BB

(out of 5)

Lord only know what moviegoers of the thirties saw in this tepid musical biography of showman Florenz Ziegfeld (played here by William Powell). It’s not that it hasn’t aged well; I think it was just as boring upon first release, but all the same it seemed to find critical and financial success. Song after overlong song numbers fire at you like atom bombs to your head, and some stupid hack decided that Fanny Brice shouldn’t be allowed to finish singing “My Man”! It’s the only reasonably sane moment of the film, not to mention an immortal legend of the Ziegfeld world and she’s cut off…for what? What have they to get on with? The Plot? Puh! Luise Rainer is good as Ziegfeld’s brokenhearted first wife, but by our standards of acting today she does overdo it just a little; Myrna Loy fares much better as Ziegfeld’s second wife Billie Burke (Glinda The Good Witch to those of you who don’t know).

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

USA, 1936

Directed by Robert Z. Leonard

Screenplay by William Anthony McGuire

Cinematography by George J. Folsey, Karl Freund, Merritt B. Gerstad, Ray June, Oliver T. Marsh

Produced by Hunt Stromberg

Music by Arthur Lange

Production Design by Cedric Gibbons

Costume Design by Adrian

Film Editing by William S. Gray

Academy Awards
Best Actress (Luise Rainer as “Anna Held”)
Best Dance Direction (“A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody”, Seymour Felix)
Outstanding Production (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

Nominations
Best Art Direction (Cedric Gibbons, Eddie Imazu, Edwin B. Willis)
Best Directing (Robert Z. Leonard)
Best Film Editing (William S. Gray)
Best Writing (Original Story) (William Anthony McGuire