Word: ziegfelds
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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...Great Ziegfeld (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer). According to the curious credo of the U. S. theatre, the late Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. was an amalgamation of P. T. Barnum, Lucullus and St. Francis of Assisi. combining the advantageous features of all three, while the musical shows he produced were prodigies of good taste, imagination and romantic ingenuity. The Great Ziegfeld perpetuates this questionable legend with characteristic Hollywood insistence...
...Monte Carlo, recoups in London by a contract with Anna Held (Luise Rainer) whom he steals from under the nose of his arch rival (Frank Morgan). He gives her a dozen orchids every day, makes her famed for her milk baths, eventually marries her. At this point, The Great Ziegfeld soars from the prose of fictionized biography into the poetry of revue. For 20 minutes, a huge revolving staircase exhibits showgirls, dancers and tableaux while a tenor sings A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody. For fabulous extravagance, this sequence makes the real Ziegfeld Follies look like a burlesque show...
...second half of the picture exhibits in euphemistic style the collapse of Producer Ziegfeld's romance with Anna Held, his meeting with Billie Burke (Myrna Loy), Christmas Day among the home-loving Ziegfelds, including small Patricia and her dolls. Enraged as his stars go off to Hollywood, Ziegfeld goes into a slump. He recoups again, puts four simultaneous hits on Broadway, mortgages their receipts to play the market. When Producer Ziegfeld died in 1932, he was heavily in debt.* In this particular, the picture is historically trustworthy. Its hero is shown expiring in elegant penury, an orchid...
History has been in the making at University Hall for the past few days ever since John Simoneau, New Hampshire soft drink tycoon whose personality may be described as a combination of Florenz Ziegfeld, Jacob Ruppert, Jack Benny, Paul Harris, and Tex Rickard, has been making his presence felt in no uncertain manner...
...Great Ziegfeld" is unquestionably the most ambitious musical film to date. It's a bit long, but on such a tremendous scale and so well integrated that it commands attention throughout. The thing has to be seen to be believed...