The Best Picture of 1936 is…..”The Great Ziegfeld.” This biopic of Broadway producer Florenz “Flo” Ziegfeld Jr. got the full MGM treatment: Big stars, lavish sets, authentic costumes, and extravagant, full-blown musical numbers. It won three Oscars: Best Picture (Hunt Stromberg), Best Dance Direction (Seymour Felix), and Best Actress (Luise Rainer). Director Robert Z. Leonard (“Dancing Lady” 1933) pulled out the stops in putting together this top-rate musical drama, with a great screenplay by William Anthony McGuire. Flo Ziegfeld (1867-1932) was known for his big productions on New York City’s Broadway stage, especially the “Ziegfeld Follies” revues from 1907 to 1931.
The cast is headed by William Powell, born to play the great showman Ziegfeld, delivering a strong performance. His partner in the “Thin Man” series (1934-1947), Myrna Loy, was equally adept as Flo’s wife, actress Billie Burke. The real-life Burke served as a technical consultant on the film. Three years later Billie Burke was further cemented into Tinsel Town immortality as Glenda in another MGM classic “The Wizard of Oz” (1939).
Luise Rainer gave the best performance of the movie as French actress Anna Held, Ziegfeld’s first wife, winning the Academy Award for Best Actress. Two “Wizard of Oz” stars appeared in the movie: Frank Morgan as rival producer Jack Billings and Ray Bolger doing some song-and-dance. Others include Virginia Bruce, Reginald Owen, Herman Bing, Charles Judels, Marcelle Corday, Raymond Walburn, Nate Pendleton, and Harriet Hoctor. Cameos include William Demarest as Gene Buck, A. A. Trimble as Will Rogers, Buddy Doyle as Eddie Cantor, and Fanny Brice as herself.
One of the many performers who appeared as Ziegfeld girls was Pat Ryan, who later would be famous as Pat Nixon, First Lady of the United States (1969-1974) and wife of President Richard M. Nixon. Good luck trying to pick Pat Ryan out of the huge chorus line of the watchable “The Great Ziegfeld,” wonderful escapist programming during the Great Depression and therefore a big hit at the box office for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
cinema
My Review
The Best Picture of 1936 is…..”The Great Ziegfeld.” This biopic of Broadway producer Florenz “Flo” Ziegfeld Jr. got the full MGM treatment: Big stars, lavish sets, authentic costumes, and extravagant, full-blown musical numbers. It won three Oscars: Best Picture (Hunt Stromberg), Best Dance Direction (Seymour Felix), and Best Actress (Luise Rainer). Director Robert Z. Leonard (“Dancing Lady” 1933) pulled out the stops in putting together this top-rate musical drama, with a great screenplay by William Anthony McGuire. Flo Ziegfeld (1867-1932) was known for his big productions on New York City’s Broadway stage, especially the “Ziegfeld Follies” revues from 1907 to 1931.
The cast is headed by William Powell, born to play the great showman Ziegfeld, delivering a strong performance. His partner in the “Thin Man” series (1934-1947), Myrna Loy, was equally adept as Flo’s wife, actress Billie Burke. The real-life Burke served as a technical consultant on the film. Three years later Billie Burke was further cemented into Tinsel Town immortality as Glenda in another MGM classic “The Wizard of Oz” (1939).
Luise Rainer gave the best performance of the movie as French actress Anna Held, Ziegfeld’s first wife, winning the Academy Award for Best Actress. Two “Wizard of Oz” stars appeared in the movie: Frank Morgan as rival producer Jack Billings and Ray Bolger doing some song-and-dance. Others include Virginia Bruce, Reginald Owen, Herman Bing, Charles Judels, Marcelle Corday, Raymond Walburn, Nate Pendleton, and Harriet Hoctor. Cameos include William Demarest as Gene Buck, A. A. Trimble as Will Rogers, Buddy Doyle as Eddie Cantor, and Fanny Brice as herself.
One of the many performers who appeared as Ziegfeld girls was Pat Ryan, who later would be famous as Pat Nixon, First Lady of the United States (1969-1974) and wife of President Richard M. Nixon. Good luck trying to pick Pat Ryan out of the huge chorus line of the watchable “The Great Ziegfeld,” wonderful escapist programming during the Great Depression and therefore a big hit at the box office for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.