The Great Ziegfeld

Well the whole idea of posting one every Monday didn't work out too well. So, it's a little late. I have just been tired and didn't feel like sitting down to watch a three hour movie from the 30's. Pretty sure this is the longest Best Picture winner so far. Once I finally sat down to watch it I enjoyed it for the most part.

The movie is about Florenz Ziegfeld a famous producer in the early 20th century and the creator of the Ziegfeld Follies. The movie starts with his beginning at a fair trying to promote the "Worlds Strongest Man" and follows his career through ups and downs. Always trying to find the next big thing and being a smooth talker he wins over plenty of talent and each success leads to bigger things. But every time he makes money he finds a way of blowing it. Sometimes its gambling but most times it in the form of extravagant gifts. Finally in the end he ends losing all of his money in the stock market crash and during the depression with no one going to see plays he ends up dieing with a great deal of debt.

The movie is structured like a play. There is an overture in the beginning and intermission in the middle and exit music at the end. That's part of the reason the movie is 3 hours long. Seemed to take forever to get through the overture in the beginning. The intermission came at a good time because I started falling asleep. Woke up and realized I didn't miss anything just slept through the nice music they were playing during the intermission. The production numbers were great. They really showed the wow factor that must have amazed theatre goers seeing the follies on stage. Made me wish I could have seen one. My big problem is that as impressive as it was the musical number in the middle was too long. Would have been amazing on stage but in a movie just didn't hold my attention. I read that the studios spend more money on the big musical number in the middle of the movie then it cost to put on one of Ziegfeld's shows. But the movie should have stuck to more about the man. William Powell did another amazing job as Ziegfeld(actually did so good of a job he played him again in another movie 10 years later). He really captured that spirit of a guy who has big dreams and can win over anyone with his charms. No matter how many times he was broke he could always convince someone to give him money for his next big idea.

Luise Rainer who played his first wife Anna Held won best actress for the role. She also won best actress the following year for The Good Earth, making her the first actress or actor to win the same award back to back. Billie Burke his second wife was supposed to be played by Billie Burke herself who after Ziegfeld died left her in so much debt she had to start acting in movies to make money. Unfortunately that didn't happen due to contracts, but would have been interesting to see. She did play a big part in helping writing the script and made sure some of Ziegfeld's indiscretions were not fully shown. So Myrna Loy ended up playing Billie Burke and was the 4th time that Myrna Loy and William Powell were in the same movie. They were both in the Thin Man movies and total they would make 14 movies together. There were a couple of people who ended up playing themselves. Fannie Brice was in almost every Ziegfeld's Follies and Ray Bolger who Ziegfeld discovered played themselves. Ray Bolger became famous for his portrayal of the scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, which also starred Billie Burke as Glinda the Good Witch.
Another interesting note. Eugen Sandow the "Worlds Strongest Man" who Ziegfeld is promoting in the beginning of the film went on to a great career and became the "Father of Bodybuilding"
Also the first Biopic to win Best Picture. But next up is the Second Biopic to win Best Picture The Life of Emile Zola.