Ziegfeld Follies (1945)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Directors:

Lemuel Ayers
Roy Del Ruth

Writers:

John Murray Anderson (writer)
Lemuel Ayers (story)

Release Date:

8 April 1946 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical

Tagline:

Flashing...smashing SCREEN ENTERTAINMENT! DAZZLING IN ITS BEAUTY...PACKED WITH GLORIOUS Melodies! (original print media ad - many caps)

Plot:

The late, great impresario Florenz Ziegfeld looks down from heaven and ordains a new revue in his grand old style. |

Plot Keywords:

Florenz Ziegfeld | Heaven | Revue | Dance | Puppetry

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Fred Astaire	...	Himself (in "Here's to the Ladies") / Raffles (in "This Heart of Mine") / Tai Long (in "Limehouse Blues") / Gentleman (in "The Babbit and the Bromide")
Lucille Ball	...	Herself in 'Here's to the Ladies'
Lucille Bremer	...	Princess in 'This Heart of Mine' / Moy Ling in 'Limehouse Blues'
Fanny Brice	...	Norma in 'A Sweepstakes Ticket'
Judy Garland	...	The Star in 'A Great Lady Has An Interview'
Kathryn Grayson	...	Herself in 'Beauty'
Lena Horne	...	Herself in 'Love'
Gene Kelly	...	Gentleman in 'The Babbit and the Bromide'
James Melton	...	Alfredo in scene from 'La Traviata'
Victor Moore	...	Lawyer's Client in 'Pay the Two Dollars'
Red Skelton	...	J. Newton Numbskull in 'When Television Comes'
Esther Williams	...	Herself in 'A Water Ballet'
William Powell	...	Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.
Edward Arnold	...	Lawyer in 'Pay the Two Dollars'
Marion Bell	...	Violetta in scene from 'La Traviata'

Also Known As:

Ziegfeld Follies of 1944 (USA: Spanish title) (working title)
Ziegfeld Follies of 1946 (USA) (poster title)

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | Finland:S | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Among the ideas planned in the film, but not used, included: - A spoof of the musical "Lady in the Dark" with Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney and Fred Astaire. - A minstrel number with Garland, Rooney, Astaire, Lou Holtz and Nancy Walker. - An "Album of Familiar Songs" medley with Garland, Marilyn Maxwell, Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, Lena Horne, and Kathryn Grayson. - A "Firehouse Chat," a sketch with Garland, Lucille Ball and Ann Sothern. - "Reading of the Play," a sketch with Garland and Frank Morgan. - "It's Getting Hot in Tahiti" (music and lyrics by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane) with Garland. - A "Fairy Tale" sketch with Katharine Hepburn, Margaret O'Brien and Jackie 'Butch' Jenkins. - "I've Got Those Rooney/Pidgeon/Skelton Blues" with Garland, Ball and Greer Garson (in a number they'd concocted on a war bond train) moaning about their frequent co-stars. - "Pass That Peace Pipe" (music and lyrics by Martin, Blane and Roger Edens) with Garland, Rooney, Ball, Walker, June Allyson, Gene Kelly and Charles Walters (The song was later given to Joan McCracken by Walters when he directed Good News (1947).) - "Sand," a sketch with Garland and Astaire in blackface. - "Children's Park" with various MGM stars (including Hepburn, Garland, Walter Pidgeon, Basil Rathbone, Tom Drake and Esther Williams) riding on swings. - "I Love You More In Technicolor Than I Do In Black and White" (music and lyrics by Martin and Blane) with Garland turning down dates from John Hodiak, Van Johnson and James Craig to rekindle with Rooney. (This routine had to be dropped when Rooney entered the Army.) - James Melton suggested he should do a number with either Garland or Grayson.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: Towards the end of the "This Heart of Mine" number, as Astaire and Bremer begin to dance back to the palace, dancers in the background (screen left) are clearly struggling to stabilize some of the antler-tree props.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: Ah... Saturday, September twenty fifth. Another heavenly day. Ah, yes. Always a heavenly day.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Lucy and Desi: A Home Movie (1993) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Here's to the Girls

Sparkly and fun but with next to no substance... Astaire shines though!

If you're watching ZIEGFELD FOLLIES expecting a plot of any kind, or even an attempt at one, you'd probably be quite horrifically let down by this film. It's best to approach and accept it for what it is--a crazy filmic patchwork of song and dance and sketches, with some that undoubtedly work better than others, and some that are best left forgotten in the annals of film history. If you *do* bear this in mind, ZIEGFELD FOLLIES is an amusing way to spend a couple of hours as you watch these famous stars, including Fred Astaire, Lucille Ball, Gene Kelly, Judy Garland and many many more trying their utmost best to entertain you. (Admittedly, some with better success than others!)

The film opens with William Powell as Florenz Ziegfeld (reprising his role in THE GREAT ZIEGFELD for what really amounts to a cameo), looking down from heaven as he plans to put up one last, great Ziegfeld follies using the best stars of the day. What immediately follows is the trademark very very pink number, with girls galore floating by on merry-go-round horses, that segues into a rather surreal bit with Lucille Ball (properly attired in a pink fluffy concoction) brandishing a whip (oh dear) against several girls in very sexily-cut black leather body suits. It's an... interesting way to kick the film off, let's leave it at that.

There's no real way to summarise ZIEGFELD FOLLIES except by singling out one's own favourite numbers. And in the forest of boring (Keenan Wynn wastes his talents in a grating and predictable phone sketch), over-the-top (feast your eyes on Esther Williams' water ballet or Kathryn Grayson's operatic warbling as Cyd Charisse dances through bubble mountains) and just plain weird (Judy Garland performing what could well be the first rap in Classic Hollywood--it's not an altogether pretty picture), all of Astaire's contributions to the film stand out.

Astaire is the ostensible star of the film, appearing no less than four times with three gorgeous dance sequences that could certainly count among his personal best. In two of them he's partnered with Lucille Bremer to pleasing effect. "This Heart Of Mine" features Astaire in his rogue persona as he romances Bremer with dance (doesn't he always?) only to steal her jewelry... and for her to steal his heart. The better of their collaborations is the odd but intriguing "Limehouse Blues" with the two of them made up like Chinese (Astaire almost--*almost*--carries it off but ends up looking a little silly). Leaving aside stereotypes, the ballet in Tai Long's fevered dreams is quite stunning, and impeccably staged. I'm still trying to figure out how Astaire and Bremer managed to remember the exact way in which to flip their fans... I hate to think how many times they must have reshot that just to get it all perfectly synchronised!

My favourite number in ZIEGFELD FOLLIES, small surprise, is the one I was looking out for: the penultimate number, "The Babbitt & The Bromide", featuring Astaire and Kelly together on screen, performing the same routine for once in their long illustrious careers. It's a funny little number, with the two fellows they play meeting each other at every stage of their lives, only to have the same inane, mundane conversation. Then follows a small bout of onemanupship as they try to out-dance the other, right into the gates of Heaven. Watching them together is a real treat, because you know these are probably the two best dancer/singer/actors ever committed to film. It's a bit of a shame that their styles don't quite gel: Astaire floats his way through the routine as Kelly pounds the ground as only he can, so their dancing is polished, in perfect time (the timing is absolutely amazing!), but just a little bit off-kilter. It's still the best number in ZIEGFELD FOLLIES though, with Kelly's irrepressible mischief playing against Astaire's ruffled charm.

ZIEGFELD FOLLIES is really just a big, sparkly candy box of a movie--if you bear in mind that a plot was never particularly high on the mind of writers, producers, or directors, and you have a good book by your side to tide you through the (fortunately not too numerous) stretches of boredom, you're set for the evening. Keep the video ready for whenever Astaire breaks onto the screen; that's always a sign of quality. 7/10