Great Ziegfeld
by Robert Z. Leonard
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VHS Tape Cover Information
Actor: Fanny Brice, Frank Morgan, Luise Rainer, Myrna Loy, William PowellDirector: Robert Z. Leonard
Cinematographer: George J. Folsey
Cinematographer: Karl Freund
Cinematographer: Merritt B. Gerstad
Cinematographer: Oliver T. Marsh
Producer: Hunt Stromberg
Producer: Sidney Algier
Writer: William Anthony McGuire
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language), Analog
Format: Black & White, HiFi Sound, NTSC
Running Time: 176 minutes
Release Date: 1994-12-21
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: MGM (Video & DVD)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
VHS Movie Reviews of Great Ziegfeld
Movie Review: they don't make 'em like they used to
Summary: 4 Stars
THE GREAT ZIEGFELD was another big one for MGM, a biopic extravaganza in which the life of Florenz Ziegfeld was used as a sounding board for a variety of ever more spectacular musical numbers. Along the way, there are brief respites for some guest stars (Ray Bolger and Fanny Brice - her line, "For Ziegfeld, I gotta be an urchin... even in burlesque, I was middle-class", is priceless), and mind-numbing musical numbers (how were those supposed to be done live on stage?), tied to a story of Ziegfeld's life and loves. This was not only a box office smash, it was also a big award magnet, winning the Academy Award as Best Picture as well as the award for Best Actress for Luise Rainer's portrayal of Anna Held. Now: this is an example of the height of frivolity, because Anna Held was a great sex symbol in her day (the turn-of-the-century equivalent of Brigitte Bardot in the 1950s) and the waif-like Luise Rainer is anything but... But does it matter? Rainer gets to do a celebrated smiling-through-tears telephone act (impressive enough for her to win the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress, which paved the way for the inevitable Oscar), and Myrna Loy shows up as Billie Burke (Mrs. Ziegfeld Number Two), though this caused the real Billie Burke no end of distress (she couldn't see why she shouldn't play herself). "A pretty girl/Is like a melody/That haunts you night and day..." And in its way, this movie, lumbering and overblown and fabricated as it is, remains a memorable example of MGM engineering. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Summary of Great Ziegfeld
Winner of three Academy Awards including Best Picture, The Great Ziegfeld stars William Powell in a biopic "suggested by romances and incidents in the life of America's greatest showman, Florenz Ziegfeld Jr." With admirable accuracy, the film follows Ziegfeld's career from small-time sideshow barker to creator of the famous Ziegfeld Follies, the collection of singing, dancing, and comedy vaudeville acts that launched the careers of such luminaries as Fanny Brice, Ray Bolger, and Harriet Hoctor, all of whom play themselves in the film. In the title role, Powell offers a believable combination of ambition and hucksterism, and his Thin Man costar Myrna Loy makes a late appearance as his second wife, but it's large-eyed Luise Rainer who has the showier role (and won an Oscar) as Ziegfeld's first big star and first wife. The musical numbers, however, don't hold up quite as well as the plot, and the film is overlong at 185 minutes. It's fascinating, though, to see the vintage stars performing, and the eight-minute spectacle "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody" is an eye-popper, with an elaborate revolving set supporting a large cast singing and dancing to the Irving Berlin tune while throwing in some Puccini, Strauss, Leoncavallo, and Gershwin for good measure. --David HoriuchiDrama VHS Video
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