The Great Ziegfeld - 9th Best Picture Winner

The Great Ziegfeld - 9th Best Picture Winner
1936
#56

Starring:
William Powell
Myrna Loy
Luise Rainer

Directed By:
Robert Z. Leonard

1936 Academy Awards
Winner:
Best Picture
Best Actress
Best Dance Direction

Other Films Nominated:
Anthony Adverse
Dodsworth
Libeled Lady
Mr. Deeds Goes To Town
Romeo And Juliet
San Francisco
The Story Of Luis Pasteur
A Tale Of Two Cities
Three Smart Girls


So...

I've had this DVD for sometime now. So long, I'm surprised Netflix hasn't charged me for it. Something like oh...seven months...

Why haven't I watched it?

Life, I guess.

And the fact that it's three hours and six minutes long.

Yikes.

Yeah...this one will probably take at least an intermission for me to be able to watch.

weeks later, I'm finally watching, mainly because I need to return this dvd already!

Ugh. Im already bored. Falling asleep.

Opening credits were nice touch though with the letters in lights. Very much like what they did back then for signs, very much like what is still used today, including at the Ziegfeld in NYC.

Oh, and the Wizard is his rival...

the next night

So this is a biopic, but focuses more on his rise to the man we know rather than his success that we are familiar with. And honestly, I'm kinda bored.

This will pick up though. I guess I'm just more interested in the classic recreations of his Follies shows than in the details of his life. As it is, from what I've read about the film, half of it isn't even true. But considering that his wife, Billie Burke, sold the rights to his life story to pay of his debts after he'd died, does it matter how much is true?

Interesting that we have appearances from both Frank Morgan and Ray Bolger, both of whom are most known for their later film, The Wizard Of Oz.

It also seems I'm not alone in thinking it rather dull for the most part and way too long. Was it necessary to be 3 hours and 6 minutes?

I think this one honestly won it's Best Picture because of it's extravagance. It's seriously over the top. Yet there are at least two other films in that list of nominees that I would count as way better films - Romeo And Juliet and A Tale Of Two Cities. Heck, we used a copy of the '36 Tale in my high school English class! (Thanks to my father for that, and for later lending the class a copy of the '68 R&J) At least that was a story with meaning, not just extravagant froth...

And of course it includes a black face number...

The "wedding cake" scene is still a classic. Just gorgeous.

Dancers should take a lesson from Ray Bolger. The split he does...just makes my legs hurt to watch!

I think that had the film not spent such time on performances, it would've cut the time in half. Each of the productions (no matter how classic) contribute to the time bloat of the film.

It should be noted, however, that Ziegfeld is and was such a tremendous influence in the history of theater and shows here in the US. He was one of the greats, always looking to make things bigger and better. While the other shows he had all in production at the same time - Whoopee, Rio Rita, The Three Musketeers - are not truly known today, Show Boat is and will always be a classic, one that is still produced all these years later. Without Ziegfeld, would it even have happened?