The Great Ziegfeld

Entertaining in large part thanks to Powell's limitless charisma, but its length makes it a case of diminishing returns, especially since the musical numbers don't really stand out.

a generally unfocused portrait of an facinating and loveable man; suplemented by lavish, arbitrary, and lengthy stage shows. the entire movie is fairly well acted and scripted, but not quite cohesive and streamlined as one would have wanted. william powell does an expert's job as does nat pendleton as sandow--even if he has minimal screen time.

It seems to me to be the first example of pompous Oscar-bait, replete with an overture and exit music, interminable production numbers, and a desire to be all things to all people. The screenplay is incredibly lazy and cliched; there's even a scene where Ziegfeld, in the 1920s, chortles that he's made a lot of money buying stocks on the margin. No sooner has he said this than the phone rings and, whaddaya know, the market has crashed! Also, I wanted to punch Frank Morgan every time he laughed.

It's not horrible, but it's really only for Oscar history enthusiasts like myself. Mediocre in every sense of the term.

Too long. The shows are mediocre - and so is the rest.

A bit too long and a bit too dated, but Powell sure has charisma and that staircase show is out of this world.

"The memories of the best things of the stage." A fabulous spectacle with a charismatic lead, but perhaps a bit surface.

Dumb movie with dumb music.

Could do with some trimming - there's no need for this to be three hours long, and the admittedly spectacular mid-film musical number grinds the whole thing down to a halt - but I liked it anyway, probably mostly because of Powell.

One of the worst best picture winning films that I've seen. Luise Rainer gives a great performance and the direction during the musical scenes is pretty good. Otherwise it's a sleep inducing 3 hour bore.

It's an absolutely glamorous spectacle, full of impressive long shots of well-choreographed musical numbers, great set pieces, stunning women in beautiful costumes... But it's all so empty. There's little emotional weight here and the follies, as pretty as they are, go on too long and it all becomes a little tedious.

Great production numbers with the moving sets and elaborate costumes. Storywise, forget it.

A chronological story of the great show producer Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. done in true Hollywood style! Glam, glitter, beautiful ladies and enough comedy to entertain for 3 hours! It's a very professionally shot film throwing in some extended samples of what his shows had to offer. Truly grand stuff! Can't say the movie goes very deep, but its a Hollywood show film about show business so there was no way it was going to get too personal. All about bringing the show and it was the same with Ziegfeld.

The Follies numbers are extravagantly awesome; the personal drama follows in a similar theatrical style which is fitting for the '30s, but a little old-style nowadays. It is a model for all Broadway films, and a good biography, too.