Best Picture Review: “Gigi” (1958) April 1, 2009
Posted by glanzerr in Best Picture Winners.Tags: 1958, academy awards, best picture, classic movies, gigi, movies, oscars
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Gigi (1958)
The results of yesterday’s poll shows that less than half of the blog viewers are uninterested in my Best Picture project. I think over the weekend I will spin off a new blog for the Best Picture reviews and leave this blog for everything else. I know there are some new fans out there reading only for the movie reviews and not for my personal day-to-day stories as well. Perhaps just one last review on this blog, though.
Tuesday night, after another stimulating workout, Lauren and I returned home to watch our DVR’d American Idol while eating stir fry. At 9pm, we felt we still had ample time left in the evening to watch the 1958 Best Picture winner, Gigi.
Here are some key plot words used to describe Gigi. French. Turn-of-the-century. Musical. Romance. Based on that, I went into Gigi very hesitant. Didn’t sound like my type of movie. We already had one lavish romantic French musical in the 1950s with An American in Paris, after all.
Gigi started out with a fairly bizarre musical number, quickly gaining my attention. It opens with an older man named Honorè singing a song about how he loves little girls, aged six to seven. “Thank heaven for little girls!” he cries. That probably wouldn’t have come off so pedophile-like in 1958, but in today’s movies a grown man dancing in a park singing that song may come off differently.
We soon meet Gigi, a young woman in her twenties, who is being taught how to be a proper lady by her aunt Alicia. Gigi doesn’t seem terribly interested in learning proper etiquette and just wants to spend time with her grandmother’s much younger friend Gaston, the richest chap in all the land.
A musical number here and there and, you get the idea, Gaston falls for Gigi. Gaston initially only wants Gigi to be his mistress, to take her to parties and give her lavish gifts. But he soon discovers Gigi deserves better and asks for her hand in marriage.
The movie then ends with Honorè singing in the park once more, this time about how he loves watching little girls grow up into women. Oh, okay, that seems less creepy.
In comparison to the other musicals of this time (An American in Paris, Going My Way), I thought the songs were catchier and more memorable and the acting was comparable, but the story was a little weaker. The woman who played the role of Gigi, Leslie Caron, was excellent—very attractive and likable.
I think overall I liked Gigi more than expected, but it still wasn’t great. Vincente Minelli was the master of these screen musicals. At the same time, it was rather predictable and a little drawn out. I originally thought it was an hour, 47 minutes long. But when I realized I was wrong and it was actually nine more minutes, I was very disappointed. I just wanted it to end so I could go to bed! I would describe this movie as “charming but boring.” Gigi is almost certainly in the bottom half of the list.
Next up, 1959’s Ben-Hur.
Best Picture Review: “The Bridge on the River Kwai” (1957) March 30, 2009
Posted by glanzerr in Best Picture Winners.Tags: 1957, academy awards, best movies, best picture, best picture review, classic movies, ikea, oscars, ranking best picture winners, the bridge on the river kwai
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The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Sunday, Lauren and I went to Ikea and picked up a new stand for our new TV… one that actually is large enough to support it. I realized that we now have a bed frame, two dressers, coffee table, TV stand, four kitchen chairs, and a variety of dishes from Ikea in our apartment now. Mom would be proud! Anyway, we returned home and spent over an hour putting it together while watching the 1957 Best Picture winner, The Bridge on the River Kwai.
Kwai was a movie about a POW camp in WWII. British soliders are under the direction of Japanese ruler Saito. While being held in the jungle, they are instruced to build a bridge over the Kwai River which will connect the railroad between Rangoon and Bangkok. At first the British do a crappy job of it, but they are soon persuaded by their commander to do a great job so people who cross the bridge in the future remember the Brits for their solid work no matter what the circumstances.
As is the case with me quite often, I have a tough time following movies if I miss any little thing. I had to read along with the plot line on Wikipedia to keep up with what was happening on screen. I’m glad I did or I would have been really lost. The story takes a turn when one of the prisoners of war successfully escapes and is being held at a hospital in Ceylan (Sri Lanka). But this solider is blackmailed into going right back to the Kwai River as part of a British mission to blow up the new bridge.
I had a difficult time remembering what the characters’ names were, but these guys sneak into the area and wire the bridge with explosives. They stake out and plan to blow up the bridge when the first train passes the next day. All goes according to plan until literally minutes before the train is about to pass, when the proud British commander notices the cords in the river after the levels went way down overnight.
For the last ten minutes of the movie I was on the edge of my seat for one of the most intense scenes to this point in any of the Best Picture winners. Would they be able to stop the explosion of the bridge in time before the train crossed?
This movie was interesting in many ways. While it was a serious subject matter, there seemed to be a very slight underlying comedic tone throughout much of it, probably because of the happy tune the prisoners whistled while they worked. I would say of all the movies to this point, this had the most exciting ending, which really went a long way in ranking it fourth to this point.
Here are my updated, constantly-changing rankings, 1929-1957. The first 26 are likely to move around a little more as time passes, but I can promise you The Great Ziegfeld will stay in last place.
- The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
- Mrs. Miniver (1942)
- All About Eve (1950)
- The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
- Grand Hotel (1932)
- On the Waterfront (1954)
- Gone With the Wind (1939)
- Casablanca (1943)
- Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
- Marty (1955)
- It Happened One Night (1934)
- From Here to Eternity (1953)
- All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
- Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
- You Can’t Take It with You (1938)
- Going My Way (1944)
- The Life of Emile Zola (1937)
- An American in Paris (1951)
- The Lost Weekend (1945)
- How Green Was My Valley (1941)
- The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
- All the King’s Men (1949)
- Gentleman’s Agreement (1947)
- Hamlet (1948)
- Cimmaron (1931)
- The Broadway Melody (1929)
- The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
Best Picture Review: “Around the World in 80 Days” (1956) March 28, 2009
Posted by glanzerr in Best Picture Winners.Tags: academy awards, around the world in 80 days, best picture review, classic movies, michael todd, oscars, racial stereotypes, sioux
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Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
Saturday evening, I returned home after spending the day at the office finishing work on my first of two freelance websites. What should I find when I returned home but Lauren preparing a romantic dinner for two by candlelight! Dinner was tasty, as expected. Then we got the great idea to sit down and watch the 3-hour 1956 Best Picture winner, Around the World in 80 Days.
Based on the novel by Jules Verne, it has been said by a variety of experts that this movie is amongst the weakest Best Picture winners, but I didn’t agree. It was one of the very few comedies on the list to this point, possibly in a category alone with You Can’t Take It with You, and I found it both interesting and whimsical.
80 Days is just as you’d expect. It’s 1872, and a wealthy English industrialist named Phileas Fogg makes a wager with fellow members of the Gentlemen’s Club that he can make it around the world in eighty days, a most preposterous wager indeed! He takes with him his servant, Passepartout, and take off in a hot air balloon the very next day.
Along their journey, they run into trouble time and time again. Between bull fighting in Spain, rescuing an Indian woman from her death in India, narrowly escaping a collapsing bridge on a train, being hunted down by the native Sioux Indians, and managing to escape from detectives who believe Phileas is a robber, they certainly see their share of adventures. That, and Passepartout keeps getting wildly separated from Phileas but magically they manage to find each other rather quickly.
I think I liked the movie because it was so borderline over-the-top ridiculous and so unlike anything else we’ve seen to this point. I agree that it will never land in the same category of being a true classic like Casablanca and Gone With the Wind, but it certainly has its charm. Every scene was actually filmed on location, so there were no pitiful sets. The whole cast and crew actually went to Bombay, Hong Kong, San Francisco, etc. Also, this was the first movie to be filmed using a new kind of color process, devised by producer Michael Todd himself.
Some other interesting facts include the 128 miles of film shot. It was cut down to about 5 miles in the end, but still, wow. Michael Todd made just one film ever, this one, and he won Best Picture. Not a bad average. The racial/cultural stereotypes in this movie would never fly today, but back in the 50s apparently it was okay to make the Sioux out to be cannibals.
Overall, a fun, lively, entertaining movie with some memorable visual scenes, though three hours was overkill. I would rank it in the middle of the list somewhere. I’d have to think about it. Next time I might re-rank everything up to date.
Next up, 1957’s classic The Bridge on the River Kwai. I’ve heard very good things.
Best Picture Review: “On the Waterfront” (1954) March 24, 2009
Posted by glanzerr in Best Picture Winners.Tags: 1954, academy awards, best picture, classic movies, eva marie saint, marlon brando, on the waterfront, oscars
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On the Waterfront (1954)
Monday night, after setting up our router, making dinner, and a quick workout, I sat down with Lauren to watch 1954’s Best Picture winner, On the Waterfront, which by many accounts is considered to be one of the best movies on the list.
On the Waterfront is an Elia Kazan production. Kazan was the director of another recent Best Picture winner, Gentleman’s Agreement, which I thought was one of the weaker movies on the list. But Kazan certainly outdid himself with this movie about the mob in Manhattan.
On the Waterfront stars Marlon Brando, who at the time was somewhat of a male sex symbol, and co-starred the attractive young Eva Marie Saint, a relative newcomer to the screen.
I’m not sure if I’ve seen anything Marlon Brando is in before. I knew he was in the Godfather movies, but we are still 20 years away from getting to those. So despite knowing the name so well, I think this may have been my first Brando experience. Also, on a side note, it’s nice to finally be at a point in the Best Picture countdown where some of the stars from these movies are actually still alive, like Saint, who still looks reasonably good at 85!
On the Waterfront is about crime on the docks of Manhattan, where Johnny Friendly (he’s not that friendly) is in charge. He’s obviously behind some murders, and anyone who knows anything is likewise put down. Terry Malloy (Brando) was tricked into assisting in a recent killing, and has to decide whether to play “deaf and dumb” or testify against Friendly, which of course will likely result in him being killed. The murder victim’s sister, Edie, who Terry soon falls in love with, and local priest, Father Barry, persuade Terry to testify. I won’t ruin the ending for those who haven’t seen it.
This is one of the best movies so far on the list. One aspect that I think shouldn’t be overlooked is the great music arrangements that really added to the suspense, composed by Leonard Bernstein. And although it is stupid to say, because it is the most modern of the movies we’ve seen so far, but it far-and-away felt like the most modern yet, well ahead of other movies from the 50s.
Great acting, great story, great composition, and all under two hours. Certainly hits the top five to this point. So, if I were to again attempt to reorganize the top five, I’d have to go something like this.
- The Best Years of Our Lives (1947)
- Mrs. Miniver (1942)
- All About Eve (1950)
- Grand Hotel (1932)
- On the Waterfront (1954)
Next up is one that I’ve been looking forward to for a while, Marty, starring Ernest Borgnine.
Best Picture Review: “An American in Paris” (1951) March 18, 2009
Posted by glanzerr in Best Picture Winners.Tags: 1951, academy awards, an american in paris, best picture, classic movies, gene kelly, musical, oscar
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An American in Paris (1951)
Tuesday night was St. Patrick’s Day, and what better way to celebrate than a night at home watching 1951’s Best Picture winner, “An American in Paris” on our new 42″ HDTV! Okay, we did get a little Irish as we drank some Guiness (Lauren’s favorite) and Harp (my new favorite) during the movie.
I had read prior to watching the movie that An American in Paris was a lavish musical with lots of dance numbers, including an 18-minute grand finale dance that was among the most expensive ever produced for a movie. That right there gave me flashes of The Great Ziegfeld, which also incorporated mind-numbingly long dance numbers. Perhaps it was because I went in with such low expectations, but in the end, I was pleasantly surprised by An American in Paris.
The movie stars entertainment legend Gene Kelly as Jerry, the American living in Paris as an underachieving painter. My negativity was erased nearly immediately when the movie began with Kelly doing a fun little morning wakeup routine in his tiny apartment, kicking doors open and flipping tables over and raising his bed into his ceiling to make room for breakfast, all very nonchalantly. We are then introduced to Jerry’s friends and supporting characters: Henri, a singer, and Adam, a struggling concert pianist.
The story is pretty basic—Jerry is a struggling painter who finally catches his big break when a lovely single woman named Milo buys some of his artwork and goes so far as to sponsor him for an exhibition. She also is quite smitten with Jerry. On a date with Milo, Jerry spots another woman, Lise, who he instantly falls in love with. Only problem is Lise is engaged to his friend Henri, and the two are soon leaving for America. A variety of song-and-dance routines take place, and in the end (spoiler!) Jerry gets Lise and everyone is happy.
The movie had a few good things going for it. First of all, it was in color, the first we’d seen since Gone With the Wind in 1939. Actually I don’t think this movie could have worked in black and white with some of the odd scenes where drawings transformed to real-life, or at least life-size, sets. Secondly, Gene Kelly was very good at dancing, especially tap dancing. Reminiscent of Bing Crosby in 1944’s Going My Way, he had neighborhood kids following him around, amused by his entertaining dances, begging for American gum. Lastly, the movie succeeded because it was truly bizarre. Some of the sets, songs, dialogue, costumes, and storylines were absurdly off-the-wall. Enough so to keep my interest throughout.
An American in Paris was directed by Vincente Minnelli, the husband of Judy Garland, who directed one of my favorite old movies, Meet Me in St. Louis. I guess Minnelli had a knack for the musicals.
Overall I wound up liking the movie, and would likely rank it somewhere in the upper half of the list. I don’t think Lauren thought quite as highly of it. I need to get her overall rankings sometime!
Next up, 1952’s The Greatest Show on Earth. I’ve already seen the first half twice, but now I need to finish it!
Best Picture Review: All the King’s Men (1949) March 8, 2009
Posted by glanzerr in Best Picture Winners.Tags: 1949, academy awards, all the king's men, best picture, classic movies, oscars
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All the King's Men (1949)
We did it! Lauren and I have made it through the 1940s. We’ll finally be getting into some color in the 50s it looks like. The 40s started out pretty good with Mrs. Miniver and Casablanca, but ended weakly with three straight snoozers, including 1949’s All the King’s Men (Lauren highly disagrees).
Who would have thought that I could actually start a movie after midnight and see the end of it? And now daylight savings time kicked in, so I just lost an hour. I haven’t seen 3am in a while. That afternoon nap did wonders, I guess.
Anyway… All the King’s Men is a movie based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Robert Penn Warren. The movie is based in Louisiana, focusing on the political career of Willie Stark, who begins a simple man running for a county seat and winds up governor.
The “narrator” of the whole story is Jack Burden, a newspaper reporter who takes an interest in Stark’s political career. He quits his job to become Stark’s right-hand man, following him across the state, standing by his side. Stark winds up winning the governor’s race because of his honesty and ability to relate to the “hicks”. He promises new hospitals, schools, and lots else, and actually delivers. But in the process, he becomes just as corrupt as some of the politicians before him, which leads to a weird love affair, his impeachment hearing, and ultimately (60-year spoiler alert!) murder.
I actually was pretty intrigued at the start of the movie, but as things went on I lost interest. Not having much interest in politics, I began daydreaming and may have even missed a minute or two here or there.
The movie won not only Best Picture, but the awards for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress. The lead man, Broderick Crawford, seemed an awful lot like Rodney Dangerfield, from the way he looked and the way he talked. The role of Willie Stark was initially offered to John Wayne, but he hastily rejected it and wound up losing to Crawford in the Best Actor category that year.
I thought the acting was pretty good throughout. Again, the story had its moments and started strong, but became too predictable as it wore on. Having just barely finished watching Hamlet minutes earlier, I thought this might seem a lot better by comparison, but in the end I think the two were equally uninteresting. I’d have to rank this just ahead of Hamlet on the list.
Here are my overall 1940s rankings, remembering that we had to skip 1940’s Rebecca due to it not being available on Netflix! I have a feeling my rankings are completely unique to anyone else who has seen these movies… I have some unusual tastes.
- Mrs. Miniver (1942)
- The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
- Casablanca (1943)
- Going My Way (1944)
- How Green Was My Valley (1941)
- The Lost Weekend (1946)
- All the King’s Men (1949)
- Hamlet (1948)
- Gentleman’s Agreement (1947)
Next up, 1950’s All About Eve. I’ve heard very good things!
Best Picture Review: “Gentleman’s Agreement” (1947) March 6, 2009
Posted by glanzerr in Best Picture Winners.Tags: 1947, academy awards, best picture, classic movies, gentleman's agreement, gregory peck
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Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
Last night at 8:30, after working out at the Y, Lauren and I sat down to watch Gentleman’s Agreement, winner of the 1947 Best Picture award. 8:30 is a pretty late start time for me, especially having been up since 6:15am and just gotten back home from the gym. It would be a battle to stay awake for the movie.
Gentleman’s Agreement is a movie about a single man named Phillip “Schuyler” Green who has just moved to New York, living with his son and mother. He is an experienced writer and gets a job writing a big article about anti-Semitism. “That’s been done,” they all say. “What more can be said that hasn’t been said already?”
It’s true. Poor Schuyler can’t get a good start on this article. That is, until a visit with his aging mother, when he decides to pretend to be Jewish and see what happens. What better way to get true insight into the story than to be a Jew himself? He tells no one except his family and fiance, Kathy Lacy.
Well, as one may expect, as soon as word gets out about his Jewish beliefs, he soon falls victim to plenty of discrimination and disrespect. The story takes some twists along the way when he and Kathy break up after she, of all people, makes an insensitive remark to his son about him being Jewish. In the end, Schuyler writes the story and it is highly regarded by all.
Yes, I fell asleep during the movie. Not once, twice, thrice… more like 11 separate times, but each time it was for just a few seconds before Lauren yelled “Ryan! Wake up!” So I don’t think I missed much. I think the sleeping was as much a testament to me being tired from working out as it was how boring the movie was. I truly was not interested in the movie right from the get-go. I didn’t think the acting was natural at all.
Another complaint about this one was the torrid love affair between the lead character Schuyler and Kathy. As I’ve seen time and time again in movies up to this point, characters fall in love in mere seconds. Love at first sight was far more common than love after several meetings. But there was very little evidence of these two falling for each other before his proposal. I just didn’t quite buy it this time. Like I said before, Teresa Wright had this love at first sight thing nailed down in Miniver and Best Years.
So, overall, a weak movie by my standards. Probably ranks just ahead of Cimarron at 4th-to-last. I did, however, find it interesting that this movie was very controversial at the time. So much so, that through a series of complaints and protests, several actors had to testify before a hearing committee, which led to the blacklisting of two actors, including Ann Revere, the old mother. She wouldn’t act again for 20 years thanks to her refusal to participate in the hearings.
Next up, 1948’s Hamlet. Never been a Shakespeare guy, but we’ll see what happens…
Also, I’d like to direct you to another blog where the same project is taking place! Eitan and Shira from DC are watching every Best Picture and reviewing them too, but are quite a ways further along than us. Check out their Stats page for some truly awesome detailed facts.
Best Picture Review: “The Best Years of Our Lives” (1946) March 3, 2009
Posted by glanzerr in Best Picture Winners.Tags: academy awards, best picture, classic movies, harold russell, oscars, teresa wright, the best years of our lives, world war ii
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The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Over the course of two nights, Monday and Tuesday, Lauren and I spent 2 hours, 52 minutes watching 1946’s Best Picture winner, The Best Years of Our Lives.
I was pretty much blown away. Blown! When I heard this was another war movie, I was disappointed. But it was a movie about three men returning from World War II and how they had to try readjusting to their old lives. And I thought it was quite an amazing movie.
This was definitely a character development movie. Not a lot of big blockbuster storylines, just the tales of a sailor named Homer who lost both hands; a Sargent named Al who returned to his family and missed the growing up of his children; and a pilot named Fred who was returning to a wife who no longer likes him.
The biggest story in this movie involved Fred putting the moves on Al’s daughter Peggy, played by the talented legend of screen Teresa Wright. Fred was married, and if affairs are frowned upon these days, imagine what people thought in 1946! Al was none too pleased that his war buddy was putting the moves on his daughter.
Meanwhile, Homer with his hooks for hands, was being pitied by his family and longtime love Wilma. He has doubts that anyone will ever take him seriously again, but Wilma couldn’t care less about the hooks and wants him for the rest of his body. A wedding ensues.
In the end, Fred’s wife divorces him, opening the door for him to make out with Peggy at Homer’s wedding. Happy endings all around!
I thought it was a great movie. Outstanding acting all around. It had the most modern feel of any of the movies so far, perhaps because it is in fact the most recent, but seems to be timeless in many regards. The hook-hand actor, Harold Russell, really was handless in real life because of the war. And he was the first non-professional actor ever to win Best Actor at the Academy Awards. Not only that, but he is the only person to win two Oscars for the portrayal of the same character, as he was also awarded an honorary award for bringing hope to his fellow veterans of war.
Much like previous winner “It Happened One Night,” I’m not sure the title was very fitting. I don’t quite know what the best years of their lives were. Are they talking about the years they spent overseas at World War II? Maybe their lives were so upside down after returning from the war that the time that their years at war seemed more natural?
I feel like I should take a moment to say the young Teresa Wright (28 at the time) was quite the actress. She was nominated for Oscars in the first three films she starred in, including our recently viewed Mrs. Miniver, along with Damn Yankees, where she starred alongside Babe Ruth. I’d have to say she and Clark Gable are my favorite actors of this time period.
The only thing I’m torn about is whether to rank this movie first or second on the list. I’ll have to give it some time before I decide.
Next up, 1947’s Gentleman’s Agreement.
Best Picture Review: “Mrs. Miniver” (1942) February 21, 2009
Posted by glanzerr in Best Picture Winners.Tags: 1942, academy awards, best picture, classic movies, garson greer, movies, mrs. miniver, oscars
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Mrs. Miniver, 1942
Saturday afternoon, Lauren and I concluded our viewing of 1942’s Mrs. Miniver, which we started a week ago, but the DVD stopped working after 41 minutes and we had to send it back to Netflix and get a new copy to finish up.
Well, was the week-long wait worth it? I say yes. I actually rather enjoyed Mrs. Miniver. Lauren also liked it and thought it was “very well done.”
Mrs. Miniver was a propoganda film, created to end American isolationism in World War II, and based on the novel from 1937. The movie revolves around English housewife Mrs. Miniver (Greer Garson) who stands tall despite many war hardships that hit home, quite literally!
Mrs. Miniver is also the name of the prize-winning rose in the village flower competition, named by the friendly station agent who admires Mrs. Miniver the woman. The flower show seemed to serve as a backdrop of the innocent day-to-day activities that were going on while doom loomed overhead.
A romantic subplot featured the Miniver son, Vin, who fell in love with longtime neighbor Carol. The two marry after just a couple weeks, partially out of fear that Vin will die in the war as a pilot. Well, as fate would have it, Carol is the one who is killed when she’s struck by a bullet from a German war plane during a massive air raid.
There was quite a bit more to the movie than that, but that’s the quick rundown.
So yeah, in the end, I have nothing bad to say about Mrs. Miniver. In fact, I may rank it as the best to this point… I’ll have to think about that before making such a bold claim. I thought it displayed some great acting from both Greer and Teresa Wright, who each collected Oscars for their roles. It was a solid story, and kept me on the edge of my seat, especially during the big bombing scenes.
One great part of this movie was a bedroom scene. Mr. and Mrs. Miniver slept in the same room, but different beds. In a span of one minute, the two shared a cool, smooth cigarette; Mr. Miniver awkwardly spanked Mrs. Miniver’s ass when she bent over; and Mr. Miniver commented candidly on how it’s the woman’s role to stay at home and look after the house while the man goes out and “does things.” Funny 1940’s stereotypes!
And here’s another odd fact I uncovered after watching the movie: in real life, Greer married her on-screen son, who was 11 years younger than her.
I will soon do an overall ranking of the movies we’ve seen so far. Perhaps after we watch the next movie on the list, 1944’s “Going My Way,” a musical starring Bing Crosby. As you remember, we already saw 1943’s “Casablanca.”
Best Picture Review: The Great Ziegfeld (1936) December 9, 2008
Posted by glanzerr in Best Picture Winners.Tags: 1936, academy awards, best picture, classic movies, oscars, the great ziegfeld
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The Great Ziegfeld
Tonight, Lauren and I were able to free up three hours to sit down and watch the 1936 winner of the Best Picture award, The Great Ziegfeld. Like Broadway Melody and Cimarron, we were left disappointed.
I knew right off the bat that it would be a long night when the first five minutes of the movie had to be fast-forwarded through. It said “Overture” on the screen while a long song played with nothing happening in the background. They set the movie up like a play, doing this again at intermission.
There’s not a ton of information out there on this movie. It was said that this movie was created for the purpose of promoting some big musical productions, and it worked to tie it together with the biography of Broadway producer Florenz Ziegfeld.
Large portions of the movie deviate from the storyline and instead focus on the musical numbers of some of his biggest productions. The numbers have nothing to do with each other and nothing to do with the plot of the movie other than to show how extravagant Ziegfeld’s shows, sets, and costumes were.
There were a handful of humorous moments. Ziegfeld is constantly foiling the plans of his nemesis, Billings, over the years. Billings discovers the talent and is all ready to sign the girls to big contracts, when in steps Ziegfeld and steals the girls away. This happens again and again, year after year, until his death.
Another funny moment was late in the movie when Ziegfeld produces a musical about the circus, and one of the extravagant numbers features a few border collies, who awkwardly stand in place while women dance through and around them. Then this one female dancer walks by and each dog takes its turn walking ahead a few paces into a square on the floor. One stupid dog misses the square and is a few feet in front of the others. That made me laugh.
Overall, the movie was painfully long. The musical numbers weren’t catchy for the most part. The story was weak at best. The acting was fine. In fact, Luise Rainer won the award for Best Actress. I did find it interesting that she is the oldest living Academy Award winner at 98.
Where this movie belongs on the list is debatable. It is either last, or second to last. Broadway Melody was so bad that it was at least laughably bad. The Great Ziegfeld was bad and unfunny. I think it is the worst so far. I’m going to rank it behind Broadway Melody for extreme lack of entertainment of any kind!
