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The Great Ziegfeld (Robert Z. Leonard, 1936)
This Best Picture Oscar winner is often criticized for being too long and boring, and I'll admit that three hours is pushing it for a musical biography, but when I compare it to most other such bios, it's actually really pretty entertaining. The film begins with Flo Ziegfeld (William Powell and everybody loves him, right?) competing with his friendly rival Billings (Frank Morgan, the Wizard of Oz himself). Ziegfeld is pushing the strongest man in the world, Sandow (Nat Pendleton), while Billings is pushing the sexy "Little Egypt". Billings always seems to keep a step ahead of Ziegfeld, but Flo gets the jump on him when he snags French actress Anna Held (Best Actress winner Luise Rainer, who lived to be 104) away from Billings. Flo marries her and makes her a big American star, but eventually the insecure Anna asks for a divorce and Flo then marries Billie Burke (who later played Glenda, the Good Witch, another Oz tie-in). Burke is played by Powell's frequent co-star Myrna Loy who affects a cute Billie Burke voice. There is much more to say about Ziegfeld whose Follies and many Broadway hits made him the most-popular showman of the 1920s and early '30s. There are gargantuan musical numbers and scenes totally recreated from certain plays. Overall, yes, it's probably too-much of a good thing, but it's still good. The cast is crammed with names and faces from the era.
This Best Picture Oscar winner is often criticized for being too long and boring, and I'll admit that three hours is pushing it for a musical biography, but when I compare it to most other such bios, it's actually really pretty entertaining. The film begins with Flo Ziegfeld (William Powell and everybody loves him, right?) competing with his friendly rival Billings (Frank Morgan, the Wizard of Oz himself). Ziegfeld is pushing the strongest man in the world, Sandow (Nat Pendleton), while Billings is pushing the sexy "Little Egypt". Billings always seems to keep a step ahead of Ziegfeld, but Flo gets the jump on him when he snags French actress Anna Held (Best Actress winner Luise Rainer, who lived to be 104) away from Billings. Flo marries her and makes her a big American star, but eventually the insecure Anna asks for a divorce and Flo then marries Billie Burke (who later played Glenda, the Good Witch, another Oz tie-in). Burke is played by Powell's frequent co-star Myrna Loy who affects a cute Billie Burke voice. There is much more to say about Ziegfeld whose Follies and many Broadway hits made him the most-popular showman of the 1920s and early '30s. There are gargantuan musical numbers and scenes totally recreated from certain plays. Overall, yes, it's probably too-much of a good thing, but it's still good. The cast is crammed with names and faces from the era.