Ziegfeld Follies
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Movie Reviews of Ziegfeld Follies
Movie Review: Ziegfeld Follies
Summary: 4 Stars
This movie is more of an excuse to put all of MGM's stars into one movie. The movie is set up like it was a real Ziegfeld show. It has no plot, it's just a show with some variety acts from singing, to dancing and some comedy acts! William Powell is Ziegfeld and he is watching the show from Heaven. Anyway the acts include:
Here's to the Girls- Fred Astaire sing this number and it is danced by Cyd Charisse and Fred Astaire. This a big production number with a chorus. Lucille Ball is in this number too. Virgina O'Brien appears right after this number and sings.
A Water Ballet- Esther Williams does what she does best, swims!
Number Please- This is a comedy skit with Keenan Wynn.
Traviata- A opera number with James Melton and Marion Bell.
Pay the Two Dollars- Another comedy skit with Victor Moore and Edward Arnold.
This Heart of Mine- Fred Astaire sings this number and dances with Lucille Bremer. A personal favorite.
A Sweepstakes Ticket- Another comedy skit with Fanny Brice, Hume Cronyn and William Frawley (Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy).
Love- The lovely Lena Horne sing this song. Another personal favorite!
When Television Comes- A comedy skit with Red Skelton.
Limehouse Blues- A dance number with Fred Astaire and Lucille Bremer with a chorus. A very strange number in my opinion.
A Great Lady Has "An Interview"- A musical number with the great Judy Garland. Another favorite!
The Babbitt and the Bromide- Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly dance in this number. My favorite number in the whole movie!
Beauty- The lovely Kathryn Grayson sings this number. Also a chorus of girls. Cyd Charisse is the featured dancer in the bubbles.
As for DVD extras,
New featurette Ziegfeld Follies: An Embarrassment of Riches
Vintage MGM Crime Does Not Pay short The Luckiest Guy in the World
2 classic MGM cartoons:
The Hick Chick
Solid Serenade
Audio-only bonus: outtake songs If Swing Goes, I Go Too, This Heart of Mine and We Will Meet Again in Honolulu
Ziegfeld movies trailer gallery
Both remixed Dolby Surround Stereo and original Mono English Audio
Subtitles: English, Français & Español (feature film only)
Overall this movie is alright but if you love the MGM musicals I say give it a try. It's a very interesting movie.
Movie Review: Glorious Technicolor Musical Numbers and Comedy Skits
Summary: 4 Stars
Director Vincente Minnelli (one of the most artistic directors of the 40's/50's/60's) pulls out all the stops with an all star cast in this sparkling package of glamour and fun. Fans of classic musicals, comedy, and vaudeville will eat this up.
Every sequence is not great, but the ones that are truly shine. And thanks to DVD you can hit the Skip/Next button on your remote if Red Skelton isn't your cup of tea. This film is a wide spectrum, from the sublime and gorgeous to the weird and garish.
The rich, vibrant colors pop out and gleam, but not in a phony way. Technicolor is great stuff.
It always amazes me, when watching movies like this, at how long some of the takes last. Nowadays the cameras roll briefly and there's plenty of post production work, but back in the 1940's you had long and complicated sequences where there weren't many edits or cuts. Things had to be perfect. It's astonishing. I kept wondering how many rehearsals Lucille Ball had to endure, as well as Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse. Probably not as many as I'd expect; these were professional, talented stars in their element. This was a golden age, and seeing a movie like this makes me wish I could have been there to witness all the glitz and wonder.
Judy Garland's funny number ("Interview", or as I call it, The Safety Pin number) is a real hoot. A star is hamming it up to the hilt for a bunch of male reporters and interviewers. Whether her comedic timing is her own gift here or Minnelli's directing of her, it really works. (I wonder if there was one particular starlet they were spoofing here, or just all of them at that time.)
And you get Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly dancing and singing together... it doesn't get much better.
I love the fact that you get two vintage MGM cartoons in the bonus features: Tom and Jerry in "Solid Serenade", and the great Tex Avery's manic "The Hick Chick". A nice touch!
Movie Review: Pleased with this film
Summary: 4 Stars
MGM give Arther Freed and Vincent Minelli a 3 million dollar budget and their biggest stars to make this film ~ a film without a plot. Instead it is like a variety show of musical numbers and comedy skits. If you are a Fred Astaire fan, he dances three numbers in this movie. One number is with Gene Kelly, the only time they appear on film together. Also appearing are Judy Garland, William Powell (recreating his role as Zeigfield), Lena Horn, Red Skeleton, Kathern Greyson, Keenan Wynn, and many more.Movie Review: Ziegfeld Follies a classic
Summary: 4 Stars
A classic film, done in segments, featuring many of the top Hollywood stars of their day. Presented in a series of musical vignettes and showcasing some of the best talents of their time. I especially enjoyed the voices of opera stars James Melton and Kathryn Grayson. Some of the comedy routines are on the corny side, but were popular in their era when they played to a less sophisticated audience.
Movie Review: VG DVD presentation
Summary: 4 Stars
Warner HV has done an excellent job with this DVD. For some reason the audio outakes do not include Avon Long's vocal for LIZA. Although you can hear it on the Rhino soundtrack CD. Also the extensive still file included with the laser disc set is not on the DVD. The old special edition laser disc set was more comprehensive than this DVD. Sound and picture are both excellent. Recommended.