Blu-ray Review Ziegfeld Girl Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[Matt Hough]

Three young women with wildly different career trajectories cross paths at the Follies in Robert Z. Leonard’s Ziegfeld Girl, a 1941 musical drama that offers more narrative heft than most musicals of the era attempted.



Ziegfeld Girl (1941)



Released: 25 Apr 1941
Rated: Passed
Runtime: 132 min




Director: Robert Z. Leonard, Busby Berkeley
Genre: Drama, Musical, Romance



Cast: James Stewart, Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr
Writer(s): Marguerite Roberts, Sonya Levien, William Anthony McGuire



Plot: In the 1920s, three women become performers in the renowned Broadway show the Ziegfeld Follies, where they find fame, love, and tragedy.



IMDB rating: 6.7
MetaScore: N/A





Disc Information



Studio: MGM
Distributed By: Warner...

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[Virgoan]

Thanks, Matt! This has been one of my favorites since seeing it on TV in the early 1960s. Can’t wait to get my BD of this

 

[Virgoan]

 

[Virgoan]

One of the all-time great scenes in any star-making film was that of Turner in her final staircase descent. Even though she was ill, she was determined to see a follies review. After a while, she felt too ill to stay and started to leave. But, as she reaches the stairs, one of the songs from her first folliws show began playng. She throws her shoulders back and begins her descent. Showgirl to the end. As she nears the bottom step, she collapses. It is one HELL of a great scene.

 

[Matt Hough]

One of the all-time great scenes in any star-making film was that of Turner in her final staircase descent. Even though she was ill, she was determined to see a follies review. After a while, she felt too ill to stay and started to leave. But, as she reaches the stairs, one of the songs from her first folliws show began playng. She throws her shoulders back and begins her descent. Showgirl to the end. As she nears the bottom step, she collapses. It is one HELL of a great scene.

Yes, definitely one of the great star-making scenes in MGM movies. When she collapses backwards and her mane of hair cascades onto the carpet, it's a stupendously composed shot. Glorious (if tragic).

 

[benbess]

Saw this one several years ago, and after reading this review picked up this disc. Watched it last night and it looks as good as opening night! Here's part of what Matt Hough writes in his insightful review:

"All along, the movie was intended as a vehicle to establish Lana Turner as a top star on the MGM roster, and in that effort the film succeeds magnificently as her story shows us a rags-to-riches-to rags saga in the movie’s most dramatic and emotionally powerful moments punctuated not only by her “Stage Door Johnny” and his lavish gifts but also in her encounters with a champion prizefighter (Dan Dailey) whose ups and downs parallel her own. Judy Garland’s segments set her up as the trouper of the bunch, a thorough professional whose performing instincts sometimes put her at odds with her dad whose ideas about selling a song (the ravishing “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows”) run more toward hammy Jolson panache than the more measured Garland bittersweet.

The almost two million-dollar budget is uniquely on display in two increasingly lavish production numbers staged and directed by Busby Berkeley....

As the top-billed star of the film, James Stewart’s role constitutes less than half an hour of the movie; he makes the most of his ardor for Miss Turner in their scenes together, but his last role before heading overseas to distinguish himself during World War II is not among his most fondly remembered parts. Hedy Lamarr keeps her head held high and her emotions in check as the rejected wife whose only interest is helping her husband. Judy Garland handles her musical chores with all of the verve and pluck that was her watchword at the time while Charles Winninger as her wrongheaded father who gets a chance at redemption in an underwhelming Follies showstopper “Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean” (with Al Shean) gives a solid performance. Lana Turner was presented with a star bungalow during the making of the film, well deserved for her achievement here: thoroughly convincing as the showgirl whose stardom goes to her head indulging in lavish gowns and the high life until her tendency to burn the candle at both ends brings her crashing down...."


This is one of the best dramatic roles in Lana Turner's entire career. Seems like those were real tears in her scene with James Stewart. According to imdb's trivia, originally there was a scene that actually had Lana's final death scene, but because it was so sad preview audiences reacted badly to it, and so it was cut. But it's pretty much implied. Good movie!