Oh my goodness what a boring film.
"The Great Ziegfeld" is one of the most dramatically inert movies I've ever seen. It tells the story of Florence Ziegfeld and the creation of the Ziegfeld Follies, but it feels more like an excuse to stage elaborate (and long) musical numbers that feature chorus girls posing in garish gowns. Watching these examples of the kinds of entertainment that were popular at the time, it's almost inconceivable to me that anyone would have wanted to pay money to see them.
What drama there is in the film comes from the relationship between Ziegfeld and his put-upon wife, Anna Held, played by Luise Rainer. William Powell plays Ziegfeld like William Powell, and he's as easy to watch on screen as he always is, but if the film has any assets at all, it's Rainer. She does what she can to make something of her role and the movie, and it's a shame that her part is so small. She disappears for long stretches altogether. Myrna Loy, top billed but not showing up until there's only about 30 minutes left in the movie, makes absolutely no attempt to look or sound like Billie Burke, Ziegfeld's second wife. This one is a struggle to get through -- the film is so lacking in any forward momentum I was afraid at times that it would just grind to a halt completely.
This terrible film managed to be named Best Picture at the 1936 Academy Awards. It's surely one of the worst films to ever win the top prize. It also scored a Best Actress award for Rainer, who I guess deserved it for giving the audience something, anything, interesting to watch. Its third Oscar went to Seymour Felix, who provided the choreography for the "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody" number, an interminable, vertigo-inducing one that features a bunch of elaborately-costumed women spinning around on a giant cake. The film was also nominated for Best Director (hah!), Best Original Story (hah!), Best Art Direction, and Best Film Editing. Yeah, like I couldn't have found anything to edit out of this 3 hour snoozer.
Grade: D-
"The Great Ziegfeld" is one of the most dramatically inert movies I've ever seen. It tells the story of Florence Ziegfeld and the creation of the Ziegfeld Follies, but it feels more like an excuse to stage elaborate (and long) musical numbers that feature chorus girls posing in garish gowns. Watching these examples of the kinds of entertainment that were popular at the time, it's almost inconceivable to me that anyone would have wanted to pay money to see them.
What drama there is in the film comes from the relationship between Ziegfeld and his put-upon wife, Anna Held, played by Luise Rainer. William Powell plays Ziegfeld like William Powell, and he's as easy to watch on screen as he always is, but if the film has any assets at all, it's Rainer. She does what she can to make something of her role and the movie, and it's a shame that her part is so small. She disappears for long stretches altogether. Myrna Loy, top billed but not showing up until there's only about 30 minutes left in the movie, makes absolutely no attempt to look or sound like Billie Burke, Ziegfeld's second wife. This one is a struggle to get through -- the film is so lacking in any forward momentum I was afraid at times that it would just grind to a halt completely.
This terrible film managed to be named Best Picture at the 1936 Academy Awards. It's surely one of the worst films to ever win the top prize. It also scored a Best Actress award for Rainer, who I guess deserved it for giving the audience something, anything, interesting to watch. Its third Oscar went to Seymour Felix, who provided the choreography for the "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody" number, an interminable, vertigo-inducing one that features a bunch of elaborately-costumed women spinning around on a giant cake. The film was also nominated for Best Director (hah!), Best Original Story (hah!), Best Art Direction, and Best Film Editing. Yeah, like I couldn't have found anything to edit out of this 3 hour snoozer.
Grade: D-