Ziegfeld Follies Movie Review
Ziegfeld Follies Review
"Ziegfeld Follies" Overview
Rating: NR
1946
Cast and Crew
Director : Lemuel Ayers,Roy Del Ruth,Robert Lewis,Eugene Loring,Vincente Minnelli,George Sidney,Charles WaltersProducer : Arthur Freed
Screenwiter : John Murray Anderson,Guy Bolton,Allen Boretz,Irving Brecher,Eddie Cantor,Erik Charell,Harry Crane,Roger Edens,Joseph Erens,David Freedman,Devery Freeman,Everett Freeman,E.Y. Harburg,Lou Holtz,Cal Howard,Al Lewis,Max Liebman,Eugene Loring,Wilkie C. Mahoney,Jack McGowan,William Noble,James O'Hanlon,Samson Raphaelson,Philip Rapp,William Schorr,Joseph Schrank,Frank Sullivan,Kay Thompson,Charles Walters,Edgar Allan Woolf
Starring : Fred Astaire,Lucille Ball,Lucille Bremer,Fanny Brice,Judy Garland,Kathryn Grayson,Lena Horne,Gene Kelly,James Melton,Victor Moore,Red Skelton,Esther Williams,William Powell,Edward Arnold,Marion Bell,Cyd Charisse,Hume Cronyn,William Frawley,Keenan Wynn
Who knew they made clip shows into movies? Ziegfeld Follies is two hours of
skits, songs, dances, and jokes from the dying days of vaudeville, brought to
us by a who's-who of yesteryear performers. The film opens, believe it or not,
with a deceased Florenz Ziegfeld, looking down from heaven, dreaming about his
perfect variety show. What follows is that dream, put to film.
With a tagline like "The Greatest Production Since The Birth Of Motion
Pictures," you get a little something like the unmanageable monstrosity that
Follies ultimately becomes. Structured as a series of unrelated vignettes,
directed by different people (not to mention that screenwriting credit list),
it's ultimately just a jumble of parts that add up to less than a whole movie.
Red Skelton does a "Guzzler's Gin" number. Esther Williams swims. Fred Astaire
dances several times. You get the idea. But the veering between a slapstick
comedy skit and a selection from an opera soon wear you down. What are we
watching, exactly? It's a greatest hits parade from a bunch of stars with
marquee names: Some at their prime, some fading, some still on the way up. Yet
none of them probably counted Ziegfeld Follies among their favorite movies.
Some of the performances -- anything involving Astaire, typically -- are
standouts, but just as many are utter duds. Fortunately, there's an easy way to
deal with the kitschy comedy that hasn't aged well: Hitting skip on your remote
control will zip you right to the next vignette.
The DVD features audio of two songs deleted from the film, vintage MGM shorts
and cartoons, and a new retrospective featurette about the film.
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Review by Christopher Null 
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