The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Chris W

  
  Winner of some Oscars way back when, this is a lengthy, lavish spectacle driven biopic about Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr.- a legendary theatrical impressario who went from being a small time manager for a strongman, to being basically penniless, but managing to head a Broadway empire.… More
  Winner of some Oscars way back when, this is a lengthy, lavish spectacle driven biopic about Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr.- a legendary theatrical impressario who went from being a small time manager for a strongman, to being basically penniless, but managing to head a Broadway empire. This film undoubtedly takes liberties with how the actual story went down, but I kinda expected that. This is a very long film, and at times it's basically a drawn out soap opera, but the perforamnces are decent, the stage numbers are extremely well done, and this film has some excellent costumes and set designs. There's also lots of well known musical pieces throughout, and the inclusions of real life Ziegfeld players adds to the integrity and authenticity of things. All in all, if you dig old fashioned epic spectacle type films, you'll probably enjoy this one. As a biopic it is pretty routine, but the acting is good, the cast likeable, and overall this proves to be decently fun and entertaining.

• AJ V

  
  Not only entertaining, it's historical and biographical too. Powell is a great actor. I really enjoyed this movie.

• Michael G

  
  The Great Ziegfeld wasn't bad but it could've been about an hour shorter. The musical numbers went on way too long for not really adding much to the story. Admittedly, some of the numbers were truly fantastic from a spectacle and filmmaking standpoint--namely the one before… More
  The Great Ziegfeld wasn't bad but it could've been about an hour shorter. The musical numbers went on way too long for not really adding much to the story. Admittedly, some of the numbers were truly fantastic from a spectacle and filmmaking standpoint--namely the one before the intermission. William Powell was his usual likable self but not introducing Myrna Loy until the last 45 minutes was pretty goddamned unforgivable. Of the 13 collaborations that Powell and Loy did together I'd have to say The Great Ziegfeld was the weakest (and before you ask, yes, I did see Song of the Thin Man), which is pretty damned ironic considering this won Best Picture of 1936. Moments of fun are to be found, but The Great Ziegfeld is just kind of a big mess.

• Lanning :

  
  A mind-blowing performance by William Powell. I'm not sure why I never saw this one before either -- funny how often I seem to say that. I've been a Powell fan for a long time, but I -- seriously -- never really knew how good an actor he could be until I saw this. As far… More
  A mind-blowing performance by William Powell. I'm not sure why I never saw this one before either -- funny how often I seem to say that. I've been a Powell fan for a long time, but I -- seriously -- never really knew how good an actor he could be until I saw this. As far as biopics go, this one is probably right up at the top when it comes to fictionalizing, but I don't care. Like me, I know you've seen bits and pieces of this one over the years -- in an Oscar show, a greatest hits reel, what have you. Do yourself a favor and see the whole film. I was surprised to see, after I'd viewed it, that it was so lengthy. This is one where time flies because it's so engrossing. Highly recommended.

• Lord N

  
  I am a fan of William Powell and Myrna Loy. I feel that they have great screen chemistry and I enjoy watching their movies with my girlfriend. they did okay with this but it wasn't their Best Movie. i did enjoy the performance of Louise Rainer quite a bit. however, this film was… More
  I am a fan of William Powell and Myrna Loy. I feel that they have great screen chemistry and I enjoy watching their movies with my girlfriend. they did okay with this but it wasn't their Best Movie. i did enjoy the performance of Louise Rainer quite a bit. however, this film was WAY too long. they could have cut an hour and it still would have been a decent film. I can see why this film won. It's artistic value (for 1936) was amazing. it was just a bit too long and really too tedious for my taste. also, the plot sort of repeated itself at times. basically the movie kept repeating the fact that he had no money, then he did a successful show, then he had no money again because of some failure and so on and so forth until the end three hours later. Final Verdict: It's decent performances and artistic value made the movie good but it was lessened by the tedious length of the film and it's repetitive plot. It wasn't Best Picture worthy

• Ivan D

  
  Lavish stage entertainment both at its infancy and peak, with one of its primary movers Florence Ziegfeld(elegantly played by William Powell) being the center of this ambitious film filled with musical numbers that are although great eye-candies, are better be seen live on stage… More
  Lavish stage entertainment both at its infancy and peak, with one of its primary movers Florence Ziegfeld(elegantly played by William Powell) being the center of this ambitious film filled with musical numbers that are although great eye-candies, are better be seen live on stage because it somehow loses its energy on celluloid. The first hour or so of the film dragged on a little bit, but the last half of the film captured the real spirit of a great biopic and has able to show Ziegfeld's seemingly untainted suave charisma into a complete has been, with the lush glamour of the stage still in his mind, even in his dying moments. "The Great Ziegfeld" has the length of 2 films, somehow crowded with unrelated musical numbers, and only has able to capture a power equivalent of only 1, but still good nonetheless.

• Lizzy B

  
  Really visually stunning towards the end... very long though.

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