The Great Ziegfeld - The Oscar Project Part IX

Released in 1936, "The Great Ziegfeld" tells a fictionalized version of the life of Florenz Ziegfeld. A person I have some familiarity with due to my background in the community theater. In fact I've even played the voice of Ziegfeld in "The Will Rogers Follies." The movie stars William Powell and features music by Walter Donaldson and Irvin Berlin. This adds some authenticity to the movie music as Berlin's music was part of the original Ziegfeld Follies.

The film itself was large in scope and short on actual substance, like many of Ziegfeld's most famous productions. The movie consisted of Ziegfeld being down and out, just to bounce back bigger and more successful then ever. After the third time this happens the movie becomes too predictable. However, since it is about the life of Ziegfeld there is not much that the script writers could do about that.

This leaves the main appeal of the movie to be in the singing and dancing numbers. Fortunately, these are much better then those found in "The Broadway Melody." The numbers made me feel as though I was watching numbers that could be truly labeled as Ziegfeldian. Since the rest of the movie had a sub par plot and no acting that really stood out, the singing and dancing was the only noteworthy part of the movie.

While the singing and dancing was great, it is dated. If you enjoy watching the pageantry of the theater of old than this movie has something for you. If not this probably isn't worth your time. It gets 2 out of 5 stars.