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The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

Rate: 9
Viewed: 9/25

GreatZieg
9/25: Finally, a true Best Picture winner: The Great Ziegfeld.

Lately, I've been making up for it by watching some from the 30's to 60's, and all are either bad or undeserving. But this one, it's quite excellent. The only suggestion I would make is getting rid of the Sandow segment. I understand that's part of Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr.'s biography, but it's out of place, cinema-wise, causing the film to run too long.

If there's scene that belongs in the top 50 of all time, it's the rotating steps on the stage, reaching seventy feet high. Breathtaking and magnificent, that may have been the clincher for Best Picture. Today, the musical represents Classic Hollywood very well. There are other superbly staged shows that are replicas of the Ziegfeld Follies that ran on Broadway from 1907 to 1931. Now, you know where the phrase "Ziegfeld Girl" comes from.

This is the first time I've seen Fanny Brice on screen. I couldn't believe the likeness that Barbra Streisand, who won the Oscar on the very first try for Funny Girl which is a biopic about Fanny Brice, had to her, even right down to the nose. She barely did movies during her career and died at age 59 in 1951. In the meantime, I agree with Luise Rainer's Oscar win as Annie Held, but it should've been for Best Supporting Actress. What a shock that William Powell wasn't considered for a nomination. It has to be the crowning achievement of his probably underrated acting career.

Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr.'s second wife, Billie Burke, can be easily recognized as Glinda the Good Witch of the North in The Wizard of Oz. She made sure of William Powell getting the role due to their similar demeanor. As a matter of fact, The Great Ziegfeld happened because her husband was bankrupt, and after he died, she inherited his debts and had to sell the film rights to his life story. By the way, that's not Will Rogers but his longtime impersonator A. A. Trimble; the other one died in a plane crash the year before.

All in all, The Great Ziegfeld is the Citizen Kane of musicals.