The Great Ziegfeld
Hollywood of the 1930s had a habit of mistaking length for prestige, and this film proves the point. The costumes sparkle, the choreography dazzles, but after the third bloated production number you start checking the clock instead of the the chorus line. The Great Ziegfeld wants to be both a biopic and a spectacle, yet in trying to do everything it does little with conviction.
William Powell is suavely convincing, and Myrna Loy adds warmth when she finally appears, but both are smothered under sequins and feathers. The story drifts in and out, unsure whether it’s about the man or just an excuse to keep the dancers employed. Every so often we glimpse the person behind the pageantry, only to be swept away again by another overstuffed tableau.
It’s polished in the MGM mirror-bright way, and the Academy even gave it Best Picture, but it’s also a slog—vaudeville inflated to breaking point. By the time the camera caresses yet another glittering staircase, you’re ready for the curtain. Spectacle it has; stamina, not so much.
William Powell is suavely convincing, and Myrna Loy adds warmth when she finally appears, but both are smothered under sequins and feathers. The story drifts in and out, unsure whether it’s about the man or just an excuse to keep the dancers employed. Every so often we glimpse the person behind the pageantry, only to be swept away again by another overstuffed tableau.
It’s polished in the MGM mirror-bright way, and the Academy even gave it Best Picture, but it’s also a slog—vaudeville inflated to breaking point. By the time the camera caresses yet another glittering staircase, you’re ready for the curtain. Spectacle it has; stamina, not so much.
Mini Review: Hollywood of the ’30s thought prestige meant running time, and The Great Ziegfeld is the bloated proof. William Powell and Myrna Loy do their best, but they’re buried under endless feathers and staircases. Lavish costumes, dazzling choreography—and not much else. It even won Best Picture, proving the Academy never met a shiny excess it didn’t love.