Libramedi Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Lee Eisenberg It will be harder for us in the 21st century to take a movie like "The Great Ziegfeld" seriously due to its over-the-top pomp and the occasional politically incorrect material (and a scene that comes across as pedophilic). I guess that Florenz Ziegfeld was more recognizable to audiences in the 1930s (or they wanted an escape from the Depression). Nonetheless, the movie does show how Flo was determined to make a name for himself in entertainment and did whatever he had to in order to become one of Broadway's biggest impresarios. Of course, I don't know how accurate the movie is.Probably the most famous scene is during the "Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody" number, as a spiral staircase gets slowly revealed, with people in all sorts of fancy outfits. The 1930s version of sensory overload.So I'd say that it's nothing special, but worth seeing. Certainly not the sort of movie that would get made nowadays.As for the cast. William Powell and Myrna Loy were of course most famous for the Thin Man series. Co-stars Frank Morgan (Billings) and Ray Bolger (himself) played the Wizard and Scarecrow, respectively, in "The Wizard of Oz" (and Loy's character Billie Burke played Glinda). Mae Questel (Rosie) voiced Betty Boop and also played Woody Allen's character's mom in "New York Stories" and Aunt Bethany in "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation". Fanny Brice was of course the subject of "Funny Girl".

mark.waltz The Broadway legends total a great many, and fans argue over who was responsible for the transition of the old fashioned entertainments of the 19th century into what is now known as musical comedy. Certainly the many song writers of this time (George M Cohan, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Rodgers and Hart, Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin) had some impact on the creation of the modern world of American musical theatre, but it really was one man who transform the New York theater into what remains to this day.Florenze was already a show man when he had the idea of taking his low class burlesque shows on to the mainstream on Broadway where operetta and serious dramas were the main source of entertainment. His Follies between 1907 and 1931 gave way too many elaborate imitators, but he did it first and according to legend, did it best.Ironically, it was one of the dream makers of Hollywood who saw the potential in Ziegfeld's story being taking to the screen. MGM Studios, under the run of Louis B. Mayer with his artistic partner Irving Thalberg, had the dream that MGM had more stars in the were in heaven, a theme that Ziegfeld may have felt. Ziegfeld himself had Will Rogers, Eddie Cantor, W.C. Fields and an all but now forgotten singer and dancer named Marilyn Miller as his leading lady. In the midst of all that, he found a funny looking Jewish girl named Fanny Brice and took her out of burlesque turning her into one of the most popular stars ever to cross the Broadway stage. Yes, that is the same Fanny Brice who was later portrayed by Barbra Streisand, so The Great Ziegfeld in a sense is a prequel to the classic stage and movie musical Funny Girl.But this is the Ziegfeld story, and to play him, MGM cast one of their top leading men, William Powell. It was too years after the success of The Thin Man so his leading lady, Myrna Loy, cast as Ziegfeld's second wife, Billie Burke. However, it is the actress playing his first wife, NFL, who got the attention and an Academy Award. That is Louise Rainer who had a brief run as a leading lady at MGM, winning to Academy Awards before leaving out of discontent. Rainer gives an excellent performance, although I debate her qualifications as leading actress for this film. Rainer is excellent in several things, particularly the one where after having discovering her husband's infidelity and later divorcing him, calls him to congratulate him about his second marriage.The bulk of the story focuses on his constant financial issues and this rivalry with fellow producer Frank Morgan who eventually becomes his closest supporter and keeps bailing him out. Then there are the musical numbers which would never fit on a Broadway stage. Still, these numbers are so elaborate and fantastic that I found myself tearing up in spite of having seen this a bunch of times. Of course, A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody is the most famous, but it's also difficult not to remember You Got to Pull Strings and You've Never Looked So Beautiful Before. In addition to Brice, Ray Bolger plays himself. An ironic moment has him telling Powell that he didn't have his heart in doing just props, an interesting look into the future when he turned down the opportunity to be the Tim Man and searched for a brain instead.The facts have been altered a little bit with Virginia Bruce's drunken chorus girl given a different name as well as the one based upon Marilyn Milker. Snippets of a few shows make it in bit you can't have everything. While this won the Oscar for Best Picture, I still think that Universal's Show Boat is better and practically flawless. Still, this is quite a triumph in its own way, and director Robert Z. Leonard would almost top it with a semi- sequel, Ziegfeld Girl that only mentions the great producer. Years later, Paul Henreid would play Ziegfeld in MGM's musical biography of Sigmund Romberg and Walter Pidgeon would argue with Streisand after she slipped a pillow into her costume in Funny Girl. Powell played Ziegfeld one more time, however, in 1945's elaborate version of what MGM thought the Follies would look like on screen.

GeoPierpont Once I saw "Funny Girl" I assumed the beauties in the Follies could never compare to the 20s/30s standard and wow was I surprised. Those girls were truly beautiful, tip to toe and talented! Typically when you see even 40's musicals, you just assumed that women's stature, legs and poise eventually evolved to todays uber standard. However, in this epic biopic every dame is a winner. I figured since they were'nt wearing mini-skirts and bikinis in those days it was not as hard to compete for men's attentions. I have been to many stage productions and could never imagine seeing moving sets with dancing girls on mattress tops. The LA Hard Rock show probably is the closet to this technique and I was over the top with just their small interpretation. But in the 20's? How truly shocking, exciting, and spectacular! Ziegfeld was a genius to attract all that talent to produce unforgettable moments in entertainment history. I had no idea his shows visualized profound eye candy, particularly the sets.I found the movie too long and was not prepared to see almost full shows and routines. But this is more documentary format than stage play. Ray Bolger exhibited enormous talent that only shone through slightly in the Wizard of Oz. Amazing how many characters from this film ended up together again in 1939.I did not find the Helm character interesting and her phone scene was overly dramatic and tired. She reminded me of the woman who played Joan of Arc, the silent version, very expressive eyes. I also did not see the appeal for Fanny Brice, Streisand probably spoiled that image for me.Powell never disappoints and is aged well into his final moments. I watched this film primarily for his performance and this role was most likely very gruelling given the length and amount of dialogue.High recommend for appreciating Ziegelds's early musical stage shows, the bevy of leggy beauties and fabulous sets.

SnoopyStyle During the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, sideshow barker Flo Ziegfeld Jr. (William Powell) struggles to promote strong man Eugen Sandow. He beats his rival Billings by smart marketing on Sandow. It's the start of his long career of promoting vaudeville acts as he gains success and loses big over and over again. His first wife is French star Anna Held (Luise Rainer) who he signed stealing away from Billings. She gains publicity with Flo sending 20 gallons of milk for a fictional beauty treatment everyday. His next star is the alcoholic Audrey Dane who breaks up his marriage. Borrowing from Billings again, he produces a new show with Broadway star Billie Burke (Myrna Loy) and later marrying her and having daughter Patricia.This is a long giant Hollywood extravaganza to proclaim its love of Ziegfeld. It has all the lavish production that such a thing entails. It can get long-winded at 3 hours but it's not a small life. In fact, it fits the man to have a long big production. It does bring out the up and down life of a vaudeville hustler and the old idea that bigger is always better. It's the perfect big production for the producer who loves big production. William Powell does a fine impresario of hucksterism and imagine making.