“Ziegfeld Follies” is a musical comedy film consisting of comedy sketches and song-and-dance numbers featuring numerous MGM stars. It was inspired by the original Ziegfeld Follies, an elaborate stage revue produced by Florenz Ziegfeld which ran on Broadway from 1907 to 1931. Producer Arthur Freed employed five directors, primarily Vincente Minnelli, along with Robert Lewis, Roy Del Ruth, Lemuel Ayers, and George Sidney.
Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly team up in a comedy song-and-dance routine that featured music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin. The two superstars would not appear together on the big screen again for thirty-one years, until “That’s Entertainment” (1976). Judy Garland appears in a comedy skit where she plays a snobbish movie star who will only agree to be cast in top Oscar-potential dramas. Her future husband Minnelli directed this segment; they were married soon after filming wrapped.
Other stars include Esther Williams, Lucille Ball, Lena Horne, Cyd Charisse, Red Skelton, Kathryn Grayson, William Powell, Keenan Wynn, Edward Arnold, Hume Cronyn, William Frawley, and Fanny Brice, the only cast member who was also a star in the original Follies. The very watchable “Ziegfeld Follies” was a huge hit at the box office for producer Arthur Freed and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Ziegfeld Follies (1945)
cinema
My Review
“Ziegfeld Follies” is a musical comedy film consisting of comedy sketches and song-and-dance numbers featuring numerous MGM stars. It was inspired by the original Ziegfeld Follies, an elaborate stage revue produced by Florenz Ziegfeld which ran on Broadway from 1907 to 1931. Producer Arthur Freed employed five directors, primarily Vincente Minnelli, along with Robert Lewis, Roy Del Ruth, Lemuel Ayers, and George Sidney.
Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly team up in a comedy song-and-dance routine that featured music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin. The two superstars would not appear together on the big screen again for thirty-one years, until “That’s Entertainment” (1976). Judy Garland appears in a comedy skit where she plays a snobbish movie star who will only agree to be cast in top Oscar-potential dramas. Her future husband Minnelli directed this segment; they were married soon after filming wrapped.
Other stars include Esther Williams, Lucille Ball, Lena Horne, Cyd Charisse, Red Skelton, Kathryn Grayson, William Powell, Keenan Wynn, Edward Arnold, Hume Cronyn, William Frawley, and Fanny Brice, the only cast member who was also a star in the original Follies. The very watchable “Ziegfeld Follies” was a huge hit at the box office for producer Arthur Freed and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.