Oscar Winners - The Great Ziegfeld

MGM, 1936
Starring William Powell, Luise Rainer, Frank Morgan, and Myrna Loy
Directed by Robert Z. Leonard
Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin and others

This lavish biography of the most famous producer ever on Broadway was one of MGM's attempts to out-do the Busby Berkeley spectacles over at Warners, and it was huge in every sense of the word. The sets were enormous, it employed literally thousands of people and tons of costumes, it was the longest musical yet at almost three hours, and it wound up being one of the biggest hits of the year. Does the story of the man who "Glorified the American girl" still deserve a place in the theatrical pantheon? Let's head to the midway of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair to find out...

The Story: At the 1893 Chicago Colombian Exposition, Florenz Ziegfeld (Powell) finds himself barking opposite the flamboyant Billings (Morgan). Billings' attraction, the exotic dancer "Little Egypt," is more popular than Ziegfeld's strongman Sandow, until Ziegfeld gets the idea for women to actually be able to touch his muscles.

After his stint with Sandow fizzles out, he heads to England, where he learns that Billings wants to sign beautiful and vivacious French-Polish vaudeville star Anna Held (Rainer). He manages to sign her instead with promises of jewels and her name up in lights. She does appear onstage, but isn't a success. Ziegfeld generates publicity by claiming she bathes in gallons of milk. She's appalled, until he finds eight backup singers to add even more appeal to her number and all the women in the audience admire her supposed milk-fed complexion. He gives her jewels and offers to marry her, which doesn't impress her fellow chorus girl Audrey Dane (Virginia Bruce).

Ziegfeld does marry Anna and eventually makes stars out of even more beauties in his long-running, extravagant series of Ziegfeld Follies revues. He does try to make a star of Audrey, but she descends into alcoholism even as they conduct an affair. Anna walks out on him when she finds out what he's up to with Audrey. He rebounds, eventually marrying comedienne Billie Burke (Loy). His stage shows aren't going as well. Word in Times Square is he's all through...but then he has four hits simultaneously in the late 20's, including Show Boat, the first truly mature musical. The Depression finally wipes Flo out for good...but there will always be the memories of hundreds of showgirls on ever-expanding staircases...

The Song and Dance: Like another MGM musical from a year later, Rosalie, this movie is big. It was the biggest musical of the 1930's in every way conceivable. You can't fault MGM for not letting all that cash show up on screen. There's a lot to look at this movie, with everyone running around in acres of ruffles, sequins, and lace (designed by MGM's ace costumer Adrian). Rainer may have won the Oscar, but it's Powell as an urbane Flo Ziegfeld who really anchors the film. Morgan's also a lot of fun as his long-time rival, and Bruce comes across fairly well as the gold-digging chorus girl who cares more about liquor and diamonds and getting "Glorified" than anything.

Favorite Number: By far the most famous routine from this one is "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody." Set on a massive tiered wedding cake-like set lined with hundreds of dancers, with Bruce seated serenely on top, it's a glittering tribute to three centuries of "Glorifying" that's just as amazing for audiences now as it was in the mid-30's. Real-life Ziegfeld star Fanny Brice made one of her few film appearances singing another Berlin song "Yiddle On My Fiddle"; pity we didn't get to see the full rendition of her signature ballad "My Man." Rainer and those dancers have a lot of fun with a number by the real Anna Held, "It's Delightful to Be Married," and Ray Bolger gets a nice tap dance about mid-way through.

Trivia: Luise Rainer became the first person to win an Oscar for acting in a musical.

That "Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody" number alone cost $220,000 to film in 1936, which is over 3 million in today's money.

The real Billie Burke was still very much active and alive in 1936, and in fact was an actress at MGM for years. (Most people know her as Glinda the Good Witch in the 1939 Wizard of Oz.) She was the one who sold the rights to a musical biography about her late husband first to Universal, then to MGM when Universal couldn't afford it. She acted as a consultant for the movie.

This is not the last time MGM would use the Ziegfeld name for their musicals. In 1941, the would do a backstage musical drama about showgirls called Ziegfeld Girl; in 1946, they debuted their own version of the Ziegfeld Follies (with Powell reprising his role as the showman briefly in the latter).

What I Don't Like: Rainer's histrionics may have impressed audiences in 1936, but between her yelling and her incomprehensible accent, she comes off as more overwrought than anything today. Between Ziegfeld still being a household in the 30's, Burke's involvement, and many of his former stars threatening to sue if they were mentioned, this is even more sanitized than most Hollywood musical biographies. You barely get a sense of any time passing. With the exception of Brice and ballerina Harriet Hoctor (who appears in the circus number towards the end), almost none of the stars had ever been in a Ziegfeld show, including Bolger.

Like Rosalie, the movie is really too big. All the flash tends to overwhelm the cliched and occasionally dull plot. It's also way, way too long at almost three hours. Some of the Follies musical numbers mid-way through that don't involve any of the stars are fun but do nothing other than pad out the run time and show how elaborate the Follies could get and probably could have been trimmed.

The Big Finale: If  you're a fan of Powell or the huge Busby Berkeley-style musicals of the 1930's, this is worth seeing for the cast and musical numbers alone if you have time on your hands.

Home Media: Not on Blu-Ray at press time, but the DVD is fairly easy to find, and it's on a couple of streaming platforms.

DVD
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