Review of The Great Ziegfeld (1936) by Craig C — 02 Mar 2015
With the passing of actress Luise Rainer, I finally saw "The Great Zigfield," the three-hour MGM biography of showman Florenz Zigfield that won the 1936 Best Picture Oscar and gave Ranier her second Oscar in two years.
The bloated production would have been twice as good at half the length, and Rainer's overacting hardly merits the statue. Seeing Frank Morgan and Ray Bolger three years before "The Wizard of Oz" is noteworthy, but that's it.
I suspect Ronald Coleman's "A Tale of Two Cities," which was a labor of love, better deserved Best Picture, while Carole Lombard in "My Man Godfrey," the definitive Depression comedy, should have won for Actress.
For Hollywood historians only.
This review of The Great Ziegfeld (1936) was written by Craig C on 02 Mar 2015.
The Great Ziegfeld has generally received positive reviews.
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