Hollywood had a history of making bloated, boring extravaganzas in the past and this could have been just one more, but this time everything fell into place. It deserved its four Academy Award wins, including Best Picture and the enormous success it had with the public. Its three hour running time only drags a bit near the end, But then wraps itself up quickly. Because it was about Florenz Ziegfeld, a man who took living large to new extremes, it simply had to be a big and lavish film. It was directed by Robert z. Leonard, who had directed many of the MacDonald-Eddy musicals.
The cast is one of the film's greatest assets. William Powell is in one of his his best roles here, his natural warmth and charm energizing the entire production and carrying the film which was no mean feat. Luise Rainer's Anna Held is charming, vulnerable and sympathetic. Old pro Frank Morgan is fine as Ziegfeld's competitor and friend Jack Billings, the one imaginary character among the principals. Myrna Loy wisely chose just to be her charming self as Ziegfeld's second wife, Billie Burke instead of imitating her unique mannerisms. Burke was going to play herself in the original conception of the film at Universal, but when MGM took it over (it was too expensive for Universal) they wanted a better known star. Besides, Ziegfeld met Miss Burke when she was 26 and by this time she was 51, while Myrna Loy was 30. Nat Pendleton, the former Olympic medal-winning wrestler, played Sandow and would later play lieutenant Guild in two of the Thin Man pictures. Reginald Owen, as usual is the perfect English butler and Herman Bing makes the most as Ziegfeld's eternally flustered costumer.
The script is what you would expect of a Thirties film, with many saccharine moments, but it never overdoes it too much, not even in the famous "telephone scene". For a Hollywood biopic is actually stays fairly close to many events in Ziegfeld's life, and certainly to his extravagant spirit. His father really did found a music conservatory in Chicago, and he really did get his start with strongman Sandow at the 1896 Chicago World's Fair. He did find Anna held in London and did promote her in New York with shameless publicity stunts. His ceaseless womanizing was sanitized for the film but did have a long affair with Follies star Lillian Lorraine, an erratic, irresponsible woman thinly disguised here as Audrey Dane (played by Virginia Bruce). It was actually Anna who suggested doing a follies show similar to the Folies Bergere in Paris, somehow not realizing she was putting a kid in a candy store. He did marry Billie Burke, His habit of giving extravagant gifts and sending telegrams to people who were nearby are well documented.The script had a few nice touches that could almost go unnoticed: men, like those from the barber shop incident mispronounce his name as Mr. "Ziegfield" (a common error) when he presents them with tickets, but those who actually know him call him Ziegfeld.
The musical numbers were wisely kept to just a few, preventing the film from becoming a vaudeville show. The two main numbers, the extraordinary "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody" number and the Midnight Frolic on the roof of the New Amsterdam are back to back, seeming to overstuff the film's middle, but were separated by an intermission in theaters. The only misstep was cutting Fanny Brice off just as she begins her signature song, My Man. What were they thinking? I'd have much rather had that number in instead of the dog and pony show that occurs later in the film. The film rightfully won the best Dance Direction Oscar for the Pretty Girl production, one of the most famous musical scenes in Thirties film, with its elaborate costumes and staging and its mix of Dvorak, Liszt, Johann Strauss, Mascagni and Gershwin.
If you want to give it a try, set some time aside and enjoy this great epic musical of the Thirties.
Trivia fact: One of the Ziegfeld girls in the film was played by Patricia Ryan, the future Pat Nixon.
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Top reviews from other countries
john wright
Enjoyable old-fashioned Hollywood biopic
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 23, 2015
Mr. David Titley
A watered down Ziegfled
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 20, 2018Mr Y.
Were the dresses ever paid for?
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 20, 2018Marie 2010
From the golden years of musicals
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 23, 2017B. Gilbert
A Great piece of entertainment from a golden age
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 7, 2017
