Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Leads: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Luise Rainer
"[Ziegfeld]'s up one day and down the next. If he got $10,000 tomorrow, he'd spend it on the girl he happened to like tomorrow night. You wouldn't want to waste your time meeting a fellow like that" - Jack Billings
"Oh, not if I met him on the right night" - Little Egypt
"Oh, not if I met him on the right night" - Little Egypt
Setting
Mainly New York City, USA
Mainly New York City, USA
The Plot
A lengthy biopic following the career of ladies' man Florenz 'Flo' Ziegfeld Jr, creator of the famous Ziegfeld Follies, from humble show ground beginnings to kick-ass Broadway producer.
The Review
Sex appeal and charm sells, as Ziegfeld is well aware. Combining his love for pretty girls and his drive for showbiz, Ziegfeld (Powell) forms song-and-dance reviews and later debuts the Ziegfeld Follies. His charm and way with the ladies saw him never short of a star and always finding a generous backer since he was nearly always broke. A modern version might cut out the painful black-face performer dressed as a minstrel singing "If You Knew Susie" which was even less PC than a Mac!
Some decent snacks would come in handy to get you through the first hour of this three-hour journey as the film does rather drag on in places and can be hard to follow; don't give up on it as some of the song-and-dance numbers are well worth waiting for especially A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody performed by Dennis Morgan (dubbed by Allan Jones) with the cast on a huge spiral staircase. Sex appeal and charm sells, as Ziegfeld is well aware. Combining his love for pretty girls and his drive for showbiz, Ziegfeld (Powell) forms song-and-dance reviews and later debuts the Ziegfeld Follies. His charm and way with the ladies saw him never short of a star and always finding a generous backer since he was nearly always broke. A modern version might cut out the painful black-face performer dressed as a minstrel singing "If You Knew Susie" which was even less PC than a Mac!
The women over-act regularly; cross Lucy Ricardo with Marcel Marceau and you have the overly-expressive and hyper-dramatic Anna Held (Rainer who amazingly won an Oscar for this). Unfortunately this blocked my ability to sympathise with her character and she began to just annoy me! Later in the film Held was overshadowed by Billie Burke (Loy) and the larger-than-life Fanny Brice who plays herself. In fact three actors play themselves in this film, including the tap-dancing Ray Bolger who danced his way down the Yellow Brick Road just two years later, which shows how highly-esteemed the real-life Ziegfeld was at that time.
I didn't hate it, the film had plenty of fun and sparkle especially in the stage numbers but the storyline was like watching someone with a stutter, I politely let it go on while on the inside thinking "spit it out and get to the point"!
The Slap
Anna Held is the first female winner of the Slap so far, congratulations Anna (*applause). She wins this for being overly melodramatic and being too easily won over by orchids; who turns down a $10,000 contract...$130,000 today...for orchids??? Take the contract and buy your own flippin' orchids!
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