However, by February 1935, Macguire had fallen into disagreement with Universal over financial problems at the studio,[6] and the entire production, including some already constructed sets and musical arrangements, was sold to MGM for US$300,000 (US$5,929,369 in 2021 dollars[3]). Stephen O. Murray and Keelung Hong Special Collections, Motion picture, Theatre, and Ballet souvenir book collection (MSS 327 large), Michigan State University Board of Trustees. Robert Z. Leonard, Producer: At least one of these spectacular numbers, filmed to the music of Irving Berlin's "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody", with overtones of "Rhapsody in Blue", never has been equaled on the musical comedy stage or screen. One imagines that circuses thrilled more in the thirties and this was an attempt to bring it onto screen with William Powell, Myrna Loy and the rest of the stars of the era. This was followed by Show Boat,[12] a great hit with a run of 572 performances. A short documentary which features on the UK DVD release (2004) of the film The Great Ziegfeld (1936), which includes interviews with Ziegfeld's daughter Patricia, and one of the film's stars, Luise Rainer. [51], Christopher Null stated that The Great Ziegfeld is a "textbook case of how a film can lose its appeal over the years". [6][17] This musical, which concerned racial discrimination in the South during the late nineteenth century, was a collaboration between Ziegfeld, Urban, and composer Jerome Kern. [18], In the film, the last few lines of the song "Ol' Man River" (from Show Boat) are sung by what sounds like a tenor, while the song was intended for bass Paul Robeson and sung in the original production by bass-baritone Jules Bledsoe. "[37] Linda Mizejewski, author of a book on the Ziegfeld girls, argues that the Pretty Girl sequence is more than just about being showy; it is symbolic of womanhood which "powerfully visualizes women as the raw material for male aesthetic vision and design". There are two versions of Robert Z. Leonard's The Great Ziegfeld in the world. We could infer that the latter was because he was charming and in later years, because he could help them with their career, but the two women he married werent overly ambitious themselves and seemed content to be a housewife, ending their careers, so his power wasnt necessarily the draw for them. Returns accepted. Overall, the characters aren't fully explored, but there's still fun to be had. Apr 8, 1936 "[8] Juan Antonio Ramrez refers to the wedding cake as a "famous spiral column", citing it as one of the best known pieces of mobile architecture in film, but notes that in design the cake was not exclusive to The Great Ziegfeld, explaining that a wedding cake, albeit less flamboyant, had appeared in previous films such as King of Jazz (1930), The Kid from Spain (1932), Top Hat (1935), and Follow the Fleet (1936). The best thing about it is the staging of the Follies shows. [19] That same year, he brought his Follies stars to CBS Radio with The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air. Designed by Joseph Urban and Thomas W. Lamb, the auditorium was egg-shaped, with the stage at the narrow end. | Various real Ziegfeld stars such as Fanny Brice, not much like Streisand either, also appear. "[47] A reviewer for the Spokane Chronicle praised the film for its superb acting, writing that "[even] the great producer [Ziegfeld] would have been unable to produce scenes of magnitude and splendor that are given as part of the picture telling his life. Full Review | Feb 18, 2022. "What I tried to do primarily was to get across the essential spirit of the man", Powell later said, "his love for show business, his exquisite taste, his admiration for the beauty of women. [1] He had been in Los Angeles only a few days after moving from a New Mexico sanitarium. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Lavish designs for the big musical number and some not so successful ones for the later shows. Many of the performers of the earlier Broadway version of the Ziegfeld Follies were cast in the film as themselves, including Fanny Brice and Harriet Hoctor, the ballet dancer and contortionist. [50] Emily W. Leider believes that any of her character flaws were due to a "mushy" script, rather than her performance as an actress. Regal The Great Ziegfeld is a 1936 film directed by Robert Z. Leonard, starring William Powell, Luise Rainer, and Myrna Loy. Here was a character with flesh, blood and sinews. By coincidence, Universal's 1936 film version of the Ziegfeld musical "Show Boat", the most faithful of all the film versions of the stage production, was filmed at the same time as The Great Ziegfeld and released in the same year. It stars William Powell as the theatrical impresario Florenz "Flo" Ziegfeld Jr., Luise Rainer as Anna Held, and Myrna Loy as Billie Burke. [42], According to MGM records, the film earned a then-massive $3,089,000 in the US and Canada and $1,584,000 elsewhere resulting in a profit of $822,000. But the reality is that both men are broke and Ziegfeld realizes this. [24] The Great Ziegfeld marked Rainer's second Hollywood film role after Escapade (also with Powell). He was known as the "glorifier of the American girl". This winner of three Academy Awards including Best Picture provides the career-chronicling answer. "The Film Business in the United States and Britain during the 1930s" by John Sedgwick and Michael Pokorny, 1936 film version of the Ziegfeld musical "Show Boat", "The Great Ziegfeld(1936): TCMDb Archive Materials", "Cinema: The New Pictures: Apr. [44] At just over three hours, The Great Ziegfeld was also the longest talking film of the time. I actually watched it with her and thoroughly enjoyed it even though I am of a different generation, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 31 May 2015. I felt for the first time in my acting career I had tried the full measure of a man, regardless of my shortcomings in playing him."[23]. One of the biggest successes in film in the 1930s and the pride of MGM at the time, it was acclaimed as the greatest musical biography to be made in Hollywood and still remains a standard in musical film making. It's a chronicle of the career of showman and theater producer Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr, and the highlights are the musical numbers and showy costumes by Adrian in the middle third of the movie which are truly over-the-top. "[56], The seven Academy Award nominations were announced on February 7, 1937, and on March 4, 1937, The Great Ziegfeld won three Oscars at the 9th Academy Awards for 1936:[57][58], Although he was not nominated for an Academy Award for his performance, Powell did receive the Screen Actor's Guild award for Best Actor in a tie with C. Aubrey Smith who was in Little Lord Fauntleroy. "[55], James Berardinelli awarded it two and a half out of four stars, stating that "although some of the production's technical aspects remain impressive, the dramatic elements come across as trite and many of the musical numbers are dated", but said that it was a "reasonably competent albeit "airbrushed" presentation of the main character's life. Shaken by the reversal of his financial fortunes and the growing popularity of movies over live stage shows, he becomes seriously ill. Billings pays him a friendly visit, and the two men agree to become partners in a new, even grander production of The Ziegfeld Follies. In addition, the Guild's Best Actress was given to Luise Rainer. [110], In 1936 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released a semi-biographical film extravaganza, The Great Ziegfeld, starring William Powell. I first saw this film at the old Ziegfeld Theater in Manhattan back in the Sixties. Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings, help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.Learn more how customers reviews work on Amazon. For other uses, see. Fair warning, there will be spoilers in these and other reviews to help explain my point of view. The music to the film was provided by Walter Donaldson, Irving Berlin, and lyricist Harold Adamson, with choreographed scenes. Motion picture, Theatre, and Ballet souvenir book collection, MSS 327 large. English, Director: [40] Burke caused much controversy and upset among many of Ziegfeld's friends and colleagues when she sold the rights to a production on Broadway, the Ziegfeld Follies, also starring Fanny Brice, at the time the film was released in 1936, due to the fact that the show was produced by the Shubert brothers, whom Ziegfeld detested. It's beshert and I'm kvelling as I've been given the great honor of singing Fanny Brice in the Funny Girl portion of this . The Great Ziegfeld (1936) The Great Ziegfeld 1936 DVDRip-NoGrp-F35. Try again. Clocking in at about 3 hours, THE GREAT ZIEGFELD is one of MGM's biggest attempts at creating a blockbuster musical, and it won the Oscar for best film. This lively biopic depicts the rise of Florenz Ziegfeld (William Powell), a theater producer who became renowned during the 1920s for his lavish stage productions. "[15], Although it has some accuracies, The Great Ziegfeld takes many key liberties with Ziegfeld's life and the history of the Follies, resulting in many inaccuracies. [5] Over a thousand people were employed in the production of the film, which required 16 reels of film after the cutting. It inspired audiences during the Great Depression by telling the tale of a man who could make something grand and special out of nothing at all. In 1951, the studio produced a Technicolor remake of Show Boat, which Ziegfeld had presented as a stage musical. Then there was the young girl Ziegfeld knew when she was a child (not clear on the relationship she had with him and his father, but seemed as if she was his fathers studentmaybe). [4] Featured in the film are William Powell as Ziegfeld, Myrna Loy as Billie Burke, Luise Rainer as Anna Held, Nat Pendleton as Eugen Sandow, and Frank Morgan. - And why is it junior? Verified reviews are considered more trustworthy by fellow moviegoers. | Starting out at with a strongman act, Florenz Ziegfeld rises to become the producer of such legendary Broadway shows as the Follies and Show Boat and the husband of . Flo and Billie eventually have a daughter named Patricia. In reality, Held and Ziegfeld lived together for a year while she was getting divorced. WATCH FULL MOVIE! Ziegfeld took men's natural desire to see shows with pretty women more respectable beginning in 1907 and prepared the way for the glamorous musicals of the 1930s, this film being one of the finest examples. By opting to have your ticket verified for this movie, you are allowing us to check the email address associated with your Rotten Tomatoes account against an email address associated with a Fandango ticket purchase for the same movie. The Great Ziegfeld (1936) Full Cast & Crew See agents for this cast & crew on IMDbPro Directed by Robert Z. Leonard Writing Credits William Anthony McGuire . Perhaps too long. Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: You've been working a long time without your heart, buddy. [8], In the advertising for the film, MGM boasted of the film's ostentatious nature, bragging that it was "SO BIG that only MGM could handle it", with its "countless beauties, trained lions, ponies, dogs and other animals". Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: You 've been working a long time without your heart, buddy ( 1936 ) Great. Irving Berlin, and Ballet souvenir book collection, MSS 327 large and Billie eventually have a daughter named.. Stars such as Fanny Brice, not much like Streisand either, also appear 1951, the studio a. A Great hit with a run of 572 performances, MSS 327 large was getting divorced i first saw film. Number and some not so successful ones for the later shows ( also with Powell ) also appear MSS. 'S still fun to be had was getting divorced talking film of the page across from the.... 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