Ziegfeld Girl

source: Ziegfeld Girl

Here is MGM glitter at it's best. The Ziegfeld Girl gives us three of the top female stars at MGM at the time. For Judy Garland fans, she acquits herself musically with three songs. The adorable "Laugh, I Thought I'd Split My Sides" performed with Charles Winninger at the beginning, "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" simply sung beside a piano, and the Busby Berkeley staged "Minnie From Trinidad". Lana Turner had the biggest role of her carrer up to that time, and she is very good in the role of the good girl gone bad. Hedy Lamarr is breathtakingly beautiful in a sympathetic role. Everyone looks gorgeous in the Ziegfeld-style costumes in the elaborate "You Stepped Out Of A Dream" number sung by Tony Martin. Even Eve Arden, who supplies her usual welcome wisecracks, gets to parade down the stairs in a gorgeous Ziegfeld outfit. A beautiful extravaganza with a story that will hold your attention. This storyline has been compared in some other reviews to "Valley of the Dolls", and yes, superficially the story could be compared to that, but it is done so much better here, with the resources of MGM giving plausibility to both story and acting. Nobody did it better than MGM in those days. "You Stepped Out Of A Dream" has to be one of the most beautiful black-and-white musical numbers ever filmed. An eye-filling spectacle.

Unless you are a largely uncritical fan of Lamarr, Garland or Turner or of musicals in general, this is not a good film to start with; unlike the zippy, racy, fast-paced films Busby Berkeley did with Warner Brothers in the early 30's (42nd Street, the Gold Diggers films),or the dazzling Technicolor Fox Musicals of the 1940's. this MGM effort suffers from an excess of melodrama and not enough music. MGM ruled musicals in the 1950's with major films like Singin' In Rain and The Bandwagon. Fortunately, Ziegfeld Girl does feature a bang-up, all-out, dazzling fur and feathers number "You Stepped Out Of A Dream" worth the more than two-hour drudgery of largely humorless soap opera, and it's sung by the late Tony Martin, featuring Hedy Lamarr as dazzling as she was ever going to look; unfortunately this number is early in the film, and there's a great deal of angst with Lana Turner hitting the skids as her truck-driving boyfriend (a miscast Jimmy Stewart, looking more than a little uncomfortable), mopes around the edges until she sobers up; This is not a bad film, merely, as frequently happens with MGM, in need of some judicious cutting; Garland is great fun in the "Minnie From Trinidad" number with dancers dangling dozens of bananas as arm decor, and Dan Dailey impressive as a deadbeat boxer; one wishes for more Eve Arden, as always, and one also wishes for the dazzling color of Ziegfeld Follies a few years later.

Audiences queuing up for this expensive MGM mega-production expecting a sequel to that studio's Best Picture-winner of 5 years earlier must have gone into toxic shock when confronted with what unravelled on the screen. Was Louis B. Mayer asleep at the dailies? What in God's name is poor Jimmy Stewart doing in this farrago, looking like he has ulcers the few times he appears on screen during the interminable 132-running time? But for sheer gall, or studio lunacy run amok, "Ziegfeld Girl" certainly merits watching. The lugubrious tale of 3 young beauties hand-picked by Flo Ziegfeld (mercifully off-screen) to be groomed for Ziegfeld Girl stardom, the film isn't even a musical (a few lavish production numbers occasionally intrude on the histrionics, but the only truly magical musical moment occurs when Judy Garland, in one of her first "adult" roles--and stealing the film with a warm and endearing performance--sings the evergreen "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" as it has never been sung before or after). Instead, "Ziegfeld Girl" seems to be (I'm not quite sure about anything regarding this loopy extravaganza) about the personal perils and pitfalls awaiting talented but naive young ladies trying to make it into show business. Viewed from this perspective (and certainly NOT L.B.'s intention), the film's moralistic warning seems to be--stay home! Only one of the girls makes it to the top with her sanity intact (ironically, the role played by Garland, who would go on to become MGM's prime mistreated sacrificial lamb), another (Hedy Lamarr, at her most ravishingly gorgeous) chucks it all and goes back to her husband, and the third, high-strung emotionally-unstable shopgirl Lana Turner (also at the peak of her beauty, and delivering a touching, subtle performance) can't handle the pressures of stardom, takes to the bottle, and comes to a tragic end (I think--evasive editing makes it unclear whether she dies at the end or just keels over from the battering inflicted on her by the invisible Mr. Ziefeld). In retrospect, in real life, Garland & Turner should have switched roles. This curio must have run way over its considerable budget when the grand finale is shiftily edited to incorporate the conclusion of the most lavishly eye-popping spectacle from "The Great Ziegfeld." A definite curio--was this Louis B. Mayer's subconscious warning to all his female contract players what working for MGM ultimately had in store for them? More stars than there are in hell? Worth watching (and scratching your head over).

This movie just drags on and on, for 2 hours and 12 minutes. Judy, Hedy, and Lana are gorgeous, but even their legendary beauty can't save this. Most of the numbers are pretty good, especially Always Chasing Rainbows, sung marvelously by Garland, and You Stepped Out of a Dream, in which Lamarr looks particularly ethereal. The story is just plain bad, worse than most Metro fluff. It tries to be dramatic, but winds up silly. (One movie that succeeds the drama angle while still having good numbers is 1942's For Me and My Gal, also starring Garland.) Maybe I'm being a little too hard on this, maybe not, but in my humble opinion this movie is strictly for fans of Judy, Lana, Hedy, Jimmy and M-G-M.

Interestingly enough, Florenz Ziegfeld does not appear in this film – but the American girls that he so famously glorified get the glamour treatment in this lavish melodramatic musical from MGM. Three girls get the "lion's share" – Lana Turner as "Flatbush" Regan, your basic showgirl gone bad, Judy Garland as Sue Gallagher, a talented singer who is trying to make the step from vaudeville to Broadway, and lastly Hedy Lamarr as Sandra Kolter, a European émigré whose husband disapproves of her appearance in Ziegfeld's show. MGM's Ziegfeld series such as it is was a mixed bag. "The Great Ziegfeld" was a well made biopicture with extravagant musical interludes. Several years after this film MGM produced "Ziegfeld Follies", an experimental film in the form of a revue. It wasn't a complete success either artistically or financially, but at least it provided a colorful distraction and preserved performances from vaudeville/Broadway greats like Fanny Brice and Victor Moore. This middle entry, however, is pretty disappointing – basically just another version of MGM's standard 42nd Street/Broadway Melody chorus weepies, which means that none of the songs are integrated into the predictable plot. There are some excellent musical sequences, even though only one song (Gus Kahn's last, "You Walked Out of a Dream", sung with conviction by Tony Martin) was really outstanding. Judy Garland is still in the phase of her career where she was getting used to using her sex appeal on screen a little bit, and it's fun to see her explore that although a bit more in that direction would have been satisfying. What really sinks this film are the contrived melodramatic plot angles, particularly with Turner's character and her romantic problems with truck-driver boyfriend Gil (James Stewart). The story is predictable and the writing does little to bring shade or color to these characters, but Turner herself isn't helping matters with her hysterical over-acting. Even within the context of the more emphatic styles of 1940s film, Turner is a true baked ham dipped in honey. She manages to make some of the film's most dramatic scenes unintentionally humorous (for example where she pulls her hair and shouts: "I'm counting my blessings!"). Director Leonard is unable to help her keep balance or to give the film a consistent visual style in general. I guess I could sum it all up with my feelings about "Trinidad", the show's most impressive production number. So much talent went into putting that song over – Judy Garland's first and foremost -- that you might almost not even notice that it's just a dull Roger Edens ditty. Oh, it's not hard to listen to… it's just completely uninspired. You wouldn't walk out of the theater humming the tune. This is functional entertainment – paint by the numbers sentimentality and staggering but overly familiar visual treats. Everything's got that professional sheen, but nothing really special is happening with the characters. So in the end the film ends up being a solid spectacle on one level (although color photography would have helped this film greatly) but a disappointing film overall because it's hard not to feel manipulated by the ease with which these characters conform themselves to the structures of melodrama. There's a few interesting musical numbers… primarily Judy and also a historically interesting bit with Charles Winninger (as Judy's character's dad) resurrecting "Gallagher and Sheen", a famous vaudeville act. You get to see a young adult Jackie Cooper, although he doesn't have much to do. Edward Everett Horton is always fun. There's just not much more to say about this movie so I will leave it at that.

Lana Turner, Judy Garland, and Hedy Lamarr star in this showgirl exploitation flick that tries to cash in on the glamor and drama of The Great Ziegfeld (it actually recycles footage from that film's dazzling musical numbers), but ends up a chintzy lurid and poorly-written propaganda piece about what happens to women who dare to abandon their paternalistic yoke and enter showbiz. The whole plot (or should we just call it the moral) is spelled out 20 minutes into the film in an opening night speech: "…You're Ziegfeld Girls… Some of you will end up with your name in lights (close up on Judy Garland). Some of you will end up with a husband and kids (close up on Hedy Lamarr). And some of you are going to end up…, well, not so good…. But don't blame it on the Follies…" Some pep talk! Despite an all star cast, the film fails to find much glamor. The costumes by Adrian are stolen from a highschool pageant with fake birds, butterflies, and stars sticking out in all directions with wires, and an uninspired montage of showgirls on stair-parts evokes nothing of Ziegfeld's creatively evolving stages. But Lana Turner as golddigging Sheila has a few campy moments climbing into a bubble bath wearing her jewelry, and spends the whole movie drinking herself to the bottom. She gets slapped by a gangster in a speakeasy while anachronistically wearing a private eye disguise. If she'd been a little older Turner might have played it over the top and we'd have a hilarious gem like The Dolly Sisters. Anyway, she is exquisitely pretty and plays the material straight, but the script is unfair to say the least so it's hard to walk away enjoying her performance. Hedy Lamarr is decorative and not much else, but that's what you expect from a showgirl. She supports her deadbeat musician husband who promptly dumps her as thanks. 17 year old Judy Garland plays her usual starry-eyed kid with the big voice. She gets one good number Minnie from Trinidad with choreography by Busby Berkely, but otherwise stays virginal and financially supports her overbearing bombastic father — sort of a vaudeville era Hillary Duff. Eve Arden shows up from time to time as a wisecracking Eve Arden-type, and Tony Martin is handsome but nearly invisible as the Follies' crooner. Florenz Ziegfeld certainly didn't have to go out "discovering" pretty girls since they lined up for an opportunity on his casting couch, but in this film Ziegfeld doesn't even appear. Instead he's represented by the sexually ambiguous Edward Everette Horton, who comes off as a creepy pimp with lines like "Mr Ziegfeld is only interested in your daughter!", and suddenly dragging a confused Lamarr up to his boss's office with "Mr Ziegfeld is waiting for YOU!". Ignore this schmaltz and watch the real Ziegfeld in Glamorizing the American Girl instead.

Musical numbers by Busby Berkeley highlights this story of aspiring showgirls. A sub-plot slows the movie down and some of the melodrama is over-acted. This costume musical really should have been filmed in color; but there is still that black & white "feel". Well produced numbers includes:"I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" and "You Stepped Out Of A Dream". The ensemble cast features:James Stewart, Lana Turner, Hedy Lamarr, Judy Garland, Jackie Cooper, Tony Martin and Eve Arden.

Very odd MGM musical that mixes huge production numbers with depressing, heavy-handed melodrama. The main characters are played by Judy Garland (great and full of life), Jimmy Stewart (looks and acts miserable), Hedy Lamarr (incredibly beautiful but vacant), and Lana Turner (pretty good until she goes bad and REALLY overdoes it). Everybody looks fantastic...even Turner when she falls apart.. The production numbers are astounding with unbelievable costumes (this film really should have been in color). They're very long but never dull...the standout numbers are "You Stepped Out of a Dream" and "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows". The one problem is the melodrama is really overwrought and overdone. It drags the movie down and makes it seem much longer than it is (there's no reason for this to be dragged out over 2 hours). Still, see this for the songs and costumes.

The story of three girls who join the fabulous Ziegfeld Follies. One makes it big, one goes back to her husband, and one goes bad, Hollywood style. It's too bad this movie was shot in black and white, most of the high points are the, uh, amazing production numbers. I mean, you haven't lived until you've seen a showgirl wearing a school of tropical fish or a flock of parrots. Or Judy Garland in an Xmas-tree tinsel dress. Also a big Judy Garland production number, "Minnie from Trinidad". Other than the music and costumes, the fun is watching Lana Turner go BAD. Garland and Lammar are less than interesting away from the stage (blame the script), but Turner's rise-and-fall is classic bad-girl camp. (You know she's hitting the skids when men start giving her *fake* diamonds) And of course she dies of Old Movie Disease at the end, the kind that reunites you with your true love and leaves your hair and makeup perfect.