Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
The Great Ziegfeld
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Great Ziegfeld | |
|---|---|
 original movie poster |
|
| Directed by | Robert Z. Leonard |
| Produced by | Hunt Stromberg |
| Written by | William Anthony McGuire |
| Starring | William Powell Myrna Loy Luise Rainer |
| Music by | Walter Donaldson |
| Distributed by | MGM |
| Release date(s) | April 8, 1936 (USA) |
| Running time | 176 min. |
| Language | English |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Great Ziegfeld (1936) is a musical film produced by MGM. Although Florenz Ziegfeld provides a plot thread for this movie, it's really meant to showcase a series of spectacular musical productions. It takes many key liberties with Ziegfeld's life. The film includes original music by Walter Donaldson and Irving Berlin. Berlin's work was featured in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1918, 1919, and 1920.
The film makes another historical goof: Rhapsody in Blue is heard as part of the 1907 Follies (so dated by fictional cameos of Will Rogers and Eddie Cantor, who first appeared in the 1917 Follies). Rhapsody in Blue was written in 1924, and was never featured in the Follies.
Featured in the film are William Powell (as Ziegfeld), Myrna Loy (as Billie Burke), Luise Rainer (as Anna Held), Nat Pendleton (as Eugen Sandow), Frank Morgan and Virginia Bruce. Ziegfeld performers Fanny Brice and Ray Bolger play themselves. Dennis Morgan, in an uncredited role, performed "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody" (dubbed by Allan Jones). Yet another goof appears in the famed production number. "Pretty Girl" was written for the 1919 Follies, yet the picture depicts the number being in the first edition of the revue.
The movie won three Oscars:
- Academy Award for Best Picture - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (Hunt Stromberg, producer)
- Academy Award for Best Actress - Luise Rainer
- Academy Award for Best Dance Direction - Seymour Felix - For "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody".
It was nominated for an additional four:
- Academy Award for Best Art Direction - Cedric Gibbons, Eddie Imazu and Edwin B. Willis
- Academy Award for Directing - Robert Z. Leonard
- Academy Award for Film Editing - William S. Gray
- Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay - William Anthony McGuire
- William Powell as Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr.
- Myrna Loy as Billie Burke
- Luise Rainer as Anna Held
- Frank Morgan as Jack Billings
- Fanny Brice as Herself
- Virginia Bruce as Audrey Dane
- Ray Bolger as Himself
- Also appearing in The Great Ziegfeld is future First Lady Pat Nixon in an uncredited bit part (as an extra).
|
1927–28: Wings, Sunrise | 1928–29: The Broadway Melody | 1929–30: All Quiet on the Western Front | 1930–31: Cimarron | 1931–32: Grand Hotel | 1932–33: Cavalcade | 1934: It Happened One Night | 1935: Mutiny on the Bounty | 1936: The Great Ziegfeld | 1937: The Life of Emile Zola | 1938: You Can't Take It with You | 1939: Gone with the Wind | 1940: Rebecca |
 |
This article about a musical film is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |