Customer Reviews

Goldwyn Follies [VHS]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was delighted to see the new DVD release. For the first time, this movie has been transferred to show how great the true Technicolor process was. There are subtle shades of color seldom seen in today's color processes. As for the picture itself, it is a mixed blessing with some great musical numbers and good comedy routines. Some of it is "slow" but keep in mind that it is 1938. For a dyed-in-the-wool movie buff (like me), it is a real treat seeing Vera Zorina, Charlie McCarthy and the Ritz Brothers in their heyday.

One thing you can say about Sam Goldwyn's ventures into musicals. He could either hit them out of the park ("Whoopee", "Palmy Days", "The Kid From Spain", etc.), he could miss completely ("One Heavenly Night"), or he could come up with a film that really is a bit of a mess but enjoyable for the classic film lover. The problem here seems to be that the film is trying to imitate to some degree the Warner Busby Berkeley films of 1933, the problem being that it is five years later. You'd think that of all people Goldwyn would have gotten that, since Busby Berkeley was directing his dance numbers in his Eddie Cantor films before Warner Bros. got a hold of him. Kenny Baker is obviously trying to stand in for Dick Powell, and he's good enough, it's just that musicals were transitioning to a different phase by 1938, the year this film was released. Thus the backstage banter between chorus girls doesn't come off very well after the code. The Ritz Bros. are obviously trying to stand in for the Marx Bros. and they do have a funny routine about a cat, but in the end they do get a bit tiresome. The film does have the dashing Adolphe Menjou, and he improves just about every film he's in including this one. The Technicolor is gorgeous and the Gershwin music is wonderful.

However, the modern viewer has one strategic advantage over the viewer that saw this in the first-run. We're not trapped in the perspective of a 1938 movie-goer so we can enjoy the film for what it is - some great musical numbers with a little good comedy and a lot of silliness.

One thing I don't get. This film first appeared on DVD as part of the giant Hollywood Musicals Collection late in 2008. One of the other films making its debut on DVD was the long awaited "Whoopee" starring Eddie Cantor. Why is this film debuting as a solo and not "Whoopee"? Is MGM allergic to money or something? I'm hoping that the reason is that they intend to release a set of Eddie Cantor's musicals together in the very near future but I tend to believe that the studio is allowing political correctness to trump sound fiscal policy even in these slim economic times.

Probably the only reason for remembering The Goldwyn Follies is that it's the movie George Gershwin was working on when he died at 38 of a brain tumor. In truth, the movie is a mish-mash, although a good-natured one, involving comedy bits, musical numbers and what Sam Goldwyn considered "class." The best thing about the film are two George and Ira Gershwin songs that are as fresh and wise today as when they were written, "Our Love Is Here to Stay" and "Love Walked In." The story line is as thin as a thread, designed to keep the numbers coming and to provide some fun at Hollywood's expense. Ben Hecht is credited with the screenplay. He artfully places some banderillas that probably puckered the skin of several types of Hollywood denizens, from producers to divas to sycophants to...you get the idea.

Hollywood producer Oliver Merlin (Adolphe Menjou) has convinced himself he needs someone to tell him honestly about the new movie he's working on, someone who will represent the big audience out there. On a location shoot he meets a young woman who fits the bill. She's Hazel Dawes (Andrea Leeds), gentle, sincere and honest. "I'm a producer of movies," he tells her. "I get my wagonloads of poets and dramatists, but I can't buy common sense. I cannot buy humanity!" "Well, I don't know why, Mr. Merlin. There's an awful lot of it," Hazel says. Merlin looks at her impatiently. "Yes, I know," he says, "but the moment I buy it, it turns into something else, usually genius, and it isn't worth a dime. Now, if you could stay just as simple as you are, you'd be invaluable to me. I'll put you on my staff. I'll give you a title, 'Miss Humanity.' Don't rush, you can finish your ice cream soda." Merlin brings her to Hollywood and consults her on everything from script changes to plot developments. Of course, she also meets a young man, Danny Beecher (Kenny Baker), who has a great tenor and a way with flipping hamburgers. Merlin makes changes in his movie. There's love, a brief misunderstanding quickly resolved and then a happy ending.

All this is just a clothes line to hang the comedy and musical numbers on. This is a review movie and Goldwyn gives us a lot to watch, including his idea of culture. This has usually meant excerpts from opera, over-produced and sung straight ahead. Here, we get a bit of an aria from Traviata. We also get a genuinely stunning water-nymph ballet danced by Vera Zorina, choreographed by George Balanchine and with music by Vernon Duke. But we also get the Ritz Brothers, frenetic, anarchic and, above all else, loud. Bobby Clark, a great burlesque, vaudeville and stage star, shows up as a casting director, all leers and cigars. Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy make several appearances. Bergen may be bland but McCarthy really is funny, especially when looking at tall showgirls. Phil Baker, a comic big in vaudeville and radio, shows up in a recurring gag and finally faces off with McCarthy. There's even Alan Ladd in a brief bit as one of several awful singers auditioning for a part in Merlin's movie. Kenny Baker, who was a singer much like a young Dick Powell but without the cockiness, does full justice to the two great Gershwin songs.

The Goldwyn Follies sprawls all over the place, still I like it. First, because it provides a look at some stars we've nearly forgotten, people like Edgar Bergen, Vera Zorina, Phil Baker and Bobby Clark. Even the Ritz Brothers. These were people who knew their stuff. They were professionals and it comes through. Second, those Gershwin songs. They are so good they lift the movie whenever Baker sings them. For me, they create a bittersweet feeling. George Gershwin was at the height of his powers when he wrote them. What on earth could he have created if he'd lived? So here's to George and Ira...

The more I read the papers, the less I comprehend.
The world and all it's capers and how it all will end.
Nothing seems to be lasting, but that isn't our affair.
We've got something permanent,
I mean in the way we care.

It's very clear, our love is here to stay.
Not for a year, but ever and a day.
The radio and the telephone
And the movies that we know,
May just be passing fancies and in time may go.
But, oh my dear, our love is here to stay.
Together we're going a long, long way.
In time the Rockies may crumble,
Gibraltar may tumble, they're only made of clay.
But our love is here to stay.

THE GOLDWYN FOLLIES(1938) is an excellent account of the madness of moviemaking. It`s all here; the hysteria, the intrigues, the fun, the egotism, the worries before an opening etc. VERA ZORINA(Eva Brigitta Hartwig), a Norwegian ballet dancer delivers in her filmdebut, a funny and campy incarnation of a r u s s i a n and TEMPERAMENTEL ballerina. The Ritz Brothers has a humour that is way passed the line - and it still works. The same goes for Edgar Bergen and the doll Charlie. Kenny Baker is DULLLLLLLL, and sings the same song thrice too many, as are Andrea Leeds. She`s too goody goody. Adolphe Menjou is a mogul par excellence and the production numbers are spectacular.

The Goldwyn Follies is Samuel Goldwyn's answer to the popular Ziegfeld Follies films based on the work of Florenz Ziegfeld of the 1920s. This film is packed with musical and vaudeville-type numbers. The mood is very light and silly, but it is also quite fun at times.

There are three stars. Adolph Menjou plays a film director who stumbles upon an average country girl (Andrea Leeds) with many opinions about why films fail. He hires her to help him with his next picture and she agrees. In the process, he begins to fall for her, but she meets and falls for a crooning hamburger stand man (Kenny Baker) who she helps become a star in films. In the meantime, there is a frustrated accordian player, the outrageous Ritz Brothers who might as well be the singing version of The Three Stooges, and a strange ventriloquist. Leeds looks like Janet Gaynor and is as sweet as she is too. Baker sounds exactly like Dick Powell and the two sort of look alike too; it is eerie at times.

The musical numbers vary in style and in quality. Some are entertaining and some fall flat. There is a dance illustrating Romeo and Juliet between ballet and jazz dancers; it is strangely similar to West Side Story only this was made years earlier. There are several operatic scenes with "Traviata." There are a few extravagant dance sequences like one around a fountain. There is one very entertaining sequence about pussy cats done by the Ritz Brothers too.

Probably the only reason for remembering The Goldwyn Follies is that it's the movie George Gershwin was working on when he died at 38 of a brain tumor. In truth, the movie is a mish-mash, although a good-natured one, involving comedy bits, musical numbers and what Goldwyn considered "class." The best thing about the film are two George and Ira Gershwin songs that are as fresh and wise today as when they were written, "Our Love Is Here to Stay" and "Love Walked In." The story line is as thin as a thread, designed to keep the numbers coming and to provide some fun at Hollywood's expense. Ben Hecht is credited with the screenplay. He artfully places some banderillas that probably puckered the skin of several types of Hollywood denizens, from producers to divas to sycophants to...you get the idea.

Hollywood producer Oliver Merlin (Adolphe Menjou) has convinced himself he needs someone to tell him honestly about the new movie he's working on, someone who will represent the big audience out there. On a location shoot he meets a young woman who fits the bill. She's Hazel Dawes (Andrea Leeds), gentle, sincere and honest. "I'm a producer of movies," he tells her. "I get my wagonloads of poets and dramatists, but I can't buy common sense. I cannot buy humanity!" "Well, I don't know why, Mr. Merlin. There's an awful lot of it," Hazel says. Merlin looks at her impatiently. "Yes, I know," he says, "but the moment I buy it, it turns into something else, usually genius, and it isn't worth a dime. Now, if you could stay just as simple as you are, you'd be invaluable to me. I'll put you on my staff. I'll give you a title, 'Miss Humanity.' Don't rush, you can finish your ice cream soda." Merlin brings her to Hollywood and consults her on everything from script changes to plot developments. Of course, she also meets a young man, Danny Beecher (Kenny Baker), who has a great tenor and a way with flipping hamburgers. Merlin makes changes in his movie. There's love, a brief misunderstanding quickly resolved and then a happy ending.

All this is just a clothes line to hang the comedy and musical numbers on. This is a review movie and Goldwyn gives us a lot to watch, including his idea of culture. This has usually meant excerpts from opera, over-produced and sung straight ahead. Here, we get a bit of an aria from Traviata. We also get a genuinely stunning water-nymph ballet danced by Vera Zorina, choreographed by George Balanchine and with music by Vernon Duke. But we also get the Ritz Brothers, frenetic, anarchic and, above all else, loud. They were big stuff in the Thirties. I think nowadays they'd be an acquired taste. Bobby Clark, a great burlesque, vaudeville and stage star, shows up as a casting director, all leers and cigars. Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy make several appearances. I've always been intrigued at how Bergen could maintain such a sharply split personality between himself and his wooden pal. Bergen may be bland but McCarthy really is funny, especially when looking at tall showgirls. Phil Baker, a comic big in vaudeville and radio, shows up in a recurring gag and finally faces off with McCarthy. There's even Alan Ladd in a brief bit as one of several awful singers auditioning for a part in Merlin's movie. Kenny Baker, who was a singer much like a young Dick Powell but without the cockiness, does full justice to the two great Gershwin songs.

The Goldwyn Follies sprawls all over the place, still I like it. First, because it provides a look at some stars we've nearly forgotten, people like Edgar Bergen, Vera Zorina, Phil Baker and Bobby Clark. Even the Ritz Brothers. These were people who knew their stuff. They were professionals and it comes through. Second, those Gershwin songs. They are so good they lift the movie whenever Baker sings them. For me, they create a bittersweet feeling. George Gershwin was at the height of his powers when he wrote them. What on earth could he have created if he'd lived? So here's to George and Ira...

The more I read the papers, the less I comprehend.
The world and all it's capers and how it all will end.
Nothing seems to be lasting, but that isn't our affair.
We've got something permanent,
I mean in the way we care.

It's very clear, our love is here to stay.
Not for a year, but ever and a day.
The radio and the telephone
And the movies that we know,
May just be passing fancies and in time may go.
But, oh my dear, our love is here to stay.
Together we're going a long, long way.
In time the Rockies may crumble,
Gibraltar may tumble, they're only made of clay.
But our love is here to stay.

If you look, the Goldwyn Follies can be found VHS tape and a DVD edition. Occasionally it shows up on cable. Let's hope that one of these days we can see it on a readily available DVD.

Being a RITZ BROTHERS fan I have the old 1998 HBO/Samual Goldwyn Home Video DVD of this movie, which doesn't look bad. I cued up the two DVDs to see if there really is an improvement with this new MGM/FOX DVD release. AND THERE IS!

1) The old HBO DVD cropps off a significant amount of picture on the right side & the top of the picture!

2) The old HBO DVD is softer, details are lost in some dark objects that are there in this new MGM/FOX DVD.

3) The color balance looks better in this new MGM/FOX DVD. The HBO DVD does not look bad until you compare it to this new one.

4) The audio is a little crisper in this newer MGM/FOX DVD.

Should you go out & buy this new DVD to replace your old one? I would say it depends on how much you like this average movie.
The music is not outstanding.
The story is typical Hollywood idealism with a little of Hollywood reality thrown in near the end.
For me, it was seeing The Ritz Brothers that livened up the show.
Fans of obsure comedy teams will also recognize BOBBY CLARK of CLARK & McCULLAM comedy shorts playing Adolfe Menjou's lackie.

This film is a treasure. It is an artfully done Hollywood does Hollywood film, circa 1938; with it's tongue in it's cheek, and a great sense of humour, panache and whimsy.
It is so very flavorful of the period, that wafts of nostalgic sighs are brought on by the efforts...particularly hearing and seeing George & Ira Gershwin's poignant "Love Walked In", as sung by Kenny Baker, who really had a fantastic voice.
The film score was almost entirely a Gershwin job, with the exception of the music for the ballet (directed by Ballenchine!) sequence, written by Vernon Duke.
I am told that this was the last score done by George Gershwin before his untimely passing soon after.
Vera Zarina is superb, no matter what anyone said. She could dance,and she could act....and she was beautiful.
Edgar Bergan and Charlie McCarthy make their screen debut here.
Adolph Menjou effortlessly outdoes "himself" in a role so similar to so many he played. He's wonderful!
Andrea Leeds is sweetly adorable and sings sweetly too!
Although Phil Bakers part could have been expanded to get more of his ability and talent exposed, his appearance here is an enjoyable extra attraction....and the irony is that the character that he is playing is getting the same treatment in the sub-plot story line, make of it what you will!
Ben Hecht and others of no small abilities contribute to the writing mix.
The entire production just reeks of talent:
- writing, cast, music, choreography, photography, lighting, direction and all!
Really speaking, this film is showcase for some fantastic specialty acts of the day....nevermind the plot line!
And while all the "acts" are a pleasure to watch in the luscious pastel shades of vintage technicolour; it is the antics of the infamous Ritz Brothers that steals the show.
After viewing them do their shtik in the "Serenade to a Fish"
routine, you will know why the rest of the cast seems to be sleepwalking through the picture by comparison.
The under rated by posterity Ritz Bros. were a talented trio
who were capable of far more than is revealed in this picture, as anyone who ever saw them dance could attest to; They could leave you breathless at their agility and finesse, while at the same time have you rolling in the aisle laughing.
Seeing them do their thing here, even though their bits are short and leave you hungry for more for, is; as used to be said; worth the price of admission alone!
While, of course, the Ritz Bros. are not everyone's cup of tea, as neither is Vera Zarina, Adolph Menjou, Kenny Baker, Bergan & McCarthy et al.....they do deserve special mention here, as they get ignored by others too often
as unmentionable or unworthy of notice, which is unfortunate; as they gave a lot of people a lot of joy.
If you are a Ritz Bros.fan, you will love this film, and you will be rewinding to see their bits again and again to savour every precious moment of it. And if you are just a fan of this genre and period; the film as a whole, will bring many happy smiles.

"The Goldwyn Follies"
(MGM, 1938)
-------------------------------------------
Adolphe Menjou almost steals the show here, in this potboiler musical about a plain-jane, all-American young woman (Andrea Leeds) who a bigshot director brings to Hollywood in order to act as a check on his own poor artistic judgment. She speaks for unjaded average folks, common people who want to see movies that look like real life. This idea isn't explored as fully as it could have been (although she does get to suggest a happy ending for "Romeo And Juliet!) but it's kind of a funny concept. Anyway, she latches onto a charming, handsome young would-be actor with a golden voice (played by Kenny Baker, although if you looked at him sideways, you'd swear it was Dick Powell...) After she finagles an audition for him, he instantly becomes a big star, almost outshining his grouchy Garbo-esque co-star.

This is an odd musical, imitative of the big Busby Berkeley in parts, but with very few song-and-dance numbers (it takes forever for the first song to hit the screen) and a major emphasis on high-culture performers, with a big chunk of "La Traviata" dropped in the middle of the film. This film may be for hardcore musicals fans only, but I'm sure they will be happy to see its re-release to DVD. Worth checking out, if only for the extended footage of Charlie McCarthy and his friend, legendary ventriloquist Edgar Bergen: how *does* Bergen do that?? (Joe Sixpack, Slipcue film reviews)

"The Goldwyn Follies" has not fared well with critics even from the time it was first released, some of whom have called it one of the worst films ever made. My own personal opinion of this film isn't quite so jaundiced as that.

Part of the problem seems to be that Samuel Goldwyn attempted to out-Ziegfeld Ziegfeld, and in the process released a film that, while entertaining, seems rather disjointed. In certain respects "The Goldwyn Follies" stumbles & staggers like a car with a bad transmission. Perhaps it would have been better had this film been done in a revue form similar to the Ziegfeld Follies style.

Having said all this, "The Goldwyn Follies" is still worth viewing for all the varied & various entertainers who appear: ballerina Vera Zorina, Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy, the Ritz Brothers with their own particular brand of insanity, popular singer Kenny Baker (a regular on Jack Benny's radio show at the time), opera star Helen Jepson, vaudevillian Bobby Clark (who for some reason was not permitted to use his trademark painted-on glasses), and radio comic Phil Baker.

The film's plot involves film producer Oliver Merlin (Adolphe Menjou) whose movies fail consistently at the box office. While shooting a film on location with his temperamental star Olga Samara (Zorina), Merlin overhears Hazel Dawes (Andrea Leeds in her first film following her triumph in "Stage Door"), a young woman who watches the film shoot with a friend & comments about how less than human the characters seem to be. Mr. Merlin follows Hazel to a drugstore soda fountain where he hires her to be "Miss Humanity" and critique his ideas for film scenes but not to associate with actors so as to lose her down-to-earth qualities. Eventually Hazel meets a prospective movie singer (Baker) who runs a lunch counter, and a love interest develops between them.

"The Goldwyn Follies" features music by George & Ira Gershwin as well as choreography by George Balanchine. The former's contributions include the song "Love Walked In" while the latter's include a "Romeo and Juliet" sequence resembling a competition between "The Nutcracker" and "West Side Story" as well as a ballet featuring Vera Zorina as a water nymph who ascends & descends from a pool.

For all the problems this film may have had, in the end it isn't a total washout.

P.S. Keep your eyes open for an appearance by a young Alan Ladd in a bit as an auditioning singer.