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The Great Ziegfeld

Oscar™ Best Picture - Winning Movies

The Great Ziegfeld

1936

Robert Z. Leonard

William Powell, Myrna Loy, Luise Rainer, Frank Morgan ...

6.4

800

Musical At the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, sideshow barker Flo Ziegfeld turns the tables on his more successful neighbor Billings, and steals his girlfriend to boot. This pattern is repeated throughout their lives, as Ziegfeld makes and loses many fortunes putting on ever bigger, more spectacular shows (sections of which appear in the film). French revue star Anna Held becomes his first wife, but it's not easy being married to the man who ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Abel Green Variety	"An outstanding picture."	POS
United States	Kate Cameron New York Daily News	"The producers are to be congratulated on every phase of the beautiful production except their lack of courage cutting the film."	POS
United Kingdom	David Parkinson Empire	"Drags in places and doesn't even try for a true-to-life portrait of the great theatre entrepeneur but it's shiny and big spectacle with impressive choreography (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	NEU
United States	Dave Kehr Chicago Reader	"It's amazingly dull"	NEG
United Kingdom	Tony Sloman Radio Times	"Perhaps slightly too long for today's tastes, but it thrilled cinema-goers at the time (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	James Berardinelli ReelViews	"Although some of the production's technical aspects remain impressive, the dramatic elements come across as trite and many of the musical numbers are dated (...) Rating: ★★½ (out of 4)"	NEU

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