Ziegfeld Follies

Lucille Ball and feline friends

Producer Arthur Freed wanted Ziegfeld Follies to reflect the wide-ranging revue that impresario Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. brought to Broadway in the early years of the 20th century. He succeeded in that the film is as scattershot as the original Follies undoubtably were. The film is a portent of the variety shows that were a staple of the early days of television. Comedy sketches alternate with lavish musical numbers with no attempt to craft a narrative. William Powell, who starred in MGM's The Great Ziegfeld, a Best Picture Oscar winner and huge hit for the studio, impersonates the showman again in a brief prologue. The producer has earned his reward in heaven and gives his benediction to the MGM players who he lauds for invoking the spirit of the old burlesque days. This translates to MGM using the film to plug their rising and established stars. The only true Ziegfeld performer in this film is Fanny Brice, who appears in a skit directed by Roy del Ruth that features Hume Cronyn and William Frawley. It is middling Brice, but I'm very glad it exists. 

The majority of the film was directed by Vincente Minelli with assists from Charles Walters, Robert Lewis, Lemuel Ayers, George Sidney and whoever was free on the MGM lot. The Minelli numbers are the film's highlights, especially the sequences with Fred Astaire and a boffo number with Judy Garland which originally was going to feature Greer Garson; but disaster was averted on that one. Minelli was in between Yolanda and the Thief and The Pirate and shoots here with full confidence, the former department store dresser (like Warhol) indulging his love of expressive color and bricolage. The pas de deux between Astaire and Gene Kelly gets most of the ink, but I think the standout number is the "dramatic pantomime" Limehouse Blues which features Astaire and Lucille Bremer. The casting of the two as Chinese emigres in London's Chinatown may cause one pause, as do a number of racist and sexist emanations from the film, but the result is sublimity, up there with the finest moments in Meet Me in St. Louis or Some Came Running.

The rest, while not quite dross, is decidedly a mixed bag. I've never found Red Skelton funny and his skit did not convert me. Keenan Wynn fares a little better. There is a number from La Traviata that's OK, if a little incongruous. MGM would hit paydirt a bit later by signing Mario Lanza. I always like seeing and hearing Lena Horne. In comparison, Kathryn Grayson seems anodyne. I like then new faces Bremer and Virginia O'Brien, but they both would soon get the axe from the studio. The appeal of Esther Williams continues to escape me, but Cyd Charisse has a nice dance cameo. Ziegfeld Follies grossed well, but could not meet its exorbitant production costs. Many snafus dogged the production, including a malfunctioning bubble machine.