Jul. 17, 2002 - 2:10 am
the final Best Picture. this one beat out Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) if you can believe that.
it was an ok film. it's another bio pic that covers the life of Florenz Ziegfeld, of the Ziegfeld Follies (1907-1931) fame, who helped to bring splendor to the American stage at the turn of the century. he's often called the man who "glorified the American girl." he's constantly gaining fortunes with his shows, losing all his money, and then making another fortune. he's also an amazing ladies' man.
so many biographical films have won Best Picture. you've got this one, The Life of Emile Zola, Lawrence of Arabia (1962), A Man For All Seasons (1966), Patton (1970), Gandhi (1982), Amadeus (1984), Schindler's List (1993), Braveheart (1995), and A Beautiful Mind (2001). then there are a few others that could arguably be called bio pics too.
this was a decent film. it had great acting by most. especially the actor who played Ziegfeld himself, William Powell, was awesome. it was weird, but this film also had two not extremely well known actors that i've only seen before in The Wizard of Oz (1939). Ziegfeld's partner/competitor was played by Frank Morgan who you'll remember as Professor Marvel/The Wizard from The Wizard of Oz. also, the Scarecrow, Ray Bolger, played a small part in the Follies. he did the most amazing dance i've ever seen done onscreen. if you're going to watch this film for any reason other than it being a Best Picture, watch it for his dance. he even does some of the stumbling type stuff that he does as the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz. it was great. i wonder if they first saw those two actors in this film. probably so. i'm sure most everyone went to see this film in the mid to late 30s.
so yeah, i sort of enjoyed the movie. i thought it was way too long at 3 hours though. and parts of the story kind of dragged. but it was good. 6/10.
coming soon...the Top 10 Best Pictures List.