The Great Ziegfeld (1936) | |
| Director(s) | Robert Z. Leonard |
| Producer(s) | Hunt Stromberg, Sidney Algier (uncredited) |
| Top Genres | Biographical, Drama, Musical, Romance |
| Top Topics | New York, Romance (Drama), Show Business, Great Depression |
Featured Cast:
The Great Ziegfeld Overview:
The Great Ziegfeld (1936) was a Biographical - Drama Film directed by Robert Z. Leonard and produced by Hunt Stromberg and Sidney Algier.
Academy Awards 1936 --- Ceremony Number 9 (source: AMPAS)
| Award | Recipient | Result |
| Best Actress | Luise Rainer | Won |
| Best Art Direction | Cedric Gibbons, Eddie Imazu, Edwin B. Willis | Nominated |
| Best Director | Robert Z. Leonard | Nominated |
| Best Film Editing | William S. Gray | Nominated |
| Best Picture | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | Won |
| Best Writing | William Anthony McGuire | Nominated |
BlogHub Articles:
THE GREAT ZIEGFELD BLOGATHON: Flo, Irving, and the Follies
on May 14, 2020 From Caftan WomanZoe at Hollywood Genes is hosting The Great Ziegfeld Blogathon on May 15 - 17. Follies star Fanny Brice Legendary impresario Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. (1867-1932) was brought up with an appreciation of culture from his Belgium and German immigrant parents. Flo's American roots gave him the energet... Read full article
Musical Monday: The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
on Dec 2, 2019 From Comet Over HollywoodIt?s no secret that the Hollywood Comet loves musicals. In 2010, I revealed I had seen 400 movie musicals over the course of eight years. Now that number is over 600. To celebrate and share this musical love, here is my weekly feature about musicals. This week?s musical: The Great Ziegfeld (1936) ? ... Read full article
The Great Ziegfeld Telephone Scene with Luise Rainer
By Amanda Garrett on Jan 3, 2015 From Old Hollywood FilmsThe late Luise Rainer's most famous moment on screen is this brief scene from The Great Ziegfeld (1936). Rainer plays Anna Held, the common-law wife of Broadway showman Florenz Zeigfeld (William Powell). She literally smiles through her tears while telephoning Ziegfeld to congratulate him on his sec... Read full article
The Great Ziegfeld (1936) (2)
By Beatrice on Aug 27, 2013 From Flickers in TimeThe Great Ziegfeld Directed by Robert Z. Leonard Written by William Anthony McGuire 1936/USA Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Repeat viewing This extravagant musical biopic won Oscars for Best Production, Best Actress (Louise Ranier), and Best Dance Direction (“A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody”) and ... Read full article
Classic Films in Focus: THE GREAT ZIEGFELD (1936)
By Jennifer Garlen on Aug 5, 2013 From Virtual ViragoDirected by Robert Z. Leonard, The Great Ziegfeld (1936) is a lavish musical tribute to the legendary Broadway producer, with all the whistles, bells, and gorgeous girls that Ziegfeld himself could want, even if it does takes certain liberties with the facts of Ziegfeld’s life. Hollywood had a... Read full article
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Quotes from
Anna Held: [on the phone with Ziegfeld after learning of his marriage to Billie Burke] Hello, Flo... Yes. Here's Anna... I'm so happy for you today, I could not help calling you and congratulate you... Wonderful, Flo! Never better in my whole life!... I'm so excited about my new plans! I'm going to Paris... Yes, for a few weeks, and then I can get back, and then I'm doing a new show, and... Oh, it's all so wonderful! I'm so happy!... Yes... And I hope you are happy, too... Yes?... Oh, I'm so glad for you, Flo... Sounds funny for ex-husband and ex-wife to tell how happy they are, oui?... Yes, Flo... Goodbye, Flo... Goodbye...
[She hangs up]
Anna Held: Darling...
[she falls to her bed, sobbing]
Marie: My poor, petite! If you love him so, why did you divorce him?
Anna Held: Because I thought it would bring him back to me. I was sure that it would bring him back to me.
[she cries]
Hotel doorman: Do you realize you gave me five pounds?
Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.: Yes, I'm trying to lose weight.
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Facts about
Universal Pictures bought the film rights to Ziefeld's life story from his widow Billie Burke in late 1933. William Powell was to play Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., Billie Burke was to play herself, and it would feature specialties by Fanny Brice, Judy Garland (and her sisters), Eddie Cantor and Ray Bolger. When Universal decided to make a faithful film version of the Kern-Hammerstein musical "Show Boat", which Ziegfeld himself had originally produced onstage, the studio heads sold "The Great Ziegfeld" to MGM in March 1935 while still in pre-production. Only Powell, Brice and Bolger survived to the final picture. Ironically, MGM would buy the rights to "Show Boat" from Universal in 1942, and remake the musical, in Technicolor, in 1951.
The sequence "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody" was filmed in two lengthy takes after several weeks of rehearsals and filming (a definite cut is made when moving to a close-up on the singer dressed as Pagliacci, presumably to effect a change of camera position, necessary to start the inexorable move up the huge staircase). It features 180 performers and cost $220,000; 4,300 yards of rayon silk were used for the curtains in the scene.
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