The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
66%RT Audience Score: 50%
Awards & Nominations: NA
This biopic is undeniably stylish, but loses points for excessive length, an overreliance on clichés, and historical inaccuracies
The Great Ziegfeld is a film that’s as lavish as a Kardashian wedding, but with more substance. Sure, it’s a bit long, but it’s worth it to see Luise Rainer shine as Anna Held. And let’s be real, who doesn’t love a good spectacle? It’s like a three-hour escape from reality, and who doesn’t need that these days? So grab some popcorn, settle in, and enjoy the show.
Production Company(ies)
Columbia Pictures,
Distributor
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
MPAA / Certificate
Passed
Year of Release
1936
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Color:Color
Black and White -
Sound mix:Dolby
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Aspect ratio:1.37 : 1
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Runtime:2h 54m
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Language(s):
-
Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Apr 8, 1936 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 3, 2004
Genre(s)
Musical
Keyword(s)
starring William Powell, Luise Rainer, Myrna Loy, Frank Morgan, Fanny Brice, Virginia Bruce, directed by Robert Z Leonard, written by William Anthony McGuire, produced by Hunt Stromberg, musical, biopic, theater producer, Ziegfeld Follies, Broadway, love triangle, actresses, historical inaccuracies, excessive length, overreliance on clichés, critic reviews, Tomatometer, box office performance, budget, MPAA rating, musical numbers, lavish stage productions, women, costumes, set designs, real-life Ziegfeld players, authenticity, spectacle, soap opera, drawn-out, routine, decently fun, entertaining
Worldwide gross: NA
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): NA
US/Canada gross: NA
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend:
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): NA
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): NA
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Luise Rainer – Anna Held
Myrna Loy – Billie Burke
Frank Morgan – Jack Billings
Fanny Brice – Self
Virginia Bruce – Audrey Dane
Director(s)
Robert Z. Leonard
Writer(s)
NA
Producer(s)
Hunt Stromberg
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
NA
Academy Awards
Oscar Best Picture Winners, Oscar Winners
All Critics (65) | Top Critics (19) | Fresh (47) | Rotten (18)
Too glib for real life, it is persuasive for all that — possibly just because of that.
February 18, 2022
Otis Ferguson
The New Republic
TOP CRITIC
The representation of this greatness is done with such consistent loud-pedalling that the picture lacks climax as much as it needs relief.
December 2, 2021
Robert Herring
Guardian
TOP CRITIC
For sheer lavishness, attention to detail, honesty of purpose, The Great Ziegfeld is to be commended. Where the picture falls down — hard! — is in its fulsomeness.
December 2, 2021
Mae Tinee
Chicago Tribune
TOP CRITIC
Of course, it’s swell to look at — or swollen — like a glorified goldfish; but then, if you examine it, its tail falls right off. One might perhaps keep it in a glass case — which is more than you could do with this dead whale here.
December 2, 2021
John Marks
Sight & Sound
TOP CRITIC
Luise Rainer, the Viennese actress, is a risen star as Ziegfeld’s first wife, Anna Held. Gay as a butterfly, temperamental as an April day, she is the outstanding actress in the film.
December 2, 2021
Ian Coster
London Evening Standard
TOP CRITIC
Its cast is skillfully selected. Although Powell does his tremendous task well, I am sure Luise Rainer as Anna Held will be as long remembered.
December 1, 2021
Colvin McPherson
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
TOP CRITIC
A work that dazzles, and is decidedly a smash hit wherever it goes. [Full review in Spanish]
July 1, 2022
Eduardo Guaitsel
Cine-Mundial
For the greater part, The Great Ziegfeld is sentiment; for the remainder, spectacle. It is an unbeatable combination and MGM has seen fit to give it a more substantial claim in good casting.
December 3, 2021
Ruth Lewis
Austin American-Statesman
Few films have been more lavish than this one… but since it can be doubted that Ziegfeld was either the Shakespeare or the Leonardo he is represented to have been, it can also be doubted that the money was well spent.
December 3, 2021
Mark Van Doren
The Nation
I think that three hours and five minutes is too long for any picture. The Great Ziegfeld suffers, too, from the fact that its most exciting sequence comes plumb in the middle.
December 3, 2021
C.A. Lejeune
Observer (UK)
There is no picture to equal it for lavishness, beauty, and all-around entertainment; and not once during the three hours that it runs does it become boresome.
December 2, 2021
P.S. Harrison
Harrison’s Reports
In comparison, no previous music dance spectacle, no matter how elaborately produced, approaches it from a standpoint of sheer brilliance and beauty.
December 2, 2021
MPH Staff
Motion Picture Herald (Exhibitors Herald)…
Plot
At the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, sideshow barker Flo Ziegfeld turns the tables on his more successful neighbor Billings, and steals his girlfriend to boot. This pattern is repeated throughout their lives, as Ziegfeld makes and loses many fortunes putting on ever bigger, more spectacular shows (sections of which appear in the film). French revue star Anna Held becomes his first wife, but it’s not easy being married to the man who “glorified the American girl.” Late in life, now married to Billie Burke, he seems to be all washed up, but…
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
The cast includes William Powell, Luise Rainer, Myrna Loy, and Frank Morgan.
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