Tamara Geva
Spain 1640, the reverend superior nun Mariana, attends the death of her younger sister, Isabel's husband, who is overcome with hopelessness and heartache. Isabel then kisses and caresses the cadaver's exposed body as if he were still alive. Mother Mariana
Without lights and in a driving rain, a bus is lumbering along the muddy Assam Road en route from Chunking to the Indian border. Passengers include Albert Pasavy (Otto Kruger), a European of unknown nationality; a missionary, the Rev. Dr. Van Der Liden (Steven Geray);a French officer Major Raoul Brissac (Ernst Deutsch as Ernest Dorian), and Countess Olga Karagin (Tamara Geva), a White Russian. There is also Madame Woo (Soo Yong), an ancient Chinese lady on an important diplomatic mission to Indian, and her traveling companion, Ann Richards (Ellen Drew), an American Red Cross nurse. The trip is halted when Japanese planes bomb the road and hit a munitions truck and kill many Chinese soldiers. The Chinese commander puts the wounded soldiers on the bus and directs it to a nearby secret airport where the officer in charge is Captain Nick Stanton (Robert Preston), an American attached to the Chinese Air Force.
Connie Ward is in seventh heaven when Gene Morrison's band rolls into town. She is swept off her feet by trumpeter Bill Abbot. After marrying him, she joins the bands tour and learns about life as an orchestra wife, weathering the catty attacks of the other band wives.
In this musical comedy, a crooked record producer uses his mob connections to force performers to do their stuff. The trouble really begins when the gangster's strong-arm tactics nearly cause a singer to lose his fiancée. A wide variety of entertainers appear including cowboy crooner Gene Autry, baseball hero Joe DiMaggio, and big band stars Cab Calloway, Ted Lewis, and the Kay Thompson Singers. Songs include "Mamma I Wanna Make Rhythm," "Manhattan Merry-Go-Round," "Heaven?," "I Owe You," and "It's Round-up Time in Reno."
