2h 12min | Drama, Musical, Romance | 25 April 1941
Directors: Robert Z. Leonard, Busby Berkeley
Stars: James Stewart, Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr, Lana Turner, Charles Winninger, EE Horton, Eve Arden.
Busby Berkeley ... (musical numbers directed by)
Daniel Dare ... dance director: ensembles (uncredited) / special dance sequence (uncredited)
[not on the ZG page: Seymour Felix ... stager: dances and ensembles on The Great Ziegfeld ('36); clips included here in the finale]
This is a largely unpleasant tale about Lana Turner's descent into materialism, alcoholism, unemployment and ill health, and the impact on her immediate friends/relatives. It's a great showcase for her acting talents, but she does no dancing (only rhythmic walking, mostly on stairs.) The story also shows the conflicts of success for JG & HL, with happy endings for these.
Plenty of music and Ziegfeld showgirl numbers with lavish costumes. The costume sequences should have been in color. (MGM makes Ziegfeld Follies ('45) all color.) They re-use/recreate the top of the wedding cake set from The Great Ziegfeld to show JG's early progress; eventually she becomes a headliner.
We do get an actual dancing number: Minnie from Trinidad, with lots of dancers, a Flamenco-style specialty act, and JG singing.
In his introduction segment on the dvd, John Fricke says a new finale had been filmed, but they decided to use clips from the old film instead (he shows a brief glimpse, but no deleted scene is on the dvd?). The old clips were short and unsatisfying, but in the days before home video, I suppose people welcomed seeing old faves. Better to reissue the whole film, or use those clips in the beginning or throughout to enrich the environment. A finale should be something that makes us leave the theatre happy and wanting more. Busby Berkeley was the king of finales in the mid-30s. Seems like this production hit a snag of some sort.
MGM, dir. Leonard; 6
