The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
The Great Ziegfeld is incredibly famous, and it won the coveted Best Picture Academy Award for the 1936 season. But even though it had lavish musical numbers and a huge budget, I didn’t see why it was so popular. It wasn’t any better than the Busby Berkeley musicals earlier in the decade, and, in fact, I found it more boring than those backstage affairs.
Unlike the other movies that feature Flo Ziegfeld, this one is a strict biopic. It follows William Powell (who also reprised the role ten years later in Ziegfeld Follies) as he dreams of being a success, enlists Luise Rainer to help him with his vision, and then creates the audience draw of featuring beautiful chorus girls. Along the way, he meets Billie Burke, played by Myrna Loy, and gets his head turned. Luise won her first Oscar for this movie, or should I say, for one scene. She gets bad news over the phone and she has to act happy about it. It’s not even a very good scene, and any other seasoned actress could have done a far better job. I don’t understand the hype about her performance, and I don’t understand the hype about the film in general. It’s very long, clocking in at three hours. If you like old songs like “If You Knew Susie,” “Shine On, Harvest Moon,” and “A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody,” you’ll tap your toe during the many musical numbers. If you don’t, you’ll be so bored you’ll probably fall asleep. There is a large supporting cast, including Frank Morgan, Nat Pendleton, Virginia Bruce, Reginald Owen, and some folks making cameos as themselves, like Ray Bolger and Fannie Brice. Still, I’d rather watch Deep In My Heart any day.
Want to watch it? Click here to see it on ok.ru and thanks "Classic Movies Kristine Rose" for posting!
More Myrna Loy movies here!
Unlike the other movies that feature Flo Ziegfeld, this one is a strict biopic. It follows William Powell (who also reprised the role ten years later in Ziegfeld Follies) as he dreams of being a success, enlists Luise Rainer to help him with his vision, and then creates the audience draw of featuring beautiful chorus girls. Along the way, he meets Billie Burke, played by Myrna Loy, and gets his head turned. Luise won her first Oscar for this movie, or should I say, for one scene. She gets bad news over the phone and she has to act happy about it. It’s not even a very good scene, and any other seasoned actress could have done a far better job. I don’t understand the hype about her performance, and I don’t understand the hype about the film in general. It’s very long, clocking in at three hours. If you like old songs like “If You Knew Susie,” “Shine On, Harvest Moon,” and “A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody,” you’ll tap your toe during the many musical numbers. If you don’t, you’ll be so bored you’ll probably fall asleep. There is a large supporting cast, including Frank Morgan, Nat Pendleton, Virginia Bruce, Reginald Owen, and some folks making cameos as themselves, like Ray Bolger and Fannie Brice. Still, I’d rather watch Deep In My Heart any day.
Want to watch it? Click here to see it on ok.ru and thanks "Classic Movies Kristine Rose" for posting!
More Myrna Loy movies here!