Main Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Luise Rainer, Frank Morgan, Fanny Brice
Release Year: 1936
Country: US
Run Time: 179 minutes
Plot
In MGM's three-hour-plus The Great Ziegfeld, William Powell stars as the titular theatrical impresario, whose show business empire begins when he stage-manages a tour for legendary strongman Sandow (Nat Pendleton). With nary a penny in the bank, he charms European stage star Anna Held (Luise Rainer) to headline his "Follies", and later marries the luscious Ms. Held. From 1907 onward, Ziegfeld stages annual editions of Broadway's most fabulous revue, dedicated to "Glorifying the American Girl" but also giving ample time to develop the comic talents of Fanny Brice (played by herself), Will Rogers, Eddie Cantor and many others. Eventually, Ziegfeld abandons Ms. Held in favor of other beauties, setting the stage for the "telephone scene" which won Luise Rainer the first of her Oscars. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
The Great Ziegfeld manages to combine an interesting story with spectacular production numbers, something that MGM musicals of the early sound era achieved on only an occasional basis. William Powell is fine as Florenz Ziegfeld, but it is Best Actress Oscar winner Louise Rainer who shines as Anna Held. Among the film's several pleasures are seeing real-life performers from the Ziegfeld era playing themselves, particularly Fanny Brice, later immortalized by Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl. Despite its 176-minute running time, The Great Ziegfeld maintains interest between its superb musical production numbers. At a time when the studio system dominated the film industry, MGM was all too happy to prove over and over again that it led the pack when it came to class projects. ~ Richard Gilliam, All Movie Guide
Cedric Gibbons - Art Director, Seymour Felix - Choreography, Adrian - Costume Designer, Robert Z. Leonard - Director, William S. Gray - Editor, Art Lange - Musical Direction/Supervision, Irving Berlin - Songwriter, Channing Pollock - Songwriter, Harold Adamson - Songwriter, Con Conrad - Songwriter, Buddy G. DeSylva - Songwriter, Walter Donaldson - Songwriter, Rudolf Friml - Songwriter, George Gershwin - Songwriter, Gus Kahn - Songwriter, Jerome Kern - Songwriter, Vincent Scotto - Songwriter, Herb Magidson - Songwriter, Dave Stamper - Songwriter, Maurice Yvain - Songwriter, Henri Christine - Songwriter, Joseph Meyer - Songwriter, Tierney and McCarthy - Songwriter, Eddie Imazu - Production Designer, Edwin B. Willis - Production Designer, George Folsey - Cinematographer, Karl W. Freund - Cinematographer, Merritt B. Gerstad - Cinematographer, Ray June - Cinematographer, Oliver Marsh - Cinematographer, Robert Z. Leonard - Producer, Hunt Stromberg - Producer, William Anthony McGuire - Screenwriter, Anthony William McGuire - Screenwriter, Ruggiero Leoncavallo - Featured Music, Giacomo Puccini - Featured Music, Anna Held - Featured Music
The Great Ziegfeld (1936) is a musical film produced by MGM. Although the film is a fictionalized biography of Florenz Ziegfeld from his show business beginnings to his death, it showcases a series of spectacular musical productions. The film includes original music by Walter Donaldson and Irving Berlin. Berlin's work was featured in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1918, 1919, and 1920.
The film was the first musical film in history for which one of its cast members won an Academy Award - Luise Rainer received the Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Anna Held.
The Great Ziegfeld takes many key liberties with Ziegfeld's life and with the history of the Follies. For instance, George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue was never featured in the Follies, and the number "Pretty Girl" was written for the 1919 Follies, not the first edition of the revue, as shown in the film.
The film also gives the impression that the successful original production of Show Boat, which Ziegfeld produced, closed because of the Great Depression, when in fact Show Boat ended its original 1927 run in the spring of 1929 (the stock market crash did not occur until October of that year.) It was the 1932 revival of the show, not the original production, that was affected by the Depression.
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