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22 out of 25 people found the following comment useful :-
What A Lovable Dinosaur, 13 February 2005

Author: Lechuguilla from Dallas, Texas

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.

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16 out of 20 people found the following comment useful :-
Ziegfeld: The Collossal Showman, 31 December 2002
Author: lugonian from Kissimmee, Florida

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 beginning of the movie, with very its impressive theatrical lighted title credits that lasts a little over two minutes, one would have to expect this film to be on a lavish scale, and it is. So lavish that it leaves the impression that the initials of MGM actually stands for Mighty Grand Musical, which is what to expect from this production lasting a then record breaking running time of three solid hours (180 minutes), or in other words, two movies for the price of one. What an impression THE GREAT ZIEGFELD made on its viewers in 1936. And since Ziegfeld's name was still in recent memory, it sure was to guarantee both audience and success, unlike a biography on someone who lived a century or more ago. And a name like Anna Held (1873-1918) might be one for the history books, but because of Luise Rainer's carnation of this popular actress of the early part of the twentieth century, the Held name is certainly not forgotten, although more associated with Rainer than as the first Mrs. Ziegfeld.

The plot traces the career of Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. (William Powell), beginning with him 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 Billings to the punch by signing a popular French actress named Anna Held (Luise Rainer), to a performing contract with him back in America, and to be sure he wouldn't lose his prize star, Ziegfeld marries her. During their somewhat stormy marriage, Florenz Ziegfeld stages extravagant shows that make him world famous, particularly on Broadway. Constantly surrounded by gorgeous show girls, Ziegfeld has his share of problems, especially with Audrey Dane (Virginia Bruce), a tempermental showgirl who wants the spotlight, but because she is difficult to handle, she is unable to get her name in lights. Being bawled out in her dressing room for being drunk and disorderly during a performance, Audrey strikes back at Ziegfeld by kissing him, causing the jealous Anna, who has always suspected her husband to have an eye for his girls, to witness this misunderstanding through an open door, causing her to walk out of his life forever. After the divorce, Ziegfeld 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 after his theatrical downfall and further decline after losing his entire fortune at the 1929 Stock Market Crash.

On the musical program, which combines 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 blackface); "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody" by Irving Berlin (sung by Dennis Morgan/with 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), followed by inserts of songs from Ziegfeld's famous Broadway shows as RIO RITA, WHOOPEE, THE THREE MUSKETEERS and SHOW BOAT (briefly playing "Ol Man River" on the soundtrak).

The "granddaddy of all Hollywood's musical biographies, THE GREAT ZIEGFELD is a very impressive film with an impressive cast, including Reginald Owen as Sampston; Joseph Cawthorn as Doctor Ziegfeld; Marcelle Corday as Marie, Anna's maid; Raymond Walburn as Sage; Jean Chatburn as Mary Lou, as an adult; and, unbilled, William Demarest as composer, Gene Buck; and Ann Gillis as Mary Lou, as a child. While the film has Ziegfeld entertainers such as Fannie Brice, Ray Bolger and Harriet Hoctor appearing as themselves, it features A.A. Trimble and Buddy Doyle authentically duplicating Will Rogers and Eddie Cantor at best. This doesn't go without some regrets, such as not having the likes of W.C. Fields or Marilyn Miller taking part in guest starring roles recreating what they did best while under Ziegfeld. Another letdown is having Fanny Brice (in her scene in which she walks down the stars looking amazing like future performer, Barbra Streisand, who portrayed her in 1968s FUNNY GIRL); singing her signature torch song, "My Man" as the story cuts through unnecessary dialogue, never having her sing the song in its entirety, thus, cutting away to another scene, having her appear no more. The performance of Luise Rainer as Anna Held may not work well with today's audience, yet she did win an Academy Award as Best Actress for her performance on the basis of her famous "telephone scene" in which the now divorced Anna congratulates her ex-husband on his marriage to Billie Burke as she holds in her true emotions. This sad-eyed Austrian beauty did it so well with this scene that it still ranks as one of the film's highlights, along with a very funny scene which finds Fannie Brice mistaking Ziegfeld as a peddler selling her "used" mink coats. Another highlight is the lavish scale production number of "A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody." This authentically reproduced eight minute musical segment alone makes this movie worth sitting through, which appears 83 minutes from the start of the story. While Billie Burke (1885-1970) could have very well portrayed herself in this production, then currently a well known character actress in films, mostly for MGM, Myrna Loy steps in for box office appeal. In spite of Loy being second billed in the casting credits, her character doesn't appear until the movie passes ten minutes over the two hour mark. Instead of imitating Billie Burke as she was personally, Loy portrayed her just being herself, only lightening her hair in the Burke manner. While THE GREAT ZIEGFELD did win three Academy Awards: Best Picture; Best Actress (Rainer) and Best Dance Direction ("Pretty Girl is Like a Melody"), one award that seems to have been overlooked is Frank Morgan as the fictitional Billings, whose character as Ziegfeld's best friend and competitor, being so memorable that he should have at least been nominated as Best Supporting Actor. With William Powell as the main focus from start to finish, one would wonder why he was overlooked by the academy for his performance. Ray Bolger, forever known for his role as the Scarecrow in THE WIZARD OF OZ (MGM, 1939), makes his movie debut here, playing himself (though never being identified as Ray Bolger), working his way from hired stage hand to rubber-legged dancer. This is a very rare opportunity in seeing Bolger doing his famous fancy footwork on film, spreading his legs apart and rising upward a couple of times from the floor like a puppet on a string.

Unlike similar musical biographies of this nature that have been distributed in droves throughout the 1940s and 50s, beginning with YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (WB, 1942), ZIEGFELD captures the spirit of its time period, with costumes and women's hairstyles being historiclaly accurate, unlike other films such as ZIEGFELD GIRL (1941), set in the 1920s with its leading performers dressed in 1940s modern costumes. THE GREAT ZIEGFELD may not be historically accurate, placing characters and situations in different time periods, the story in itself, builds itself to no real suspense, but a "soap opera" type of plot on one particular man with extravagant taste who produces only the best shows on Broadway. Nothing Ziegfeld did was second rate.

A movie at this extreme length would tend to have its slow spots, and has, particularly Anna Held's rebelling towards taking milk baths, or with its final 15 minutes, among others, but THE GREAT ZIEGFELD is a large scale production (as Ziegfeld himself had done with his shows)that can only be reproduced and presented by MGM.

When THE GREAT ZIEGFELD played on late night on commercial television from the 1960s to 1980s, TV prints usually eleminated certain scenes, such as Ziegfeld, as a publicity stunt, telephoning the humane society about Sandow wrestling a lion; Buddy Doyle's Eddie Cantor number; the INTERMISSION title that follows the "Melody" number, plus bits and pieces here and there.

Available on double video cassette package through MGM/UA since the late 1980s, THE GREAT ZIEGFELD plays on cable television's Turner Classic Movies intact. One wonders what scenes in this extremely long movie landed on the cutting room floor.

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, and at 156 minutes, it seemed longer than the original. Unlike the Powell version, the 1978 bio-pic remains forgotten, having been released at a time with the Ziegfeld name being only associated with a theater on Sixth Avenue in New York City than on the man himself. For more information on the life of Florenz Ziegfeld, be sure to watch his life story in the one hour presentation cable television's A&E's BIOGRAPHY the next time it airs.

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12 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
Jeez Luise, 17 December 2002

Author: marcslope

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.

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6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
A Bang for your bucks., 6 December 2001
Author: Bucs1960 from West Virginia

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!

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6 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Great Ziegfeld, Great Movie!, 7 July 2001

Author: anthropo from New York, NY

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.

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11 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
I loved it, 25 April 2004

Author: miltonb1 from New Jersey

This is one of the best Hollywood bios I've ever seen. The pacing is fast for a movie from 1936 and William Powell and especially Louise Rainer are fantastic. Filmed in one take, the "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody" musical number is incredible. One also gets to see Fanny Brice in a rare film appearance, and if you remember Barbara Streisand in Funny Girl you'll see how close Streisand got to perfectly imitating Brice. Also, Ray Bolger does an incredible dance routine which shows off his talent to greater effect then his performance as the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz. He's unbelievable. My only complaint, and this is about the DVD, is that Warner should have made the effort of restoring this amazing picture. Most of it looks pretty good but there are many sections with scratches and speckles.

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Damn Good for a Film Biography of a Theatrical Giant, 12 November 2007

Author: theowinthrop from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I suspect that had Dashiell Hammett never written a successful comic pot boiler detective story called THE THIN MAN, William Powell's best remembered role would be as Florenz Ziegfeld in THE GREAT ZIEGFELD. Here he captured that brilliant showman's vision and drive with just the right degree of sophistication. I can't think of few others - maybe Robert Montgomery, but I sadly doubt it (he seems too young) - who could have done as first rate a job.

It is really rare for a theatrical presence to maintain himself or herself decades or centuries after their death. Prior to the invention of motion pictures it was impossible (except for the late 19th Century crowd, starting with Edwin Booth, Sir Henry Irving, and Ellen Terry - they had some phonograph recordings) for actors to preserve their personas. Photo stills helped but did not leave much. Occasionally one would "accomplish" something for good or ill that people would recall (i.e., John Wilkes Booth), but that was a rarity. Movies changed that by allowing the audience to stretch from the contemporaries to the future ones. There are actual movies of Flo Ziegfeld at work on Broadway. Unfortunately he did not look like Bill Powell (Flo was somewhat fat), but those surviving newsreels showed his energy with his casts and productions. Powell got that side of him right.

THE GREAT ZIEGFELD traces the showman from his start as the publicity manager of Eugene Sandow (Nat Pendleton) from the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 to his rise as a major Broadway impresario from 1900 until 1930. Only the Great Depression destroyed Ziegfeld's career (he lost most of his fortune in the crash). Significantly his fall is showed by the lights of his four currently big shows (including SHOWBOAT, RIO RITA, and THE THREE MUSKETEERS) all fading out one after another. It not only destroyed his career, but it helped kill the poor fellow (he died in 1932). But by that point his historical reputation was established by his series of spectacular Broadway "Follies" shows with the likes of Ed Wynn, Fanny Brice, W.C.Fields, Will Rogers, Bert Williams, Walter Catlett, Leon Erroll as the comic leads, and music by such composers as Jerome Kern, Victor Herbert, Irving Berlin, and even the Gershwins. But better was Ziegfeld's use of women - his "Glorifying the American Girl" reviews did precisely that, affecting taste in theater spectacles and taste in what beauty in women should be.

He had his rivals as pointed out in other reviews here. Among them were the Shuberts, possibly the most successful in the long run (but only because there were several of them, and they did not go bankrupt). Earl Carroll did produce his "Vanities", and George White did do the "Scandals", but in retrospect (for all the talent they brought to their shows) these were pale imitations. In Carroll's case he skirted the level of decency by suggesting his chorus girls were naked in some of the sketches. Ziegfeld was no saint but he knew what was acceptable behavior in theatrical production on stage.

This film had a good cast. Besides Powell, the women in his life (Anna Held, his chorus girl girlfriend, and Billie Burke) are played well by Louise Rainer, Virginia Bruce, and Powell's movie "wife" Myrna Loy. Rainer (as the betrayed Anna) got her first "Oscar" for this role, most likely for the emotional "telephone" scene. Her part is actually a substantial one, but due to the size of this film it has always been seen as a short supporting bit. This is a trifle unfair. Virginia Bruce brings a nice calculating eye to her performance, undermining the Ziegfeld - Held relationship, but slowly losing the showman due to her increasing alcoholism. Loy was really lucky. Once she got the role she contacted the living and active Billie Burke and had discussions about how to accurately portray the second Mrs. Ziegfeld. She wisely does not try to imitate Billie's familiar syrupy upper register voice.

Frank Morgan appears as a friendly rival or Ziegfeld's, both in business and in the boudoir. One likes him as one usually likes Morgan's comic characters. My favorite performance is that of Fanny Brice playing herself. The film was made the year after the death of Will Rogers so that he was not around (he possibly could have been borrowed). Fields was out - Ziegfeld had had plenty of trouble with that curmudgeon on Broadway, and MGM probably knew that Fields would have demanded equal billing to Powell. Wynn was mostly still on Broadway. One does wish Catlett and Erroll might have been used. But we have Fanny in her glory, culminating in her singing her most famous number - "My Man". That alone is worth watching the film for. As for the showcase production number on the spiraling tower, it is quite impressive (I doubt if Ziegfeld could have put it on the stage of his New Amsterdam Theater), but I agree that the dubbing of Dennis Morgan's voice by Allan Jones is totally inexplicable to this day.

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Interesting & Generally Entertaining, Though Sometimes Overblown, 15 January 2003
Author: Snow Leopard from Ohio

Like its subject, this movie is interesting and generally entertaining, but often overblown. It's well worth seeing, although it could also have been whittled down by a good portion of its running time without losing anything important. It does present a believable and entertaining look at Ziegfeld's shows and personality, along with some good scenes and some good performances that keep it going.

William Powell was a pretty good choice to play Ziegfeld, since he has the knack of making a character eccentric and distinctive without having it come across as too forced or unnatural. And Myrna Loy is always a charming co-star, for Powell or anyone else. Yet it is Luise Rainer who delivers by far the most memorable performance - she makes her character temperamental but endearing, unpredictable but completely sympathetic. The best parts of the movie come when she is a big part of the action, and when her character slips into the background in the second half, the movie loses something. The rest of the large cast does get some good moments, and it's fun to see a couple of performers playing themselves, although some of them don't get nearly enough to do. The many production numbers contain some very good ones, but there are others that aren't worth the amount of time they were given, and that could have been cut down considerably without losing anything.

You can see why this impressed a lot of viewers in its time, and it's still pretty good entertainment. It could have been better, though, with a little more restraint. But then, its excesses are rather in keeping with its subject, and at any rate they don't keep it from being worth seeing.

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Amazing Film, 23 February 2008
Author: drednm

William Powell stars as Florenz Ziegfeld in his "biography" of the great Broadway producer. This is a lush and long film filled with great scenes and a few that are too long. Clocking in at about 3 hours, THE GREAT ZIEGFELD is one of MGM's biggest attempts at creating a blockbuster musical, and it won the Oscar for best film.

Powell is, as always, terrific. Oddly he did not receive an Oscar nomination for this film but did get one the same year for MY MAN GODFREY. Luise Rainer won the best actress Oscar for her performance as Anna Held. Myrna Loy plays Billie Burke. The great Fanny Brice appears as herself and just about steals the show until they stupidly and abruptly cut away from her as she starts singing "My Man." She doesn't show up again.

Ray Bolger gets a whole number to himself. And Dennis Morgan fronts the mammoth "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody" number (although it's the voice of Allan Jones), which ranks among the great production numbers of the era. The camera slowly pans up a seemingly endless spiral staircase filled with pretty girls as draperies are raised to expose more and more staircase. Then we finally reach the top with Virginia Bruce posed there. It's a giddy and spectacular sequence.

The ballet sequence featuring Harriet Hoctor is rather a bore. I'd rather have seen more of Fanny Brice. Brice is hilarious in the dressing-room with a big blonde. Who was she? Is it Gertrude Astor? Powell and Rainer are really excellent in this film. Notable co-stars include Frank Morgan, Joseph Cawthorn, Herman Bing, Marcelle Corday, Nat Pendleton, and Reginald Owen.

And while Brice appears as herself the Will Rogers and Eddie Cantor appearances are fakes.

An excellent film in the old style and worth the 3 hours it takes to watch it. Ziegfeld was a great showman and deserved this fabulous tribute. He died in 1932, having given the world a number of major stars and great shows.

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7 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Stairway to the stars, 4 September 2004

Author: jotix100 from New York

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.

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