The Ice Follies of 1939 (1939)

Director:

Reinhold Schünzel

Writers:

Leonard Praskins (story)
Leonard Praskins (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

10 March 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Musical | Drama

Tagline:

Sparkling With Stars, Gaiety, Music!

Plot:

Mary and Larry are are a modestly successful skating team. Shortly after their marriage, Marry gets a picture contract...

Plot Keywords:

Contract | Hollywood | Marriage | Banquet | Movie Star

Cast

Joan Crawford	...	Mary McKay
James Stewart	...	Larry Hall
Lew Ayres	...	Eddie Burgess
Lewis Stone	...	Douglas 'Doug' Tolliver Jr.
The International Ice Follies	...	Themselves
Bess Ehrhardt	...	Kitty Sherman
Roy Shipstad	...	Himself - Ice Follies Skater
Eddie Shipstad	...	Himself - Ice Follies Skater
Oscar Johnson	...	Himself - Ice Follies Skater
Lionel Stander	...	Mort Hodges
Charles D. Brown	...	Mr. Barney

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #5099) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

None of the three main stars could skate; the screenplay was written with this in mind.

Goofs:

Continuity: Bess Ehrhardt is billed and introduced as 'Kitty Sherman', but an advertising placard in the movie uses her real name along with character names of some other actors.

Quotes:

Larry Hall: Stars are a million miles apart; they never touch. They live away from each other, cold and lonely - like we'll have to do.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "NYPD Blue: Ice Follies (#1.9)" (1993)

Soundtrack:

Happy Days Are Here Again

Easily Crawford's Worst "Golden Age" film

Experts tell us that MGM had high hopes for this strange movie pastiche, but it's hard to believe that from the tired on-screen shenanigans. With Sonia Henie making millions for 20th Century Fox in her kitschy skating musicals, Metro imported (at no small cost) the famed International Ice Follies and paired them with Crawford, one of their top-ranked, but skidding, stars.

I still find it hard to fathom WHY Metro executives could ever have thought that this lumbering, tired film could serve any use in reversing Crawford's diminishing box-office drawing power. She, James Stewart, and Lew Ayres, seem to be walking through their roles in a most obvious case of movie-making by the numbers, with a plot that is nothing but insulting to its audience.

This is not to say that certain pleasures can't be found in the film, if you want to take the time to look. Joan is as beautiful as ever and the Ice Follies finale (in which Joan does NOT skate) looks great in Technicolor. Happily and ironically, it was this film's total failure that brought Crawford one of her best screen roles, that of Crystal Allen in George Cukor's THE WOMEN. Reckless and with a feeling of nothing to lose, Crawford went after that unsympathetic part with a vengeance, AGAINST the advice of LB Mayer, who said it would finish her (but then again, what did HE know.....he LIKED the idea of this one!!)Not nearly as interesting as either THE BRIDE WORE RED (1937) or THE SHINING HOUR (1938), Crawford's other box-office flops of the period, this one is strictly for Crawford or Stewart completists.