Ziegfeld Girl (1941)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Directors:

Robert Z. Leonard
Busby Berkeley

Writers:

Marguerite Roberts (screenplay) and
Sonya Levien (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

25 April 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

The triumph that tops "The Great Ziegfeld" is here at last! A pageant of stars and song...girls and grandeur...that opens a world of new show wonders!

Plot:

Discovery by Flo Ziegfeld changes a girl's life but not necessarily for the better, as three beautiful...

Plot Keywords:

Millionaire | Singer | Broadway | Violinist | Speakeasy

Cast

James Stewart	...	Gilbert Young
Judy Garland	...	Susan Gallagher
Hedy Lamarr	...	Sandra Kolter
Lana Turner	...	Sheila Regan
Tony Martin	...	Frank Merton
Jackie Cooper	...	Jerry Regan
Ian Hunter	...	Geoffrey Collis
Charles Winninger	...	'Pop' Gallagher
Edward Everett Horton	...	Noble Sage
Philip Dorn	...	Franz Kolter
Paul Kelly	...	John Slayton
Eve Arden	...	Patsy Dixon
Dan Dailey	...	Jimmy Walters (as Dan Dailey Jr.)
Al Shean	...	Al
Fay Holden	...	Mrs. Regan

Runtime:

132 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | UK:U (re-rating) (2005) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #7074)

Company:

Loew's

Trivia:

While Judy Garland rerecorded for Decca the wistful standard, "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" (music by Joseph McCarthy, lyrics by Harry Carroll), the star made no commercial version of the lively rumba written for her by Roger Edens, a ditty turned into a mammoth Busby Berkeley production number, "Minnie From Trinidad." Instead, Decca assigned the song to Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra featuring vocalist Helen O'Connell.

Quotes:

Gilbert 'Gil' Young: Remember, a pretty good moon, you let me kiss you after only slapping me twice.
Sheila 'Red': Three times.
Gilbert 'Gil' Young: Okay, three.
Gilbert 'Gil' Young: And then I told you you'll do for me, and I'll do for you.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Lana Turner... a Daughter's Memoir (2001) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Minnie from Trinidad

Opulence and melodrama...and swooning masochism

An unseen Florenz Ziegfeld discovers three girls on the fly for his new extravaganza-cum-fashion show: elevator girl Lana Turner, vaudeville performer Judy Garland, and Hedy Lamarr, a penniless German beauty who follows the lead of her equally broke violinist husband. Ziegfeld, deceased for many years in real life by the time this modern-speaking movie was filmed, has his style made-over in the musical numbers staged by Busby Berkeley, who goes crazy with the endless staircases and sparkly costumes. Berkeley turns the show business end of the story into a weird compendium of high-end glamor and let's-put-on-a-show pizazz, aided by Garland's girlish eagerness. Turner got most of the good notices at the time (she's the one tragic character), but one feels scant sympathy for the poor little rich girl--and her quick descent into booze is a hoary cliché. Judy only gets a single good song ("I'm Always Chasing Rainbows"); that and a handful of choice wisecracks are not enough to keep the film afloat in its sea of suds, celebrations, and pathos. ** from ****