User reviews

Knowing several people, on and outside of IMDb, who consider The Great Ziegfeld one of the weakest Best Picture winners, that didn't stop me from seeing it anyway. To me though, while it's not flawless and not the best film of the year it was still incredibly well-made and entertaining stuff and from personal view it is nowhere near one of the worst Best Picture winners.

The Great Ziegfeld agreed is overlong with a draggy and at times uneventful first half and half an hour could easily have been trimmed. And more could have done with the relationship between Ziegfeld and Billie Burke which appeared late in the film and didn't feel developed enough, almost like an afterthought.

However, The Great Ziegfeld is very lavishly mounted, with photography that's both beautiful and clever, sumptuous costume design and some of the most handsomely gorgeous sets of any 30s musical. Other pleasures are the marvellous and very well-staged(without being too overblown) songs with A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody being an absolute show-stopper, a script peppered with humour and heart and the mostly poignant story. Standout scenes were Fanny Brice's charming My Man, Ray Bolger's witty dancing to My Follies Girl, Luise Rainer's heart-breaking telephone(justifiably famous) and especially A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody with its clever photography and perhaps one of the best uses of a staircase in a film. The direction is adept and the performances are great, with William Powell suave personified and especially Luise Rainer who is the epitome of charm and grace, capable of a good range of emotions as seen in the telephone scene. Fanny Brice, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger are all memorable, while Myrna Loy is underused she's hardly wasted either.

Overall, a well-made, entertaining and very good film and well worth the look. 8/10 Bethany Cox

It's hard to think of today, what with the theatre being a highbrow and typically minimalist medium, but back in the days before movies became big business, stage productions often presented the public with phenomenal displays of grandeur. In the early years of the twentieth century, Florenz Ziegfeld was a theatrical showman who had Busby Berkely's worship of feminine beauty and Cecil B. DeMille's sense of scale. He was creating Hollywood-style extravagance back when Hollywood was just a patch of scrubland.

Fast-forward to 1936, a couple of years after Ziegfeld's death, and cinema still bears his mark. Musicals (which were still often based around stage performances) were often showcases for a variety of dancing and singing talents, usually building to a spectacular finale. The Great Ziegfeld is more than just a biopic, it is the culmination of this strand in cinema; the first epic musical. Here we see the 30's musical's shimmering sets and full-on dance routines on a scale never before seen on the screen. Robert Z. Leonard directs with his usual sweeping camera moves, often slowly pulling back to reveal the size of the production. But he also lets his camera get deeply involved in the more dramatic scenes.

Apart from the various song-and-dance people involved, the casting here is very much a Hollywood affair. William Powell was then the go-to man for such smart and witty types. He and Myrna Loy were well-known as a screen couple, from The Thin Man pictures amongst others. They both give adequate portrayals, but in truth these two need a smaller, more intimate production to shine in their own right. The performance that best fits the size of The Great Ziegfeld is that of Luise Rainer. Melodramatic, full of presence, she seems always on the verge of breaking down into some farcical display of ham acting, but never quite does so. It's not a realistic performance by any stretch, but it is beautiful in its theatricality.

Ziegfeld's influence would live on in musical cinema for many years after his death. The Great Ziegfeld was just the first in a series of pictures tipping their hat to the producer. Meanwhile, many of the stars made famous by Ziegfeld – Billie Burke, Eddie Cantor, Will Rogers, Ray Bolger – were finding fruitful careers on the silver screen. It was, after all, the way of the future. You see, it wasn't just the depression that finished Ziegfeld. Even if he had lived, cinema would have provided him with too much competition to continue with his follies, especially with the advent of sound. But this is beside the point. If The Great Ziegfeld shows anything, it is that the spirit of showmanship that he championed could live on, if not in one medium then in another.

Like some huge, lumbering, Paleozoic beast with a heart, nothing like this film has existed in a long time. And I doubt that there will be anything like it again. "The Great Ziegfeld" is a grandiose, three hour, B&W cinematic opus that chronicles the true story (more or less) of the professional life of legendary producer/showman "Flo" Ziegfeld, played convincingly by William Powell. It is an interesting, lovable film because it is so historically ... quaint.

Structurally, the narrative takes a chronological approach. However, except for the film's starting year of 1893 and the ending soon after the 1929 stock market crash, no dates are given, a shortsighted flaw in the screenplay. But during this roughly forty-year period we see Ziggy's ambition unfurl into a successful career of producing some of the most extravagant musical shows in history. And throughout, the theme remains the same: to "glorify the American girl", that is to say to glorify the early twentieth century stereotyped image of the American girl.

Despite his success as a showman, Ziggy was constantly plagued with financial problems, and embroiled in relations with women, the two most important being: the humorously indecisive Anna Held, and the lovely Billie Burke.

More interesting to me than the biography is the lavish, grandiose production numbers. In the most grandiose of all, Dennis Morgan sings "A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody", as the camera ascends a slowly revolving spiral staircase adorned with "Ziegfeld girls" in outlandish costumes. The set, resembling a wedding cake, is about as tall as it is wide, with the stage curtain rising to what seems like stratospheric heights.

The film's strengths are its humorous script, the dazzling sets, the glamorous costumes, the music, a cameo appearance by Fanny Brice, and a great tap dance routine by Ray Bolger. My main complaint is the film's length. Also, I find it curious that this big budget beast with its theme of wealth and beauty came out right in the middle of the Great Depression. MGM must have been on a colossal ego trip.

Overall, "The Great Ziegfeld" is fun, and definitely worth watching, especially as a time capsule to an entertainment era that is gone forever.

MGM's epic biopic of theatrical producer Florenz Ziegfeld, starring William Powell in the title role. As with most Hollywood biopics, liberties are taken with the facts. Since this was made in the Golden Age of Hollywood, the intention is to portray Mr. Ziegfeld in the best possible light. If it were made today, the opposite would be true and all his faults would be emphasized (probably to the point of slander). I'll leave it to you to decide which is the better approach. Anyway, the movie covers Ziegfeld's rise as a Barnum-esque showman to becoming one of Broadway's most successful producers with his Ziegfeld Follies show. Along the way he attracts many women and marries two of them (Luise Rainer, Myrna Loy).

It's a spectacle made in the grand Old Hollywood fashion, heavy on melodrama and lavish musical numbers. Powell is fine in the lead. I have no idea how closely he "gets" Ziegfeld here, as he seems very much like William Powell's usual screen persona to me. He would reprise his role as Ziegfeld a decade later in 1946's Ziegfeld Follies (also from MGM). Luise Rainer is terrific in her Oscar-winning role as Ziegfeld's first wife, Anna. Myrna Loy is a little miscast as Billie Burke but it's hard to argue against any opportunity to see Powell and Loy on screen together. The rest of the cast includes solid supporting players Frank Morgan, Virginia Bruce, Ray Bolger, Reginald Owen, and Nat Pendleton. A. A. Trimble does a spot-on impersonation of Will Rogers.

It is a bit overlong. The first half could have done with some trimming. Still, a fine cast keeps things interesting and those musical numbers are dynamite. Dennis Morgan's "A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody" number is one of the highlights. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards with three wins, including Best Picture and Best Actress for Rainer. Its award wins are the subject of debate for some today, who argue it is one of the least-deserving Best Picture winners. That's kind of laughable when you think about it, as the Best Picture Oscar rarely goes to the most deserving film. That was true then and is even more true today, in my opinion. It's definitely something you'll want to try out if you are a fan of classic Hollywood and all its glitz and glamour. They don't make 'em like this anymore.

Boy, is this movie long......but worth it for the most part. William Powell is, as usual, his urbane, sophisticated self in a romanticized portrayal of Florenz Ziegfeld. Myrna Loy,leaving behind her wisecracking Nora Charles persona, does a fair job as Billie Burke. Burke, whose movie career was based on dithering, silly women, was once a beauty who graced the Follies. Loy doesn't come across as either but she has never given a bad performance so she is believable. But Louise Rainer as Anna Held is the one to watch here. A beautiful doll-like creature, she enchants you with her performance. The famous telephone scene may be overrated somewhat but it worked for me....and obviously for the Academy...it garnered her an Oscar. The music is so wonderful and the "Pretty Girl is Like a Melody" with Dennis Morgan is eye candy. One glaring fault is that there is a very short sequence with the great Fanny Brice in which she is singing "My Man" ( probably one of the greatest torch songs of all times) and it is just cut-off in mid warble as the story goes on to another scene. An unforgivable sin!! There could have been a little less talk and a little more singing/dancing in the movie but since it is a biography and not primarily a musical, all, except for the Brice faux pas, is forgiven!

This movie is worthwhile viewing for any fan of classic cinema or William Powell, but over 73 years later it's hard to see why this film won Best Picture of 1936 and a film like "Dodsworth" lost. Today it does seem overly long on musical numbers that could have been cut and short on storyline. There are probably several reasons that the picture could have been better and wasn't, the primary reason being that at the time the film was made Ziegfeld had only been dead four years and was thus still fondly and recently remembered. Also, according to the little featurette that comes with the DVD, Ziegfeld's widow Billie Burke was heavily involved in the making of the film and wouldn't allow anything in it to besmirch his memory. Finally, the production code had just begun to be sternly enforced in 1934, making a true accounting of Ziegfeld's personal life pretty much impossible. As a result Ziegfeld is portrayed as just the unluckiest of fellows who is always being wrongly perceived as a ladies' man just because his business involves large numbers of chorines.

In fact, Ziegfeld cheated on both wives incessantly, and Ziegfeld never even formally married Anna Held to begin with - instead they had a common law marriage according to the statutes of New York. However, none of these other factors can account for the complete lack of chemistry between Powell (Ziegfeld) and Loy (as Billie Burke) in the film. Considering how the two had already been in several movies together by the time this film was made, and that they never failed to sparkle on screen together in the other movies, there must have been either a complete lack of direction or over-direction to wind up with the rather wooden performance that results whenever the two are in scenes together.

This movie would probably rate only about 6/10 if it wasn't for William Powell's performance. Marvelous as always, he was at least allowed to portray Ziegfeld as the cagey trickster and gambler with tremendous class that he was, and he absolutely makes the film. I can't think of any other actor of that time period who could have done as good a job.

At over 3 hours long this film is just too much of a good thing. It's not even so much scenes have to be cut out as existing scenes need to be cut down. A good example of this is the joke about Held wanting to get away from Ziegfeld only to change her mind at the last second is repeated one too many times. Likewise, the musical numbers are splendid but shallow in light of having no real thematic or narrative content. The film is a light musical comedy but 3 hours of it is just too much. It's like too much sweets.

The narrative could have been deeper and darker if the film was willing to explore Ziegfeld's flaws more. But without this backbone the material is fun but hackneyed and lacking enough dramatic weight. Yet Powell is charming,Morgan is hysterical and Rainer is delightful. Enough so that even after the film has been too long you are still mostly having fun. The bloat needed to be cut or the film needed to be deeper.

Nonetheless, much of this film-the musical numbers now-is still absolutely glorious, memorizing and enchanting."A Pretty Girl is like a Melody" might be the most daring musical number ever out to screen. They are all striking and at least that part of the film doesn't drag. Too bad the film isn't in color; at least seeing the follies recreated is an absolute blast.

As this film clocks in at three full hours, one reviewer likened it to a "huge, lumbering, Paleozoic beast with a heart", and it's a great analogy. It's a chronicle of the career of showman and theater producer Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr, and the highlights are the musical numbers and showy costumes by Adrian in the middle third of the movie which are truly over-the-top. They're also apparently true to the extravagance of his Ziegfeld Follies, which ran on Broadway from 1907 to 1931. The number ""A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody" is particularly stunning, with the camera going up a lavish, revolving spiral staircase adorned with beautiful men and women, dancers, and performances of classical music along the way. Google it and be suitably impressed for eight minutes. I also liked seeing the tap dance routine from Ray Bolger (the scarecrow from 'The Wizard of Oz'), featuring a few splits that would undoubtedly be quite painful to the average man.

Of the cast, William Powell delivers a nice performance in the title role, capturing both the taste and generosity of Ziegfeld, and his relationship with his rival (played by Frank Morgan) is touching. The two of them imbue this biography with class, and through sheer force of will in the production, one can see why the film won the Academy Award for Best Picture. I have to say though, it had too much detail, and for me the first and third hours were too long. Myrna Loy doesn't even make her appearance as Billie Burke until the 2:10 point or so, and her part is rather modest. Luise Rainer plays his first wife, the performer Anna Held, and turns in a mediocre performance, so it's harder to understand her Oscar. Lastly, the film lacks an edge. Ziegfeld was a notorious womanizer, and while that's alluded to, it's all pretty innocent, lacking a certain zest, authenticity, or both. Emotions in general are all muted and glossed over, making us aware of the movie being a theatrical production of its own. You can certainly do worse, but I would only recommend the film with reservations.

The fun thing about this for me is the total vulgarity of the whole enterprise. Somehow it's absolutely right for the 'Ziegfeld Story' to be told by people whose idea of 'class' is girls dancing the minuet to Dvorak's "Humoresque". I suspect that this skewers the ethos of both Ziegfeld and MGM as thoroughly as any auteur could do! It's a long three hours' worth, but there are so many interesting things to watch. William Powell is an impeccable and charismatic anchorman; he's so skillful to watch, always fresh and inventive. Frank Morgan is also excellent.

Luise Rainer is just plain INTERESTING. The 'received wisdom' is that she got the Oscar for the famous 'telephone conversation', but I don't think that's fair. She works her butt off, working to steal every scene with the subtlety of Mae West; her technique is really superb, and somehow the epitome of Viennese style. And she gets her chops around pages of heinous dialogue that would have given Katherine Hepburn pause. She's also an outstanding beauty. Was Garbo robbed? Well yes, of course. But it's not like "Sweet Leilani" beating "They Can't Take That Away From Me".

Ray Bolger is excellent, and Fanny Brice damn near steals the movie. (I'm interested by comments here about the cutting of the "my man" number. One of the early MGM soundies featured a full performance; maybe it was felt that the number had been thrashed already. Anyway, I wouldn't want to be without the burlesque chorus number that we get instead.) But what really amazes me about this movie is the technical aspect. The lighting cameramen really had their work cut out for them getting light into those huge sets. They nearly manage it (though notice how a shadow from the apparatus inside Ray Bolger's follow-spot obscures his feet during his solo tap number).

And a final, adoring word for the chorus dancers. It's amazing to see what's demanded of Hollywood dancers by 1936 (particularly if you've just watched "Broadway Melody of 1929"). Those girls on the mammoth staircase wearing the black art deco 'bird' costumes: they've got no sightlines at all. And the girls doing high kicks on the fast-moving trucks during the "You" number: that is so DANGEROUS.

An ode to producers in general and the famed Broadway producer Florenz Ziegfeld specifically, it's little wonder that this extravagant spectacle captured the imagination of Hollywood and won its producer, Hunt Stromberg, an Irving Thalberg protégé, the Best Picture Oscar. The sort of movie that MGM had perfected over the first few years of the sound era, which is a small irony since MGM bought the project from Universal that Carl Laemmle Jr. Was in the middle of trying to make into a major studio (their production of Show Boat, a film based on a Ziegfeld show, led to Universal's creditors taking ownership of the studio from the Laemmle family the same year), director Robert Z. Leonard excelled at the spectacle while falling into every problem with how biopics take on too much of a life to fit into three hours.

Ziegfeld (William Powell) is a carnival barker with a light, professional rivalry with Jack Billings (Frank Morgan) at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. Representing the strongman Sandow (Nat Pendleton), he demonstrates a preternatural ability at promotion when he uses Sandow's physicality to attract women. He leaves Chicago despite his father's insistence that the conservatory is a better place for Ziegfeld's talents, but he's off to crisscross the country with Sandow and his show until a mishandled promotion of Sandow fighting a lion goes wrong and he has to flee to Europe, coincidentally on the same boat as Billings.

Now, on one level, I get why the writer, William Anthony McGuire (probably at the behest of Stromberg), started so early in Ziegfeld's life, and the relationship with Billings is the key to that. In a film where Ziegfeld has relationships with four women, it's the relationship with Billings that is the most consistent, and I wish it had been the focus. That is the only thing that could have really justified the amount of time covered in the film, but Billings disappears for long stretches of time, focusing on the women. There are four women (the first is a small one during the World's Fair), but the first major one is Anna Held (Luise Rainer), a French singer, that Ziegfeld steals from Billings in London by offering her no money but grand promises about getting her to fame in New York, which he attains for her after an early set of troubles, offset by news that she bathes in milk (a false story he created), and their marriage.

The success of Held's revue leads Ziegfeld to have enough success to get Billings to help him secure funding for the Ziegfeld Follies, and this is where the film is at its most spectacular best. It's a solid 40 minutes of runtime, and it starts with the famously expensive set piece of a single shot running up a spiral set of stairs, tracking dancers, singers, and general glitz and glamor, but the spectacle doesn't end there as the film shows several numbers in a row, completely uninterrupted, and it's just grand entertainment. I was convinced that this was going to be a hidden gem of a film at this point, but then the Follies end and...the movie no longer has any real narrative drive. It seemed to have been building up to Ziegfeld's signature production, and it was, but then it simply just kept going, and going, and going.

Because of the new Hays Code strictures as well as the presence of Billie Burke (Ziegfeld's last wife) on the production as a supervisor, there's a real limit on how much the film could show of Ziegfeld's infidelities to his wives, and that begins with the first female star of his Follies, Audrey Dane (Virginia Bruce). She doesn't have a whole lot to do other than occasionally show up and make a small scene of herself. The break with Held happens when Audrey ends up in Ziegfeld's arms and Held shows up. It's the final break for her since she feels like he's leaving her behind. I think. It's kind of thin, and it's because the film can't get into any real details. The relationship with Audrey also ends quickly when Ziegfeld opens a new show and doesn't offer her the starring role, leading to Ziegfeld meeting Burke (Myrna Loy), Billings' date at a party, and falling in love.

There really is no drive at this point in the film. It kind of feels like it starts all over with the introduction of Billie, and professionally it moves in fits and starts. The late introduction of the idea that Ziegfeld needs a comeback is where I would have liked to see a more condensed story. He's down on his luck professionally, but he's happy in terms of his family. He gets a challenge to put on another hit on Broadway, and he declares that he's going to have four at the same time. All of this is taken care of over the course of a few minutes of screentime, and it's some of the most potentially interesting stuff in the whole story. However, the film just glancing over it near the end of the story is really frustrating...and then there's more! There's the stock market crash and Ziegfeld's final days in relative poverty (he still has a butler, though, and a penthouse).

There are two major problems with this story. The first is that Ziegfeld, as presented at least, is simply not that interesting of a person, especially to sustain a three hour film. His efforts to build productions are never taken in great detail, probably in no small part since Ziegfeld seemed to have been a big idea guy. He hired people to actually put on his shows (like most producers would), but he didn't actually create much. He didn't write the songs, choreograph the dancing, or build the sets. He had an idea, found the money, and then got people to work. On top of that, his relationships with women aren't told in any great detail or made all that interesting, probably the most interesting is his effort to convince Held to talk up the milk bath idea which is more about his role as producer than it is as husband.

Where this film shines is in its spectacle of the Follies in particular. At least fifty minutes of this nearly three-hour film is dance numbers, and they do their best to carry the whole film alone. They are simply fun to watch and infectiously amusing, giving us a sanitized taste of what the Follies were and why they were so successful. I think a better celebration of Ziegfeld might have just been a straight-up recreation instead of an attempt to squeeze his entire professional life into a couple of hours.

As a celebration of the producer in general, I can see why Hollywood would fall for it. As a spectacle, I can see why contemporary audiences would eat it up. As an unfocused, lethargic biopic of a largely uninteresting central character, I can see how the opinion of the film has plummeted over the decades. It's a film that really does have its moments, but it simply cannot sustain the interest over three hours.

THE GREAT ZIEGFELD (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1936), directed by Robert Z. Leonard, and choreography by Seymour Felix, stars William Powell as the legendary Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. (1869-1932), in a fact-and-fiction musical biography that can be summed up from its opening credits, "suggested by romances and events." From the very start, with its very impressive theatrical lighted title credits lasting over two minutes, one would expect this to be a lavish scale production, and it is. So lavish that it leaves the impression the initials of MGM actually stands for Mighty Grand Musical, considering its great length of three solid hours (180 minutes), or two movies for the price of one. What an impression THE GREAT ZIEGFELD must have made in 1936, becoming an Academy Award as Best Picture for that year. Since the Ziegfeld name was still in recent memory, it assured box office appeal. The name of Anna Held (1873-1918) might be one for the history books. Because of Luise Rainer's carnation of this popular actress whose fame was the early part of the twentieth century, the Held name is most associated with Rainer than as the first Mrs. Ziegfeld.

The plot traces the career of Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. (William Powell), starting as a carnival barker at the 1893 Chicago Fair, his discovery and exploitation of Sandow, the Strong Man (Nat Pendleton); his departing for Europe where he competes with his best friend and rival, Jack Billings (Frank Morgan), for not only obtaining the services of his servant, Sidney (Ernest Cossart), but beating him to the punch by signing a popular French actress named Anna Held (Luise Rainer), to a performing contract with him back in America. To be sure he wouldn't lose his prize star, Ziegfeld marries her. During their somewhat stormy marriage, Florenz Ziegfeld stages extravagant shows that makes him world famous. Constantly surrounded by gorgeous show girls, Ziegfeld has his share of problems, especially with Audrey Dane (Virginia Bruce), a temperamental showgirl responsible for his divorce from Anna. Ziegfeld later meets and later marries Billie Burke (Myrna Loy), an accomplished actress in her own right, who not only bears his a daughter, Patricia (Jean Holland), but stands by him during his theatrical downfall and setback after the 1929 Stock Market Crash.

On the musical program combining old and (new songs by Walter Donaldson and Harold Adamson), features: "I Wish You'd Come and Play With Me," and "It's Delightful to Be Married" (both sung by Luise Rainer); "If You Knew Susie" (sung by Buddy Doyle imitating Eddie Cantor in black-face); "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody" by Irving Berlin (sung by Dennis Morgan/voice dubbed by Allan Jones); "You Gotta Pull Strings" (sung by chorus girls); "She's a Follies Girl" (sung and danced by Ray Bolger); "You" (sung by chorus); "You Never Looked So Beautiful Before" (sung by Virginia Bruce/chorus); "Yiddle in the Fiddle" by Irving Berlin; "Queen of the Jungle" and "My Man" by Channing Pollack and Maurice Yvaine (all sung by Fannie Brice); "Look For the Silver Lining" by Jerome Kern; and "A Circus Must Be Different in a Ziegfeld Show" (sung by chorus, performed by Harriet Hoctor), Montage score to Broadway shows: RIO RITA, WHOOPEE, THE THREE MUSKETEERS and SHOW BOAT (briefly playing "Ol Man River" on the soundtrack). "A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody," an authentically reproduced eight minute musical segment is certainly the film's true highpoint.

The "granddaddy of all Hollywood's musical biographies, THE GREAT ZIEGFELD is a very impressive film with an impressive cast. While consisting of Ziegfeld headliners as Fannie Brice, Ray Bolger and Harriet Hoctor appearing as themselves, it also features A.A. Trimble and Buddy Doyle authentically duplicating Will Rogers and Eddie Cantor at best. This doesn't go without some regrets by not having the likes of W.C. Fields or Marilyn Miller recreating what they did best under Ziegfeld. Another letdown is having Fanny Brice singing her signature torch song, "My Man," in incomplete form while the story moves to another scene. Rainer's role of Anna Held did win her an Academy Award as Best Actress for her performance based of her famous "telephone scene" congratulating ex-husband on his marriage to Billie Burke as she holds in her true emotions. While Billie Burke (1885-1970), then currently a well known film actress, could very well have portrayed herself Myrna Loy steps in for box office appeal. Frank Morgan, the fictional Billings, gives a performance worthy for Best Supporting Actor category while William Powell, the main focus from start to finish, was strangely overlooked by the academy.

In 1978, there was another tribute to Florenz Ziegfeld, a TV movie titled ZIEGFELD: THE MAN AND HIS WOMEN, starring Paul Shenar as Ziggy, but it failed to live up to the expectations to the 1936 original. At 156 minutes, it seemed longer than the original. Unlike the Powell version, the 1978 bio-pic is pretty much forgotten.

Unlike similar musical biographies of this nature made popular in the 1940s, THE GREAT ZIEGFELD captures the spirit of its time frame, with costumes and women's hairstyles being historically accurate. A movie at this extreme length tends to have its slow spots, which it does, but overall, a large scale production that only MGM can recreate.

Distributed to home video by MGM/UA in the late 1980s, the roadshow version consisting of entrée and closing music, deleted scenes and intermission title has been inserted into the 2005 DVD release. THE GREAT ZIEGFELD can also be found on Turner Classic Movies, especially during its annual "Thirty Days of Oscar." (****)

A large-scale musical biography, going for sentimentalism more than accuracy. Incredible talent by Ray Bolger and others; Fanny Brice steals the picture in a memorable performance. Attractive models, talented chorus girls and guys, and dancers of all sorts populate this spectacular film in big production numbers. And Frank Morgan is delightful in an upbeat, fun performance.

The two lines spoken in the restaurant about cheese and coffee are quick and funny. There is some good writing in the script.

The women involved with Ziegfeld's personal life are captured in essence, not in specifics; since many of them were alive at the time this film was made they couldn't be portrayed in any detail that could get the film makers sued for defamation. Luise Rainer is very miscast as a French musical entertainer, but she does try to capture the general essence of her character's offstage circumstances. Ms. Rainer got an award for her hard-drama performance here, but why the heck do you need a gut-wrenching dramatic style in a musical movie in which she portrays a music hall entertainer? Great actress, dramatic performance, wrong role. After all, she isn't portraying the life story of Sarah Bernhardt here.

Extravagantly mounted and staged musical productions are highlights over the sentimental biography. The biography is totally dependent on William Powell's immense charm. To me the biographical parts of this film are shallow and more of a tribute to Powell than to Ziegfeld, while the musical parts are clearly Ziegfeld.

Technically, this is a very well-made and slick movie. MGM certainly put a lot of energy into making this a top movie. However, the movie falls prey to what OFTEN happened with Hollywood bio-pics of the 1930s and 1940s--they don't let truth get into the way of a good story. The true story of Ziegfeld just doesn't come through in this picture--just a sanitized approximation of the man. This is alluded to somewhat in the movie, but the real life Ziegfeld was a rather selfish womanizer who left his poor wife with hardly a dime at his death. Billie Burke was the last Mrs. Ziegfeld and she returned to the stage due to these financial woes--hence, she probably never would have ended up in the Wizard of Oz or the Topper series if it wasn't out of necessity. It would have possibly been more interesting if the portrayal had focused on this aspect of him as well.

Long but well worth hanging in there for. Luise Rainer gives an outstanding well-deserved Oscar winning performance as Anna Held. The first half of the movie which covers the period of Ziegfeld's marriage to Held is the better half of the movie. Great re-enactment of stage Follies productions. 9 out of 10.

I first heard about William Powell not in the "Thin Man" films, but as the curmudgeonly Doc in the World War II classic "Mister Roberts", also starring Henry Fonda, James Cagney, and Jack Lemmon (in his first Oscar-winning role). By the time that movie came out, Powell was a veteran actor in the final stages of his career ("Mister Roberts" was his final motion picture appearance, followed by a role in a 1969 short film). So, upon the discovery that it was he who starred in the 1936 Best Picture winner, I had to take a look. And now that I have seen "The Great Ziegfeld", I must say that Powell's performance saved this film from what could very easily have been pure Depression-era escapist hoo-ha.

Sure, Luise Rainer took home Best Actress for her melodramatic portrayal of Ziegfeld's melodramatic first wife, Anna Held (To echo a sentiment of a fellow IMDb reviewer of this film, she originated the now-familiar "smiling through the tears" performance that we have seen many times). And Myrna Loy did a fine job as his second wife Billie Burke (you know, Glinda the Good Witch from "The Wizard of Oz"). Throw in some fine performances by Nat Pendleton as The Great Sandow and Virginia Bruce as the talented yet troublesome Audrey Dane, and you have what appears to be a fairly well-done biographical film about Florenz Ziegfeld, right?

Ah, but this is a movie about Florenz Ziegfeld, and in movies about Florenz Ziegfeld, you need to showcase some musical numbers and how he would have staged them. Don't get me wrong, the musical numbers in this movie feature some of the best choreography and staging of the Depression Era, with stages that moved in and out (in sections and all at once), dogs that stayed at their marks for over two minutes as women danced around (and over!) them, and the costumes! Oh, the costumes! How those women paraded around in some of those things with smiles on their faces is beyond me!

But over and above that is the infamous "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody", which everyone claims was done in a single shot. But if you look more closely, it was really done in two shots; the transition happens at the clown's close-up. Even with two shots (three, if you count the curtain reveal), we are talking about a single continuous production piece that stretches for seven minutes! It is perfectly clear that MGM spared no expense in making this movie. In fact, it cost about as much money to film "Pretty Girl" as it did for Ziegfeld himself to produce one of his Follies!

MGM was notorious for their over-the-top productions during the 1930s, and "The Great Ziegfeld" was no exception. The mentality at the time was that America (and much of the world, for that matter) was caught in the Great Depression, and the public needed movie musicals with bright, cheerful, optimistic, and lavish set pieces to "forget" about their troubles for a couple of hours. And, even though it isn't technically a musical, this film fits that bill. But with a running time of nearly three hours, "The Great Ziegfeld" seems to stall during the lavish musical numbers, making it severely dated by today's standards.

But I have saved the film's saving grace for last, and his name is William Powell! As Ziegfeld, he is both legitimate businessman and snake-oil vendor, devoted husband and father and lecherous womanizer, brilliant showman and luckiest man on Earth! But what makes Ziegfeld fascinating is the ease at which Powell moves from one end of the spectrum to the other in a flash, then back again, especially when playing with (or is it against?) Frank Morgan. As Ziegfeld's rival/nemesis/business partner Jack Billings, Frank Morgan gave us a man who was both flustered by and respectful to Ziegfeld's knack for showmanship.

As a bonus to the film, two people who owed their careers in show business to Florenz Ziegfeld appear as themselves in "The Great Ziegfeld". First up is Fanny Brice, who re-enacts her discovery by and her audition for him. And the legendary Ray Bolger does a wonderful dance number that rivals, if not outdoes, anything he did three years later in "The Wizard of Oz".

So there you have it. This review seems about as long as the movie itself, so I will sum it up like this: "The Great Ziegfeld" is too long and it stalls during the musical numbers, but William Powell and Ray Bolger make it worth watching.

Ziegfeld was as great as the great Gatsby. He was as great as the shows he produced. Like Gatsby, the public titled him as great.

A different kind of musical for the 1930's, it pretty much sums up the entire genre in a nut shell. The larger than life stage shows with hundreds of women as objects. The big budgets and the introduction to the Great Depression. As Ziegfeld dies, so does the genre of the 1930's that kept the public happy through the times of grief and depression.

Decent biopic. Won the 1937 Oscar for Best Picture.

The (true) story of Florenz Ziegfeld Jr, entertainment producer extraordinaire and creator of the Ziegfeld Follies. Shows his many ups and downs, veering many times from stellar success to near- bankruptcy. Also shows his relationships.

Like Ziegfeld's career, the movie has its ups and downs. The ups are the portrayals of Ziegfeld's creative genius and mind for advertising. He clearly knew how to put on a show, and how to generate publicity for his shows and performers. William Powell puts in a solid. convincing performance as Ziegfeld.

The shows themselves are quite entertaining, though do consume too much time.

There's the main problem - the movie goes on and on. The show scenes are overly long and too frequent. Plus there are several scenes involving Ziegfeld's private life that are boring and add nothing to the movie - they should have been left out. I really don't know how Luise Rainer won the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Anna Held - she was average, at best.

Overall, reasonably interesting from an historical perspective but could have done with some major editing.

Before anybody goes on for one minute more about how brilliant Luise Rainer is as Anna Held, let's remember that she took the Oscar from Garbo's Camille. I mean, come on. Rainer is pretty and her instincts are right, and her famous "telephone scene" expertly employs the old smiling-through-tears device. But it's hardly as challenging a role as Marguerite, and Rainer's undeniable Continental charm can go only so far.

The movie itself is a corker. William Anthony McGuire's screenplay is far above average for this musical-biography genre; it's full of smart wisecracks, and while it heavily fictionalizes Ziegfeld's life and persona (it makes him much more suave and irresistible than he was), it gets the big things right: his invention of the big musical revue, his obsession with glorifying the American girl, his unparalleled showmanship and eye for talent.

Speaking of talent, you get a full, uninterrupted, great Ray Bolger number, several clever and lavish production numbers, and a snippet of Fanny Brice (but cutting away from her "My Man" is unforgivable). The actors playing Eddie Cantor and Will Rogers are amusingly terrible. And Virginia Bruce is memorably nasty as a temperamental showgirl.

The Academy named this Best Picture of 1936. And you know, it probably was.

The main set piece of this film is an amazing feat of set design and choreography. But it can't mask what is at times an overly long and aimless script.

Oh my goodness what a boring film.

"The Great Ziegfeld" is one of the most dramatically inert movies I've ever seen. It tells the story of Florence Ziegfeld and the creation of the Ziegfeld Follies, but it feels more like an excuse to stage elaborate (and long) musical numbers that feature chorus girls posing in garish gowns. Watching these examples of the kinds of entertainment that were popular at the time, it's almost inconceivable to me that anyone would have wanted to pay money to see them.

What drama there is in the film comes from the relationship between Ziegfeld and his put-upon wife, Anna Held, played by Luise Rainer. William Powell plays Ziegfeld like William Powell, and he's as easy to watch on screen as he always is, but if the film has any assets at all, it's Rainer. She does what she can to make something of her role and the movie, and it's a shame that her part is so small. She disappears for long stretches altogether. Myrna Loy, top billed but not showing up until there's only about 30 minutes left in the movie, makes absolutely no attempt to look or sound like Billie Burke, Ziegfeld's second wife. This one is a struggle to get through -- the film is so lacking in any forward momentum I was afraid at times that it would just grind to a halt completely.

This terrible film managed to be named Best Picture at the 1936 Academy Awards. It's surely one of the worst films to ever win the top prize. It also scored a Best Actress award for Rainer, who I guess deserved it for giving the audience something, anything, interesting to watch. Its third Oscar went to Seymour Felix, who provided the choreography for the "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody" number, an interminable, vertigo-inducing one that features a bunch of elaborately-costumed women spinning around on a giant cake. The film was also nominated for Best Director (hah!), Best Original Story (hah!), Best Art Direction, and Best Film Editing. Yeah, like I couldn't have found anything to edit out of this 3 hour snoozer.

Grade: D-

This film was shown on TCM recently, in the DVD format, since it has an overture and a few minutes of "exit music". The copy was excellent, as it has been greatly restored as it looks extremely smooth to the eye.

Florenz Ziegfield was one of the most brilliant producers of this country at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. He had an eye for what worked on a stage. He was also the discoverer of a lot of the talent that went to have enormous careers of their own, long after they appeared in one of Mr. Ziegfeld's extravaganzas.

Robert Z. Leonard in directing this film had a lot of contributors, no doubt, but it's probably Adrian, the costume designer par excellence that gave this movie a lot of class by recreating for the screen some of the costumes that were associated with Ziegfeld.

William Powell portrays the great Ziegfeld. Mr. Powell is amazing in his interpretation of the creative man on the screen. He is this man he is playing on the screen; he is totally convincing he was born to play the role.

Actually the film leaves a lot of things unexplained. We know that Anna Held is out of the picture, after her divorce, but nothing is mentioned that she had died at all. Also, the relationship with his second wife, Billie Burke, comes as an afterthought since she only appears in the last part of the movie.

Luise Ranier made a compelling Anna Held, the French actress, who obviously never understood her husband, even though it's clear she loved him. She appears as a complete insecure person, never knowing what to do, or what to decide on. As far as the Oscar she won for playing this role, it eludes my comprehension, or maybe that year her competition must have been poor.

Myrna Loy as Billie Burke gives a radiant performance. She was always a convincing actress and in the film she demonstrates her versatility in playing a musical comedy star. The young Myrna Loy was a gorgeous creature, as proven in this film.

The costumes from some of the musical numbers are incredible. Of course, they were made to suit the theatricality of whatever Mr. Ziegfeld presented. Such extravagant numbers will never be presented on a Broadway stage ever again as the cost would be prohibitive.

Virginia Bruce, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Fanny Brice appear in the film, but of course, the picture is dominated by William Powell from beginning to end.

The nominees for the 1937 Best Picture Oscar included some of the greatest movies ever made: Dodsworth, A Tale of Two Cities, The Story of Louis Pasteur, and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. Libeled Lady, San Francisco, and Romeo and Juliet (with Norma Schearer) were unequal but often good as well. And yet, the winner of that year's Best Picture award was The Great Ziegfeld, an undistinguished melodrama. Yes, in the middle, when they reproduce a Ziegfeld show, there are some impressive staged numbers, of which the best is definitely "A Pretty Girl is like a Melody," which just keeps building and building. But the rest of this movie is a long and undistinguished melodrama. How did it win the Oscar? And how, oh how, did Louise Rainer get the Oscar for Best Actress??? That I truly do not understand. Her very artificial performance pales into obscurity against some of the other nominees, like Irene Dunne in "Theodora Goes Wild," or Carole Lombard in "My Man Godfey" - or Ruth Chatterton in "Dodsworth." If you can catch the musical numbers and skip the rest, you'll get the uneven best this movie has to offer, and miss what is largely not worth bothering with.