Released in 1939--that golden year of Hollywood cinema--"The Ice Follies of 1939" was up against some really great films. What a shame it turned out to be a clunker.
Take Joan Crawford and Jimmy Stewart as a married couple who spend little time together due to separate careers. Give them a dialogue that does little to create romantic tension, and feels like a collection of scenes strung together. Add some ice skating scenes that lack a star like Sonja Henie to draw the viewer into the action. And what you get is disappointment. (By the way, the skating is proficient for its time, but very dated by today's standards.)
At the end of the film is a transition from B&W to Technicolor. It is nothing more than a gimmick, unlike the use of color in "The Wizard of Oz", which would be released about five months later. The ending also features a cringe-worthy "no place like home" sellout by the Joan Crawford character, who abandons her career with nary a second thought.
Take Joan Crawford and Jimmy Stewart as a married couple who spend little time together due to separate careers. Give them a dialogue that does little to create romantic tension, and feels like a collection of scenes strung together. Add some ice skating scenes that lack a star like Sonja Henie to draw the viewer into the action. And what you get is disappointment. (By the way, the skating is proficient for its time, but very dated by today's standards.)
At the end of the film is a transition from B&W to Technicolor. It is nothing more than a gimmick, unlike the use of color in "The Wizard of Oz", which would be released about five months later. The ending also features a cringe-worthy "no place like home" sellout by the Joan Crawford character, who abandons her career with nary a second thought.