There is only one reason that I, and I suspect most cineastes today, would want to check out The Great Zigfeld- it won the Academy Award for the Best Picture of 1936. Charles Matthews, the author of Oscar A to Z called the award a travesty in any year, and it while the movie is not awful, its hard to believe that a hokey, three hour backstage biopic could triumph when Modern Times was not even nominated.
Despite its length, the film has a really simple storyline- the rise and fall of Broadway producer Florence Zigfeld (William Powell), and his many love affairs, interspersed with performances of highlights from Zigfeld shows, some of which performed by the original actors, others with impersonators (oddly enough, Zigfelds second wife, actress Billie Burke, does not play herself, although she sold the rights to MGM for big bucks and was a contract player at that studio). Part of the problem with the movie is that Zigfeld is and probably was in real life a chauvinist jerk- he mostly values women for their physical appearance, and also is a bit of a greasy con man. The film could have been interesting as a creepy psychological portrait if directed by someone like, say, David Lynch, but Leonard goes out of his way to show his flaws as endearing and charming, which is a problem.
The other big flaw of the film is its midsection, where most of the songs are. The musical numbers are boring and grind the movie to halt. Up until this point, the movie had been fun in a stupid kind of way, but scene after scene of dialogue like:
Crony: Hey, Mr. Zigfeld, you gotta see Jimmy sing! He's amazing!
Zigfeld: Well, why don't you sing your song, Jimmy?!
gets grating really fast. The songs may have been hits in the olden days, but have not survived. In fact, The Great Zigfeld was really a nostalgia trip even back in 1936. Now that most of stars of the producers shows are long forgotten, there is not a lot of modern audiences to grasp onto.
The movie is not a total wash, however. At the beginning and especially towards the end we get melodrama that is pleasant in the cheesy, old movie sense, and while Powell fails to make the character likable, he certainly has a strong screen presence. The other acting highlight is French actress Luise Rainer, who won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance as Zigfelds first wife, Anna Held. Rainer is not pitch perfect in all scenes, but the camera loves her, she has a presence that would not be found in film until the French New Wave in the early 60s. I am not sure if she deserved the Oscar, but it was not outrageous for her to receive one.
But its certainly not an understatement to say that despite its highlights, the film is not worth the investment of the time it takes to watch it. This might have been okay a ninety minuets and mediocre at two hours, but at three, its hopeless bloated. Oddly enough, the documentary on the DVD stated that the Best Picture award was an upset, and its telling that Leonard lost to Frank Capra for what is almost certainly a better movie, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. Unless you, like me, love Oscar trivia, you can skip this one.
The Great Ziegfeld (1936)