(176 min; my copy is 186) Released 1936-03-22
Director: Robert Z. Leonard
Stars: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Luise Rainer
Seymour Felix ... stager: dances and ensembles (Oscar winner)
Biography | Drama | Musical | Romance
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0027698/
Home of the giant wedding cake spiral staircase, perhaps honored in the opening of Seth MacFarlane's Ted 2 (2015). Here, the scene (23) lasts 8 minutes, and the featurette said it was one take (I saw a cut during the Pagliacci moment, but only one), and cost more to produce than an actual Ziegfeld show! This is mostly a revolving tableau, with some dancing in pockets. (Ted 2 has a lot of dancing to Steppin' Out With My Baby, song from Easter Parade, danced by Fred Astaire with special effects but no wedding cake. Ted 2 had 100+ dancers, according to Seth's video commentary at a NYT article.)
In addition to Felix's Best Dance Direction Oscar for A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody, Luise Rainer earned her first of 2 consecutive Oscars for Best Actress, and the film won Best Picture. Here are all the nominees; this film was nom'd in 4 other categories. (For more on Oscar records.)
This is a roadshow version, with a 5 minute overture before credits, intermission footage, and exit music.
Ray Bolger's dance (starts at scene 26) could be his audition for the Scarecrow of The Wizard of Oz (1939). This flows into other songs, including a chorus of 20 dancing on beds (scene 28), more showgirls culminating in a revolving 45 degree tilted disc (scene 29) of girls arranged into a stylized peacock(?).
One of the treasures here is 4 scenes (beginning at 32) with Fanny Brice, herself, not an imitator. (Boy, Streisand was a great choice to play her in Funny Girl (1968).) She sings part of her signature song, My Man, in scene 35.
The big circus production number starts in scene 43, with Harriet Hoctor dancing a ballet where dogs and ponies are used as props to be danced around/over.
The film gives the definite impression that Ziegfeld loved large beautiful spectacles. Previously rated 8; today I might settle on 7. But it's not so far off that I feel compelled to change it.
MGM, dir. Leonard; 8-
My post on Oscar, Best Dance Direction, 1936-38
