0
0
Rating: 3 out of 5
I want to respect the classics, but The Great Ziegfeld was hard to watch. It is one of those films that could’ve been at least an hour shorter. This film is 3 hours and 5 minutes long, and sometimes, while watching, it felt like torture. I have sat through many three-hour-plus films, but this one really got to me. I know the filmmakers were trying to show the main character’s extraordinary life, but damn, it could’ve been two hours.
The Great Ziegfeld revolves around Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. If you don’t know about Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., you are not alone, as I didn’t have a clue this person ever existed. Flo, as the movie calls him, was an American impresario who had some major hits but was also a hustler. Dude knew how to hustle his way to a fortune, then lose it, make it again, and somehow end up broke in the end. The Great Ziegfeld shows Flo’s journey. I’m going to say this right now, in today’s world, this film is an absolute bore, but in the 1930s, this film was a huge success and was the pride of MGM. Damn, things have changed through the years.
The film starts off with Florenz Ziegfeld Jr at the World Fair. It somewhat skips over his younger years, but we find out that Flo was born into an upper-class family where his father was an esteemed musical teacher, and his mother was into fashion. It really shows in Flo. Flo’s dad wanted him to go into teaching music, but Flo wanted success and to be a showman. Flo goes to the World Fair and hires Sandow, the Strong Man. At first, the pair is unsuccessful until Flo gets the bright idea to use some sex appeal. Sandow becomes a huge success until an incident happens, and the pair decides to split.
Learning from his mistakes, Flo heads to Europe without any money to find a new star. Flo’s rival, Billings, is also headed to Europe to sign a new talent. Flo figures out who the talent is and uses his charm to steal the girl right from Billings’ nose. The talent is singing sensation Anna Held, who signs with him. Flo makes Anna a star, and the pair eventually marry. Yet, Flo hits some hard times as dude loves to spend money and have a good time.
That is what the film is. Flo gets an idea on a show, and he exploits everything in it. With Anna, the Americans think she can’t sing for shit, but he has 20 gallons of good ass milk to be delivered to her apartment. The women think she bathes in it to make her skin pure white. Anna has become an international sensation in the world of fashion. Behind the scenes, Flo is sued for the milk because he refuses to pay.
The film skips to 1907 when Flo is bored with his one-woman show. He decides to make a show with all the girls. More girls than any show has ever had and grander than any show. Flo hustles Billings, who has his famous producer make it. This one move begins the 24-year run of Flo’s famous Ziegfeld Follies. Flo is living the time of his life as dude can’t keep it in his pants and soon is divorced by Anna. Does this get Flo down? Nope, because he gets into bed with Billie Burke and has a kid.
The film continues to show that Flo loves living the high life, but as with everything, life comes at you quickly, and Flo’s debt starts calling. During a haircut, he overhears people saying he is washed up. What does this dude do? He challenges them and says he will make not one, not two, but four successful plays all at once. Do you know this dude does it? Flo is living once again on high times until in 1930, the stock market crashes and Flo loses everything. Flo sits alone in an apartment, looking at the street with his name on it.
The biographical story is fine, but it just took forever to tell and should’ve been two hours long. It’s not like Flo is a boring character. The film shows he is charismatic, high on himself, and ambitious, always looking for more money. If this movie had been made today, there would have been a lot more drama because I wanted to see the fallout with everyone in his life. Anna was there one minute and gone the next. Sandow was the same. After the tiger incident, he was gone. Dude did do a lot of backstabbing, but people seemed to laugh it off and say that it was him being him.
The musical numbers were great to watch for like thirty seconds. It felt like they went on and on, and I started to lose interest. It would’ve been fine if the film had one grand musical number. Something like 42nd Street. That was one of the best musical numbers I have ever seen. If the film showed three minutes of Ziegfeld Follies, it would’ve been fine, but we had to sit through two long ass performances.
I must give it up to William Powell and Luise Rainer for their performances. They really made the film and held it together. Willam Powell showed Flo’s charismatic and ambitious side. Powell seemed charming and never raised his voice as Flo. He always seemed to be in control of the situation he was in. Luise Rainer was sweet and innocent as Anna Held. She played the character as one who wanted to make it big only for her heart to be broken by Flo.
The Great Ziegfeld is one of those films you will either love or go meh and move on. I was part of the latter. I enjoyed the hustle of Flo and wanted to see more, but the film spent too much time on the musical numbers, and it gets boring after a while. I still respect the movie as it is a Best Picture and Supporting Actress winner. I’ll always appreciate the classics.
