Ziegfeld Girl
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Movie Reviews of Ziegfeld Girl
Movie Review: Judy, Hedy and Lana sparkle on the Great White Way...
Summary: 4 Stars
Intended by MGM as a followup-of-sorts to their 1936 smash hit THE GREAT ZIEGFELD, 1941's ZIEGFELD GIRL mixed melodrama and musical comedy to maximum effect, detailing the lives of three new Follies girls and their rocky climb to stardom.
Sparky red-headed lift operator Sheila Regan (Lana Turner), dignified musician's wife Sandra Kolter (Hedy Lamarr) and tenacious vaudevillian Susan Gallagher (Judy Garland) all have the potential of making it big in the Ziegfeld Follies.
Sheila is the girl who wants fame and fortune via the shortest possible route, and if that involves courting the attentions of rich stage-door daddies, and dumping her faithful boyfriend Gil (Jimmy Stewart), that's exactly what she'll do. Sandra is the cultured wife of penniless violin player Franz Kolter (Philip Dorn) and success in the Follies doesn't really matter to her either way; she has her feet planted firmly on the ground and even the attentions of womanising Follies tenor Frank Merton (Tony Martin) will barely register with her. Finally there's Susan Gallagher. "I was born in a trunk but Pop left the lid open!", Susan proudly proclaims. She co-stars with her father (Charles Winninger) in a hammy vaudeville routine and later harbours extreme guilt at having broken up the act to appear in the Follies. Success will only come to one of these girls. The road to Follies stardom will be littered with broken hearts and broken dreams for the other two...
ZIEGFELD GIRL was one of Lana Turner's first major roles for MGM; and she definitely has the meatiest role as Sheila. Hedy Lamarr doesn't really do much except perhaps play a variation of herself but she's a gorgeous presence. Judy Garland, in one of her first "grown-up" roles, is luminous as always and has two brilliant musical numbers in which to shine ("I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" and "Minnie from Trinidad").
The ideal film for a lazy Sunday afternoon.
TRIVIA: The film recycles the "Pretty Girl is Like a Melody" spinning wedding-cake shot from THE GREAT ZIEGFELD for the "You Never Looked So Beautiful Before" finale, by cleverly costuming Judy Garland to look exactly like Virginia Bruce on top of the revolving "cake".
At the same time that he was playing Judy Garland's father in ZIEGFELD GIRL, Charles Winninger was also Deanna Durbin's dad in the "Three Smart Girls" movies at Universal. The ZIEGFELD GIRL connection? Both Garland and Durbin were both under short-term contracts at MGM, but sadly only one could be groomed as the studio's new juvenile star. MGM paired them in a short ("Every Sunday") to decide who would stay. Deanna was dropped but later went on to great success at rival studio Universal where she made over 20 films and happily retired at the age of 27.
Movie Review: They Stepped Out of a Dream!
Summary: 4 Stars
Ziegfeld Girl is a good movie but personally I don't think its memorable. Even though James Stewart and Judy Garland get top billing it is mostly a Lana Turner movie. Anyway the movie is about three girls with diffrent backgrounds that become Ziegfeld Girls. Susan Gallagher (Judy Garland) is a vaudeville star who wants to see her name in lights. Sandra Kolter (Hedy Lamarr) is the girl devoted to her marriage (her husband is a struggling concert violinist) even though she does starts to fall for singer Frank Merron (Tony Martin). Sheila Regan (Lana Turner) is a elevator operator who has trouble with her boyfriend Gilbert Young (James Stewart) and eventually falls and becomes a heavy drinker. This movie also co-stars Tony Martin, Edward Everett Horton, Jackie Cooper, and Eve Arden. This movie also contains some great numbers.
Here are the numbers:
Laugh? I Thought I'd Split My Sides- Judy sings this number with Charles Winninger who plays her father in the movie. They sing this as part of their vaudeville act.
You Stepped out of a Dream- Tony Martin sings this as part of the Ziegfeld show. It has all three girls walking on stairs. Hedy Lamrr looks beautiful in this number!
I'm Always Chasing Rainbows- Judy sings this number twice first its really fast and jazzy and then she sings it like a ballad.
Caribbean Love Song- Tony sings this number in the Ziegfeld show and you can see Hedy and Lana in this number too.
Minnie from Trinidad- Judy sings this number in the Ziegfeld show and its great. Its all tropical. There is this cool part in the number where Judy sits on this surface and the chorus raises her with these large poles and she is still singing!
Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean- Charles Winninger and Al Shean perform this cute little number in the Ziegfeld show.
Ziegfeld Girls- Judy performs this number in the show.
You Gotta Pull Strings- Judy performs this number in the show also and the chorus girls sing and dance.
You Never Looked So Beautiful- This is the finale number and Judy performs it with a chrous. It is a breathtaking scene! Actually it is extacly like the number "A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody" from The Great Ziegfeld. I also read somewhere that they had Judy costumed and made up to resemble Virginia Bruce who was crowned the "Wedding Cake" set in the earlier film.
If you really enjoy musicals, Judy Garland, or Lana Turner then I suggest you see this movie. It has a lot of breathtaking numbers and it was directed very well!
Movie Review: Class A Suds
Summary: 4 Stars
Okay, the plot is familiar -- three girls head for stardom in the Follies, one good (Garland), one bad (Turner), and one indifferent (Lamarr), with predictable results. But MGM threw all of its renowned studio craftsmanship into this film, and it makes for a wonderfully satisfying experience. Garland has moxie and talent, so her character makes it -- but only after proving her loyalty to her vaudeville Dad. That's MGM's (read: Louis Mayer's) take on the morality of show business, but it doesn't come across as hokey because Garland makes us believe in it, and her, all the way. Turner's character isn't really bad, just greedy, but she rejects James Stewart's offer of domestic penury and, in MGM's eyes, that's equivalent to Mortal Sin. So she lushes herself to the bottom. The part may be a stereotype, but Turner isn't. For those who've only seen her as a caricature of herself in later roles, this performance is a revelation. And Lamarr -- well, her character leaves her husband (justified, if you ask me; he acts like a jerk about her success) but runs back to him in time for the final number. I can't really get on Lamarr's case for her lack of acting skills since she was (a) drop-dead gorgeous and (b) an electronics wizard in real life, which is about all you can ask of one person. Still, one does get tired of MGM's insistence on pushing her into roles that could have used a real actress.
And yes, this movie is one that cries out for the visual joys of technicolor (The Sea Hawk is another). But perhaps Adrian's gloriously decadent costumes and Busby Berkeley's reliably loony production numbers would have been way over the top in color. In black-and-white they seem just right, an evocation of a bygone era. Ziegfeld Girl is a sudsy but terrifically effective fairy tale that retains its magic even today.
Last word: this may be the only Edward Everett Horton movie in which he doesn't plague the viewer with stupid double-takes, a real plus if you've seen him dithering in RKO movies. Plus his character's name (Noble Sage) is one of my all-time favorites.
Movie Review: Other reviews accurate--here's some extras
Summary: 4 Stars
Unlike most other reviewed films, the reviews for this film are actually pretty accurate. The film details the rise of stardom of three Ziegfeld girls; Judy's character rises to stardom, Hedy's character retires to comfortable married life, while Lana's character "comes a cropper". The plot is overlong, and the Lamarr plot in particular is trite and uninteresting.
It's the numbers on one hand, and the Turner subplot on the other, that make this movie. The story of Lana's rise and fall from stardom is the only one that's worth viewing. This meaty role was the role that cinched Lana's stardom.
Moreover, the numbers are stellar. Some might say overproduced, but I say spectacular--most particularly, the "Out of a Dream" number has the most glamorous costumes ever glimpsed on celluloid. I've never seen so much feminine beauty in my life; beauty floating down ethereal stairs, to ethereal music sung by Tony Martin. You'll want to watch it again and again.
Here are a few bloopers to watch for:
1. In the "Minnie from Trinidad" number, shortly after the mule is seen, you can see a male dancer walking off the set,in the background--very much out of sync to the music. The first time I saw this, I couldn't believe the editor had missed it.
2. Watch Judy VERY closely as she waltzes down the stairs in the "Out of a Dream" number; you can see glimpses of nudity as she nears the bottom of the stairs!
3. In the "Out of a Dream" number, all the girls are smiling...except for Hedy Lamarr. This contrast is jarring. Hedy Lamarr's teeth were out-of-alignment in real life. She's one actress who was far more beautiful when not smiling.
Movie Review: Where were you looking, Mr. Shean?!
Summary: 4 Stars
The story itself flounders between drama and musical, but that can be forgiven since the whole business is a backstage story of the Ziegfeld dynasty. (The film's predecessor "The Great Ziegfeld" was presented the same way.) In this case the girls of the title are exotic beauty Lamarr- in love with her own husband and devoid of ego, but involved in the standard 'domestic-bliss-or-stardom' dilemma; working-girl Turner in the campier role of fortune huntress who repeatedly spars with blue-collar beau James Stewart; and vaudeville baby Garland- devoted to dad Winninger, but who quietly matures throughout the film after finding her niche as a singer (beautifully staged in the audition piece "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows"). Art imitates life in this film: Garland was historically insecure about her looks- especially when bookended by Turner and Lamarr- and desperately wanted MGM to show her grown-up and beautiful. (While she is quite beautiful, she is presented with less glamour and more girl-next-door vulnerability. Who wouldn't fall in love with her after she parts with her dad in tears?) The film progresses with these plots nicely but much too slowly- and paints itself into a corner with the Turner plot near the end. But the performances themselves are marvelous, and the film is a great springboard for its three distaff leads as well as future stars Jackie Cooper, Dan Dailey, and Eve Arden. Check out not only 'Rainbows,' but showpieces "You Stepped Out of a Dream" and "Minnie From Trinidad" and a marvelous comic bit towards the film's end with Charles Winninger called "Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean."