The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

The Great Ziegfeld is a somewhat autobiographical film about Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. who was a real Broadway producer. The film chronicles his life as an early producer until his death. The film isn't particularly accurate as to how things actually went, but I'm not sure it was supposed to. This film is considered a musical, but it didn't really have all that much music for a musical, especially in the first half.

This film won the Oscar for best picture and that was the only reason I watched it. Luise Rainer (who is still alive at age 99 and has the distinction of the oldest living Oscar winner and the earliest living Oscar winner) was awarded a best actress Oscar. I'm sort of surprised by this as she had virtually no role in the last hour or so of this film. The film won a third Oscar for best dance direction, an Oscar that was awarded only three times.

Overall, this film was tolerable but nothing particularly special. Other than winning an Academy Award for best picture, this film is not particularly well-known today. I didn't mind the first half but all the musical numbers during the Broadway shows in the second half got old fast. The three hour run time didn't help much either.

60/100
D-