The Great Ziegfeld

Starring: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Luise Rainer, Frank Morgan, Fannie Brice, Virginia Bruce
Directed by: Robert Z. Leonard
Rating: Not rated
Genre: Drama, Musical, Romance
1936

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. (William Powell) starts as a sideshow promoter, but has huge plans for his career. Over decades, he builds a successful franchise of theatre shows, ultimately creating some of the most beautiful shows ever seen on stage.

Review:

Tim: The Great Ziegfeld is a massive, epic movie about the fascinating life of Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. The film is surprisingly accurate- watching this movie will give you a good idea of Ziegfeld's life, and his ups and downs. The film mixes drama, romance, and some lengthy musical numbers to create a large, enjoyable movie. I was surprised how much fun I had watching ths film. Biopics can often feel stodgy and a bit like homework, but this film keeps those moments to a minimum.

The reason that this film works is due to the performances of the cast. William Powell was a brilliant choice to portray the titular Ziegfeld. Powell brings energy and an unmistakabe charm to the role. We find ourselves very much rooting for and liking Powell's Ziegfeld, which allows us to give him a pass for some immoral behavior (stealing girls from his best friend, misleading people, etc). In one light, Ziegfeld might not be the most respectable human being, but in Powell's hands, we can't help but like him. I would have liked to see Powell nominated for an Academy Award for his performance here, but he was nominated for My Man Godfrey instead, so I can deal with that.

The supporting cast is surprisingly good as well. The highlight of them has to be Luise Rainer, who gives a simply amazing performance. She is terrific as Anna Held. I was so impressed with her hot-cold, back-and-forth performance. It took a great deal of effort and range to pull this off, and Rainer does so brilliantly. She easily gives the best performance of the film, and one of its most important. She completely deserved her Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance here. I was a huge fan.

The rest of the cast is good, too. Frank Morgan was excellent as Billings. He was so crucial to this film, but it was easy to overlook him in the shadows of Powell and Rainer. Still, Morgan added so much to this film. He and Powell worked extremely well together, and their friendship/competition is one of the main elements that made this movie worthwhile. I also liked Myrna Loy, but she shows up so late in the film that her ability to impact it is lessened. While she's good, she can't compete with Rainer.

While I really liked The Great Ziegfeld and don't dispute its honor of winning the Academy Award for Best Picture, I also don't think this is a flawless movie. While epic, the movie is just too long at 185 minutes. While you are watching, it doesn't quite feel lke it is over 3 hours long (the movie moves fairly quickly), it is still 20+ minutes too long. The musical numbers definitely add to the film, but they are occasionally too long and drawn out. Had these been a bit shorter, the movie would have been better. I'm not saying I didn't like these- the "A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody" scene is truly jaw-dropping in scope and delivery. I loved this scene, and I sat entranced through the eight-minute number. Unfortunately, some of the other musical scenes are a bit long, and they detract from Ziegfeld's story (which is amazingly entertaining).

So, The Great Ziegfeld might not be a truly great movie, but it is an excellent example of solid filmmaking and a very entertaining movie. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and I recommend it highly. This was the first biopic to win an Academy Award for Best Picture, so it has history on its side, too.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 7.5


If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Ziegfeld Girl, The Thin Man, My Man Godfrey, The Good Earth