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The Great Ziegfeld [1936]

Starring: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Luise Rainer, Frank Morgan, Fanny Brice
Director: Robert Z. Leonard
Format: Black & White PAL
Released: 16 Feb 2004
RRP: £13.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

Staggering production values are a mixed blessing - By: pointone, 08 Nov 2006
Weighing in at nearly three hours & with lavish production standards to match this is cinema writ large.

The screenplay is good & the actors rise to the occasion, William Powell bursting with energy & creativity as Florenz Ziegfeld & an Oscar winning performance by Luise Rainer as his first wife & great star Anna Held. Also a great joshing rivalry with Jack Billings (Frank Morgan).

But the everlasting musical numbers take ones attention away from the story (after alll this is a biopic) & I presume were staged to replicate Ziegfeld's original, but the large numbers of dancers crowding the screen & nearly always filmed in fairly long shots with intricate costumes that just maze together (even on a 32 inch LCD). Even the superb choreography & staggering set for "A pretty girl is like a melody" seems shot from one static camera position (apparently it was filmed in one take - almost unbelievable) with its hundreds of dancers alll crowded together does not have the impact it should.

Well worth viewing to see what was possible seventy years ago, but probably best rented before purchasing.