Review of The Great Ziegfeld (1936) by Leighton T — 19 Oct 2010

It's charming and well-made, stylish Hollywood biopic, the kind like The Life of Emile Zola, that was winning Best Picture at the time, but it's over-long and strains under its own weight at times. It won because it was a lavish prestige picture about a famouse name (and had famous names in it), not because it actually is great itself. The performances are all terrific. William Powell is great as the incomprabable Flo and Luise Rainer (who won a Best Actress Oscar basically for a supporting role) breaks your heart. As well, it was nice to see cameos from Ziegfeld finds like Fanny Brice and Ray Bolger.

The film lags at times, which is strange, because some of the storytelling feels cookie-cutter. It seems to concentrate on parts that don't need to be concentrated on and doesn't concentrate on parts that could've been emphasized for greater depth of story. The art direction and the choreography for the musical numbers are all amazing and detailed to a fault and lift the film up glossing over its flaws. There's nothing inherently wrong with the film, but there's nothing that pushes it towards "you need to see this" status besides the Best Picture label.