filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Freeman This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Catherina If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

bennett-44413 The musical numbers are typical of the golden age, only in black and white. If you are a fan of "Busby Berkely" style, like me, this is for you. The plot, as is the case for musicals, is of no consequence, and fills in time between production numbers. If you want to see a movie about life on the stage, where the plot matters, watch "Stage Door".

mark.waltz The three girls here are Hedy Lamarr, Lana Turner and Judy Garland. Turner is discovered, not sipping sodas but running an elevator. One of Ziegfeld's scouts finds Garland performing with her father in burlesque. Hedy Lamarr happens to be there just because her boyfriend is auditioning for a place in the orchestra. These three girls are all chosen as Ziegfeld girls, and while the glamorous Lamar and Turner both have leading roles in the musical number, Garland is featured in the chorus. One will make it to the top of the wedding cake; another will retire to be a wife, and the third will end up in tragedy.This is an unofficial sequel to The Great Ziegfeld with the focus on the girls rather than the man behind the scenes. He is absent here, but the plot is something similar to some of the subplots from the original. Legengs of real life Ziegfeld girl scandals are still being talked about today with Turner an amalgamation of several real life Follies girls.Garland, who would later stand out in the supporting role of Marilyn Miller in the 1946 Jerome Kern musical bio Till the Clouds Roll By, is perky and sweet, but her character is no different than any of the roles that she played opposite Mickey Rooney. Here, she gets Jackie Cooper instead. Lamarr remains a beautiful block of ice, which leaves Turner to get the best scenes as a self- destructive train wreck.Musically, this is just as lavish looking as its predecessor and Tony Martin provides the voice for the Follies leading man who makes a play for Lamarr even though he's marriedLamarr does get to liven up in a confrontation with the wife that takes a different turn. James Stewart also has a rather thankless part as Turner's boyfriend who ends up involved with gangsters. Smaller roles played by Charles Winninger, Edward Everett Horton and Eve Arden are brief but memorable. Dan Dailey has a nir as a low-class brute who abuses the down on her luck Turner. Garland explodes finally in her big production number, Minnie From Trinidad, where she dances with a chubby but talented hoofer and appears to be propelled high up on a platform with only bamboo poles lifting it.This propelled Turner into stardom and showed that she was more than just another blonde beauty. She really gives her all acting wise. Some elements make this seem forced and an artificial view if the Fillies, but as directed by Robert Z. Leonard, it is a worth-while follow up to the original.

vincentlynch-moonoi For me -- a lover of the old MGM musicals -- this film doesn't quite come together. The whole seems to be less than the sum of its parts.For me, problem number one is that it seems to actually have little to do with Flo Ziegfeld. It may be the story of 3 young women who become Ziegfeld girls, but where exactly is there much about Flo Ziegfeld? The film is the sequel to the wonderful 1936 film "The Great Ziegfeld", but it just doesn't have the same sense of grandeur. I guess this is "The Sorta Good Ziegfeld".James Stewart -- maybe it worked in 1941, but today -- with the persona of Jimmy Stewart in our minds -- this characterization just doesn't work. This is a good role for the still young Judy Garland (still in her Andy Hardy days), but not one of her best. Hedy Lamarr does fine here, although -- as usual -- her acting is more about her beauty. Lana Turner is lovely, but at this point in her career she hasn't yet become the fine actress she later was. Tony Martin...eeh! Jackie Cooper...well, nice to see him, although his career was already in sharp decline. Ian Hunter turns in a nice performance as a sophisticate. Charles Winninger is entertaining as Garland's "pop", a vaudeville entertainer. Eve Arden plays Eve Arden (and that's good). Edward Everett Horton is entertaining as one of Flo Ziegfeld's right hand men. Philip Dorn is boring as a violinist (he had other much better roles). Dan Dailey plays a boxer with a negative attitude; he has one very good scene.In terms of the story, my first question is why are Jimmy Stewart and the other hoods wearing winter coats and hats in Palm Beach, Florida? But beyond that, the script follows 3 girls who each become Ziegfeld girls; how does each react to her fame? Garland -- the most successful of the three -- misses her vaudeville "Pop" who seems to have an outdated act. Turner turns out not so nice, dumping her boyfriend (Stewart), who wasn't very nice anyway, and he becomes a bootleg runner; meanwhile Turner gets fired from the show due to alcoholism. Lamarr...well, she floats around in the soup, but it was a bit difficult to figure out her issue, other than that she is the least dedicated to show business of the three. In terms of musical numbers, only two are striking -- "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" by Garland and "Mr. Gallagher & Mr. Shean" by Winninger and the real Al Shean! Overall, this musical just didn't catch my attention the way most MGM musicals do. And then they cheapened the finale by using segments from the fine 1938 film, which had spectacular sets, versus the vastly slimmed down 1941 sets...a mismatch. Not to mention the schmaltzy duck dream. This film was successful back in the day, but parts of it hardly held my attention.

writers_reign ... as someone should have said to Lana Turner before it was too late. Turner plays an elevator (lift in England) operator in what the film coyly calls a 'Fifth Avenue Department Store' and is spotted there (offscreen) by the great Ziggie himself - this may be a backhanded nod to Turner's alleged 'discovery' whilst in Schwab's Drug Store - and before you can say staircase she is a 'Ziegfeld Girl in the same intake as Hedy Lamarr and Judy Garland. This was the second of three films - The Great Ziegfeld, Ziegfeld Girl, Ziegfeld Follies - glorifying the Great Mittel Europe Showman and arguably the worst. It's basically a melodrama with a half-hearted score in which top-billed Jimmy Stewart seems miscast as the truck-driver who turns as 'bad' as his girl-friend (Turner) once he realizes her head has been turned by the cliché financier. Turner is actually half decent as the neighborhood gal who abandons True Love for Faux jewellery and most watchable - though there's not enough of her - is Eve Arden, that mistress of the one-liner. Hedy Lamarr supplies the glamor but luckily isn't prevailed upon to act, Judy and Charles Winninger walk through their father-daughter schtick, Tony Martin reminds us just how far short he was of Sinatra or even Dick Haymes and doesn't QUITE ruin the one decent number in the score, You Stepped Out Of A Dream. To add insult to injury MGM shot it in black and white. Try to catch it on TV rather than shelling out for the DVD.