Worth: $6.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Richard Neil, Kathy Christopherson, Emilio Palame
Intro:
… undoubtedly a labour of love, brought to life by a group of musicians looking to revive the big band glory days, but unfortunately there’s an awful lot of filler to wade through along the way …
Experience the ‘epic’ highs and lows of a high school swing band as we follow four friends on their quest to convince their teacher Mr Miller (Richard Neil), brother of the famed conductor Glenn Miller, to whip their ragtag wannabe orchestra into shape in time to compete in the Battle of the Bands.
Along the way, they’re faced with push-back from the conservative school board, not to mention a healthy dose of petty jealousy and outright bigotry from their fellow students. Despite the odds stacked up against them, the self-dubbed “Knights of Swing” persevere through sheer optimism, refusing to ever lose the pep in their step or the stars in their eyes.
The fresh-faced teens of Castle High rival the T-Birds and Pink Ladies from Grease when it comes to teenagers who probably should have graduated at least a decade ago, but the cast throw themselves into the cookie-cutter 1940s narrative with wide-eyed abandon.
The script is co-written by Rolland Jacks and Emilio Palame, along with David M. Gutel. Gutel and Palame doubled as co-directors while Jacks composed the music: 17 original numbers, each one a throwback to the big band bops of the 1940s, and the undeniable lynchpin of the film’s storyline. What plot there is to speak of, is held together by frequent segues into yet another of Jacks’ swinging tunes, making it clear that the script itself was an afterthought, little more than a patchwork quilt stitched together to hold the musical numbers in place.
Clocking in at a sluggish two and a half hours, Knights of Swing plays out almost as satire, from teens quoting Winston Churchill at one another as a reminder not to give up hope —“He didn’t give up, and neither will we!” — to the shy schoolgirl suffering from polio who’s so inspired by the band’s music that she manages to push herself up from her wheelchair and walk across the dancefloor just to ask the awkward wallflower to dance. The attempts to tackle issues of segregation and racism feel almost cartoonish as the overly dramatic bad guys of the piece weep and wail about morality, giving performances that wouldn’t be out of character for a Scooby Doo villain who’s just found himself unmasked.
The film is undoubtedly a labour of love, brought to life by a group of musicians looking to revive the big band glory days, but unfortunately there’s an awful lot of filler to wade through along the way, and we are not sure even Winston Churchill’s most inspirational speech is enough to keep audiences from giving up this time.
