-diegetic one as everyone in the cast goes up to "Sun Valley".
What else to say about this? John Payne, who had once been referred to as a kind of poor man's Tyrone Power, is very handsome and sings beautifully. (I guess I'm making the comparison again by comparing Sun Valley Serenade to Second Fiddle, but that's not really fair to Payne at all. He is quite fun in this.) The Glenn Miller Orchestra is fabulous, and his sequences are the best. They play "In the Mood", and we just sit and listen while nothing else happens. It's great.
The real reason I watched this film, though, is that the Nicholas Brothers make an appearance. It's much briefer than their famous appearance in Stormy Weather, and more comparable to their short appearance in Down Argentine Way. They appear as part of a section of the "Chattanooga Choo Choo" number. One can clearly see how it's filmed so that it can be cut out for racist audiences who don't want to see Black performers. And they appear with Dorothy Dandridge, who looks fabulous. I say this number is short, but I think it might even be better than their viral number in Stormy Weather. Their sequence in this film deserves to go viral all over again.
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