Ziegfeld Girl (1941) User Reviews

Spending a day with Ziegfeld

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 17 August 2005]

I first saw this film at the old Ziegfeld Theater in Manhattan back in the Sixties. The theater was showing a triple Ziegfeld feature: The Great Ziegfeld, Ziegfeld Follies and Ziegfeld Girl. It ran over 8 hours and I was blinded by the sun as I emerged from the darkened theater.

It was all worth it because as the cliché goes, they really don't make them like that any more.

Seeing it today or even in 1967 one probably wonders why one doesn't see Mr. Ziegfeld in this film. He's a shadowy genius and his two aides Paul Kelly and Edward Everett Horton are in operational charge of his shows in Ziegfeld Girl.

My answer is that William Powell who made such an impression as the great Broadway producer in The Great Ziegfeld five years earlier was probably not available for this film, that Louis B. Mayer had him committed to other projects. And Mayer probably decided that no other player would stand comparison.

Anyway this film is the story of three women who are picked for the Ziegfeld Follies. Three beauties as it were; Lana Turner, Judy Garland, and Hedy Lamarr.

Lamarr has her fling with success and a fling with married singer in the show, Tony Martin. After that she decides to work on her own marriage to violinist Philip Dorn.

Garland of course has real talent and she has the success similar to what she normally has in her 'let's put on a show' movies with Mickey Rooney. Like in her own life, her character is a child vaudeville trooper and her dad is played by Charles Winninger. The family name for Garland and Winninger is Gallagher. And this plot device allows Al Shean to revive his old vaudeville act with Winninger. Shean himself was a Follies veteran with his late partner Ed Gallagher and the two of them had a great patter number, Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean and it was revived very nicely here with Winninger pinch hitting.

Turner is the quintessential girl from Brooklyn who's discovered while operating an elevator for the Follies. She's a girl with a taste for the material things that her truck driver boyfriend James Stewart can't provide. She gets them though, fame, wealth, expensive grown up toys for girls; but at a big price.

Except for the Gallagher and Shean number the musical chores here are carried out by Garland and Martin. Judy's numbers are nice, especially Minnie from Trinidad. But the hit of the film was sung by Tony Martin with You Stepped Out of a Dream. That song was the last lyric written by Gus Kahn who was one of the great Tin Pan Alley lyricists back in the day. Kahn died after this film was completed.

Fans of Judy Garland who are still legion will love this film. Fans of musicals in general will find it very entertaining.

Strange musical

[preppy-3 · 7/10 · 30 August 2001]

Very odd MGM musical that mixes huge production numbers with depressing, heavy-handed melodrama. The main characters are played by Judy Garland (great and full of life), Jimmy Stewart (looks and acts miserable), Hedy Lamarr (incredibly beautiful but vacant), and Lana Turner (pretty good until she goes bad and REALLY overdoes it). Everybody looks fantastic...even Turner when she falls apart.. The production numbers are astounding with unbelievable costumes (this film really should have been in color). They're very long but never dull...the standout numbers are "You Stepped Out of a Dream" and "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows". The one problem is the melodrama is really overwrought and overdone. It drags the movie down and makes it seem much longer than it is (there's no reason for this to be dragged out over 2 hours). Still, see this for the songs and costumes.

legendary cast

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 25 November 2017]

Three girls get a chance to being new Ziegfeld girls. Elevator girl Sheila Regan (Lana Turner) with boyfriend Gilbert Young (James Stewart) finds herself pursued by a millionaire. Susan Gallagher (Judy Garland) has to abandon her vaudeville act with her father. Sandra Kolter (Hedy Lamarr) is a mystery woman from overseas.

The cast is filled with legendary names. That alone makes this an interesting movie. Each girl's story is compelling to some extent. At least, it's interesting to watch the legendary beauties. The least interesting is the actual Ziegfeld Follies. It's only a line of beauties walking down the stairs in costumes. The song and dance for the three is mostly walking around. It's not much of a song and dance play. Judy Garland doing vaudeville with her show business father is far more interesting. Of course, she is perfectly comfortable with that. Lana Turner gets to play opposite Jimmy Stewart and has the juicier story. Hedy Lamarr has the least compelling story which ends with simply walking away. All in all, it's a great star watch and a functional musical.

take three girls ...

[didi-5 · 6/10 · 19 August 2003]

There are actually three girls who get into the Ziegfeld Follies in this b/w MGM feature. Judy Garland of course has a fabulous voice (especially when singing 'I'm Always Chasing Rainbows' so quietly); Lana Turner has false poise; and Hedy Lamarr looks stunning.

As the men in their lives, we have James Stewart, Jackie Cooper (all grown up!), Ian Hunter, Dan Dailey, Tony Martin … plus Charles Winninger as Garland's father and vaudeville partner of Al Shean (playing himself).

The Follies numbers look good, but the film cries out for colour. Imagine how overblown, preposterous, and perfect it would have been then. As it is, it is a pleasant distraction, nothing more, and I found it quite distracting when towards the end some sequences were obviously taken from 1936's 'The Great Ziegfeld'!

A Backstage Musical Soaper

[gftbiloxi · 7/10 · 3 June 2005]

Lana Turner, Heddy Lamar, and Judy Garland get into the Ziegfeld Follies and promptly go to pot in this backstage soaper about the pitfalls of celebrity.

Lana is a saucy elevator operator who aspires to marry Jimmy Stewart--until a Ziegfeld talent scout sweeps her up. She soon turns into a fast-living, mean-tempered lush. Heddy accompanies violinist husband Philip Dorn to an audition; he doesn't get the job, but she gets snatched up to become a beauty queen. Offended by her admirers, Heddy's husband believes she is unfaithful and leaves her. Judy has worked her way up through the ranks of show business and is hired for her way with a song--but Ziegfeld doesn't want to the hire other half of her act, Judy's father Charles Winninger. How can she desert her father?

To say the actors are typecast is a gross understatement, and in truth Heddy is merely there for decoration and Judy tucked into the film for the occasional musical number. The film really belongs to Lana Turner, who--although somewhat wooden--has the most interesting role of the three, and to James Stewart, who like Lana is a good boy gone bad. Will Lana and Jimmy reform and get back together? Will Heddy be able to convince Philip that her love is true? Will Judy's father ever forgive her? Even though the movie is hokey and a bit overlong, it is still rather fun to watch--and such numbers as "Minnie From Trinidad" are lots of fun. But this is not one of MGM's great musicals by any stretch of the imagination, and it is pretty much for die-hard musical fans only.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Watchable high camp

[otter · 28 February 1999]

The story of three girls who join the fabulous Ziegfeld Follies. One makes it big, one goes back to her husband, and one goes bad, Hollywood style.

It's too bad this movie was shot in black and white, most of the high points are the, uh, amazing production numbers. I mean, you haven't lived until you've seen a showgirl wearing a school of tropical fish or a flock of parrots. Or Judy Garland in an Xmas-tree tinsel dress. Also a big Judy Garland production number, "Minnie from Trinidad".

Other than the music and costumes, the fun is watching Lana Turner go BAD. Garland and Lammar are less than interesting away from the stage (blame the script), but Turner's rise-and-fall is classic bad-girl camp. (You know she's hitting the skids when men start giving her *fake* diamonds) And of course she dies of Old Movie Disease at the end, the kind that reunites you with your true love and leaves your hair and makeup perfect.

An okay MGM musical with 2 great numbers

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 7/10 · 26 September 2014]

For me -- a lover of the old MGM musicals -- this film doesn't quite come together. The whole seems to be less than the sum of its parts.

For me, problem number one is that it seems to actually have little to do with Flo Ziegfeld. It may be the story of 3 young women who become Ziegfeld girls, but where exactly is there much about Flo Ziegfeld? The film is the sequel to the wonderful 1936 film "The Great Ziegfeld", but it just doesn't have the same sense of grandeur. I guess this is "The Sorta Good Ziegfeld".

James Stewart -- maybe it worked in 1941, but today -- with the persona of Jimmy Stewart in our minds -- this characterization just doesn't work. This is a good role for the still young Judy Garland (still in her Andy Hardy days), but not one of her best. Hedy Lamarr does fine here, although -- as usual -- her acting is more about her beauty. Lana Turner is lovely, but at this point in her career she hasn't yet become the fine actress she later was. Tony Martin...eeh! Jackie Cooper...well, nice to see him, although his career was already in sharp decline. Ian Hunter turns in a nice performance as a sophisticate. Charles Winninger is entertaining as Garland's "pop", a vaudeville entertainer. Eve Arden plays Eve Arden (and that's good). Edward Everett Horton is entertaining as one of Flo Ziegfeld's right hand men. Philip Dorn is boring as a violinist (he had other much better roles). Dan Dailey plays a boxer with a negative attitude; he has one very good scene.

In terms of the story, my first question is why are Jimmy Stewart and the other hoods wearing winter coats and hats in Palm Beach, Florida? But beyond that, the script follows 3 girls who each become Ziegfeld girls; how does each react to her fame? Garland -- the most successful of the three -- misses her vaudeville "Pop" who seems to have an outdated act. Turner turns out not so nice, dumping her boyfriend (Stewart), who wasn't very nice anyway, and he becomes a bootleg runner; meanwhile Turner gets fired from the show due to alcoholism. Lamarr...well, she floats around in the soup, but it was a bit difficult to figure out her issue, other than that she is the least dedicated to show business of the three. In terms of musical numbers, only two are striking -- "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" by Garland and "Mr. Gallagher & Mr. Shean" by Winninger and the real Al Shean! Overall, this musical just didn't catch my attention the way most MGM musicals do. And then they cheapened the finale by using segments from the fine 1938 film, which had spectacular sets, versus the vastly slimmed down 1941 sets...a mismatch. Not to mention the schmaltzy duck dream. This film was successful back in the day, but parts of it hardly held my attention.

The less than great Ziegfeld, but still with much to enjoy

[TheLittleSongbird · 6/10 · 12 February 2017]

As somebody who loves musicals and would see the likes of James Stewart, Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr and Lana Turner in anything, checking out 'Ziegfeld Girl' was definitely something that held my interest in viewing.

'Ziegfeld Girl' is a decent if uneven film, after viewing it. It is less than great but a long way from a disaster. Where 'Ziegfeld Girl' particularly falls down is in the paper thin and preposterous story that is often little more than an excuse to string along the musical numbers and such and the very over the top melodrama that belongs in a leaden and out of date soap opera.

Love Stewart to bits, in fact he is one of my favourite actors but somehow this role didn't seem right for him and Stewart just seems too amiable and clean cut for a character that is somewhat more than that. Lamarr is breath taking in beauty but has little to do and looks lost for some of the film. Tony Martin sings beautifully but is pretty mannered and wooden.

However, the production values are very pleasing on the eye, it isn't Technicolor (and one at times can't help thinking that 'Ziegfeld Girl' could have been even better with it) but still beautifully photographed and the costumes are just splendid. The musical numbers are lovely and full of energy, with the ones making the most impression being "You Stepped Out of a Dream", "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" and "Minnie from Trinidad". The choreography is graceful and exuberant, particularly in "Minnie from Trinidad".

Judy Garland steals the show here in a role that suits her like a glove. Lana Turner has the meatiest role and performs the heck out of it, emoting believably while resisting temptation to overdo it. Nice to see Charles Winninger and Edward Everett Horton.

All in all, not great but with much to enjoy. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Flaming stars burn brightly, then out.

[lastliberal · 7/10 · 11 April 2008]

Oh, to be a Ziegfield girl. $75 a week and the chance to make it to the moon. But, sometimes that shooting star hits the ground with a thud.

Three beautiful women - The fantastic Hedy Lamarr, Judy Garland (A Star Is Born, Judgment at Nuremberg), and Lana Turner (Peyton Place) - are members of the troupe. Their stories off-stage are told interspersed with Garland's beautiful singing and Busby Berkeley's (Gold Diggers of 1935, Gold Diggers of 1937, Varsity Show) outstanding choreography.

The costuming was magnificent, but wasted in a BW production.

It is the drama off stage that really makes the film interesting as Lamarr and her violinist husband have a falling out over her taking the job while he is unemployed, Garland is trying to make it big and help her Vaudevillian father, and Turner just wants to live the life of glamor, not noticing that her boyfriend (James Stewart) is ruining his life as she is ruining hers, but for different reasons.

An interesting look at life in the city during the 20's.

One of the Last Great Musicals from Hollywood's Golden Era

[oldblackandwhite · 9/10 · 22 November 2010]

For some reason Ziegfeld Girl has been panned and patronized by the critics, when in fact it was the last of a series of glorious black & white musicals turned out in the 1930' and early 1940's and one of the best.

Don't listen to the critics who say the musical numbers and the melodramatic story don't work well together. This well-directed musical does an unusually efficient job of melding them together. The "backstage" story itself is probably one of the best with more believable characters and situations than usual. I thought it better than that of the more highly rated 42ond Street. Don't listen to the hard-faced feminist doctrinaires who can't stand seeing women and men and their families portrayed as real human people instead of the social-engineered zombies they would prefer. When someone says this movie would have been been better if in color, cover your ears as if you were being subjected to a stream of blasphemous cursing. Ziegfeld Girl is a gem of sensuous, luminous, black & white cinematography. The costumes and the choreography were wonderfully designed for black and white, and both work better than those of any subsequent color musical.

Jimmy Stewart got top billing in this movie, and he admittedly dominates all of the modest amount of screen time he has. But this is fourth-billed Lana Turner's movie when it comes to the dramatic side of the story. In addition to being at her most glamorous, she turns in a bravura performance as the poor kid from Flatbush rising to stardom and riches only to descend into despair and alcoholism. Hedy Lamarr, billed ahead of Lana, doesn't have much to do except to look beautiful, but she could do that better than any other actress. Nevertheless, don't listen to the critics who say she couldn't act. Check out some of her other movies, such as Dishonored Lady (see my review) and Algiers. Never mind, when the musical numbers start, the show is all Judy Garland, Tony Martin, and Busby Berkley's musical direction. Especially Judy. She has never been cuter or more charming, both in her singing and her not inconsiderable acting talent. The lovable Charles Winninger, playing her hammy, vaudevillian father, is a nice foil for Judy dramatically as well as musically. Some people have found the early musical number performed by the two the best of the show. You can listen to them! But there are plenty of other good numbers.

If you would like two hours and twelve minutes of engrossing, thoroughly entertaining, glittering, spectacular entertainment as only MGM in its golden years could dish out, watch Ziegfeld Girl. They don't, couldn't, and wouldn't if they could make 'em like this any more.

Beware Of Geeks Sharing Lifts ...

[writers_reign · 7/10 · 2 March 2010]

... as someone should have said to Lana Turner before it was too late. Turner plays an elevator (lift in England) operator in what the film coyly calls a 'Fifth Avenue Department Store' and is spotted there (offscreen) by the great Ziggie himself - this may be a backhanded nod to Turner's alleged 'discovery' whilst in Schwab's Drug Store - and before you can say staircase she is a 'Ziegfeld Girl in the same intake as Hedy Lamarr and Judy Garland. This was the second of three films - The Great Ziegfeld, Ziegfeld Girl, Ziegfeld Follies - glorifying the Great Mittel Europe Showman and arguably the worst. It's basically a melodrama with a half-hearted score in which top-billed Jimmy Stewart seems miscast as the truck-driver who turns as 'bad' as his girl-friend (Turner) once he realizes her head has been turned by the cliché financier. Turner is actually half decent as the neighborhood gal who abandons True Love for Faux jewellery and most watchable - though there's not enough of her - is Eve Arden, that mistress of the one-liner. Hedy Lamarr supplies the glamor but luckily isn't prevailed upon to act, Judy and Charles Winninger walk through their father-daughter schtick, Tony Martin reminds us just how far short he was of Sinatra or even Dick Haymes and doesn't QUITE ruin the one decent number in the score, You Stepped Out Of A Dream. To add insult to injury MGM shot it in black and white. Try to catch it on TV rather than shelling out for the DVD.

Three Beauties, Jimmy, early Dan Daily, and finally "Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Shean"

[theowinthrop · 10/10 · 11 April 2008]

I watched this musical last night on Turner Classics - part of the salute to Hedy Lamarr. ZIEGFELD GIRL is an odd sequel film. Planned in 1938 as a follow up to the big MGM 1936 success THE GREAT ZIEGFELD, it looked closer at the woman in the fabled Ziegfeld choruses than the bio-flick really had. The concentration was on the showman himself, and here on his creations. But the 1938 film was to have Walter Pidgeon in it, and one suspects he'd be playing Ziegfeld (as he did finally play thirty years later in FUNNY GIRL). This 1941 film has nobody playing the showman (although he is mentioned). In the final film of the triptych, ZIEGFELD FOLLIES, William Powell reappeared as Ziegfeld. In 1941 Powell was returning to Hollywood after having survived cancer, so he was still unavailable for this film. I wonder if he would have been in this film again had he been available.

The story here follows three young women who get into the Ziegfeld chorus line.

Lana Turner is an elevator operator in a department store who is seen by the showman and hired by his right hand man (Edward Everett Horton). She is seeing a truck driver (Jimmy Stewart). Turner likes the more lucrative and glamorous lifestyle she is entering (especialy the relationship she picks up with wealthy Ian Hunter). Stewart gradually gets disgusted by the change in her, and turns to "easy, big money" of his own - working as a driver and lieutenant of a bootlegger.

The second follows Hedy Lamarr, the wife of violinist Philip Dorn. Dorn has been struggling (with the help of friend Felix Bressart) to get into public notice as a great classical violinist. While accompanying him to an audition for a violinist at the New Amsterdam Theater, Lamarr is hired for the chorus. Dorn does not want his wife to be a possible sex object for lascivious males. When Hedy refuses to give up a good job, Dorn walks out on her (although he keeps an eye on her career and relationships, especially with the male singer star of the show Tony Martin).

Finally we see Judy acting with her father Charles Winninger at a vaudeville theater in Harlem (this is about 1920 or so). He is "Pop" Gallagher, a tried-and-true old vaudeville comedian and song and dance man. Judy is hired also for the chorus (the one failure of the plot: Judy is still an adorable young woman like "Dorothy" in the WIZARD OF OZ, but is outclassed by Turner and Lamarr or even fellow chorus girl Eve Arden as a statuesque looker), but we see her pushed onto Horton and show director Paul Kelly as a singer by Turner and Lamarr. But her singing is not how Winninger trained her, and he feels he has to let her go off on her own. Instead he meets an old friend, Al Shean (here playing himself), and they go off into the vaudeville hinterlands to perfect an act together.

The film follows the rise and fall or rise of the three young women, with Turner having the hardest fall (as does Stewart). On the way Turner will have two run-ins with a very young (and obnoxious) Dan Daily as a boxing champion. It's an interesting early role for this actor, better recalled for musical and comic parts a decade later. The other supporting players do well too, Arden getting some nice zingers regarding the benefits of being there for stage door johnnies. Horton plays it fairly controlled and not as startled as normal. Kelly is all business, an interesting early come-back role for a fine character actor just getting his life together after years in prison for a tragedy he was not really to blame for.* Martin gets to sing "You Look Like a Dream" and several other tunes, his romance doomed when Hedy meets his long-suffering wife. Dorn proves an adept actor, jealous and hurt at Hedy's choice, but willing to meet her half-way at the end. Jackie Cooper (as Lana's brother) is fine as her would-be conscience, and Judy's boy-friend.

*It strikes me as ironic that Kelly (whose career continued improving into the 1950s, including a Tony Award) is in this film with Turner. Both were involved in well known murder cases, and in both the sympathy of the public is with Kelly and Turner, not their so-called victims.

Turner and Stewart have the best of the acting honors here, particularly in their reconciliation scene, and Lana's last trip to see he Follies. Hedy has some nice moments with Martin and Dorn. Look at the scene on the beach with her writing "F" "R" "A" "N" in the sand. Does she mean "Franz" (Dorn) or "Frank" (Martin)? Judy is best with Winninger as her dad and mentor, but has a good scene with Hunter trying to have him make Lana an "honest woman" by marrying her (Hunter was planning to do so). Her singing is best with "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" and "Minnie From Trinidad", ably directed by Busby Berkeley.

My favorite is last: Al Shean's real partner, Mr. Gallagher, died about 1929, and except for some phonograph records their routine is not available. But in their day, Gallagher and Shean were as well known as Shean's nephews, the Marx Brothers, would be across the country. Their comic tunes (or really one tune with new lyrics) made the line "Absolutely Mr. Gallagher? Positively Mr. Shean!" a catch phrase that ever now is still recalled. Al lived to be in the movies until his death (though, oddly, never with his nephews). This film gives him, in Winninger, a great temporary partner. I note that in their scene together at the end Winninger is wearing the same type of eyeglasses that the real Gallagher wore in the act. Did I like this film. "Positively Mr. Shean!"

Three girls in the Ziegfeld Follies

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 9 October 2010]

Lana Turner, Hedy Lamarr, and Judy Garland each have the honor of being a "Ziegfeld Girl" in this 1941 film also starring Jackie Cooper, James Stewart, Dan Dailey, Tony Martin, Ian Hunter, Edward Everett Horton, and Eve Arden. Mr. Ziegfeld is never seen, but this is a story of three gals who make it into his show and what happens to them as a result. Sandra (Lamarr) is offered a job; since she and her violinist husband (Philip Dorn) need the money, she takes it, only to lose her husband. Susan (Garland) gets in the show, but it means leaving her partner and father (Charles Winninger) behind. And Sheila, engaged to Gilbert (Stewart) succumbs to the temptation of a rich man (Hunter) who gets her a beautiful apartment on Park Avenue and lots of jewels.

This is a decent story with good music, gorgeous singing by Garland and Tony Martin, and fantastic costumes galore. The beautiful Lamarr is fabulous looking but doesn't have much to do in her role, Garland is vivacious as Susan, and Turner is a knockout and does a good job as Sheila. The supporting performances are all good, with Dailey doing an early turn as a prize fighter and Winninger as Susan's father, stuck in his Vaudeville mindset.

My big problem with this film is the code, which makes it predictable, because we all know what happens to a slut.

Nevertheless, despite some slow spots, this is an entertaining film, reminiscent in its way of "Valley of the Dolls" with Turner in the "Neelie O'Hara" role.

Too Much Soap, Not Enough Glitter

[museumofdave · 5/10 · 28 March 2013]

Unless you are a largely uncritical fan of Lamarr, Garland or Turner or of musicals in general, this is not a good film to start with; unlike the zippy, racy, fast-paced films Busby Berkeley did with Warner Brothers in the early 30's (42nd Street, the Gold Diggers films),or the dazzling Technicolor Fox Musicals of the 1940's. this MGM effort suffers from an excess of melodrama and not enough music. MGM ruled musicals in the 1950's with major films like Singin' In Rain and The Bandwagon.

Fortunately, Ziegfeld Girl does feature a bang-up, all-out, dazzling fur and feathers number "You Stepped Out Of A Dream" worth the more than two-hour drudgery of largely humorless soap opera, and it's sung by the late Tony Martin, featuring Hedy Lamarr as dazzling as she was ever going to look; unfortunately this number is early in the film, and there's a great deal of angst with Lana Turner hitting the skids as her truck-driving boyfriend (a miscast Jimmy Stewart, looking more than a little uncomfortable), mopes around the edges until she sobers up; This is not a bad film, merely, as frequently happens with MGM, in need of some judicious cutting; Garland is great fun in the "Minnie From Trinidad" number with dancers dangling dozens of bananas as arm decor, and Dan Dailey impressive as a deadbeat boxer; one wishes for more Eve Arden, as always, and one also wishes for the dazzling color of Ziegfeld Follies a few years later.

A smorgasbord of lovely women with some high drama.

[GRCmgs · 31 October 2000]

My grandparents saw the original Ziegfeld Follies back in the old days and always raved about the showmanship and glamour that was demonstrated. Both the Great Ziegfeld from the mid-1930's and this film give some depth and insight into the days of the glorification of women. "You Stepped Out of A Dream" had more beautiful women in one production number than I have ever seen and probably will ever see. Oh, to have lived when the Ziegfeld shows were popular. And who can even begin to approach the beauty of Hedy Lamarr!

Definitely NOT a sequel to "The Great Ziegfeld"!

[sdiner82 · 6/10 · 23 August 2003]

Audiences queuing up for this expensive MGM mega-production expecting a sequel to that studio's Best Picture-winner of 5 years earlier must have gone into toxic shock when confronted with what unravelled on the screen. Was Louis B. Mayer asleep at the dailies? What in God's name is poor Jimmy Stewart doing in this farrago, looking like he has ulcers the few times he appears on screen during the interminable 132-running time? But for sheer gall, or studio lunacy run amok, "Ziegfeld Girl" certainly merits watching. The lugubrious tale of 3 young beauties hand-picked by Flo Ziegfeld (mercifully off-screen) to be groomed for Ziegfeld Girl stardom, the film isn't even a musical (a few lavish production numbers occasionally intrude on the histrionics, but the only truly magical musical moment occurs when Judy Garland, in one of her first "adult" roles--and stealing the film with a warm and endearing performance--sings the evergreen "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" as it has never been sung before or after). Instead, "Ziegfeld Girl" seems to be (I'm not quite sure about anything regarding this loopy extravaganza) about the personal perils and pitfalls awaiting talented but naive young ladies trying to make it into show business. Viewed from this perspective (and certainly NOT L.B.'s intention), the film's moralistic warning seems to be--stay home! Only one of the girls makes it to the top with her sanity intact (ironically, the role played by Garland, who would go on to become MGM's prime mistreated sacrificial lamb), another (Hedy Lamarr, at her most ravishingly gorgeous) chucks it all and goes back to her husband, and the third, high-strung emotionally-unstable shopgirl Lana Turner (also at the peak of her beauty, and delivering a touching, subtle performance) can't handle the pressures of stardom, takes to the bottle, and comes to a tragic end (I think--evasive editing makes it unclear whether she dies at the end or just keels over from the battering inflicted on her by the invisible Mr. Ziefeld). In retrospect, in real life, Garland & Turner should have switched roles. This curio must have run way over its considerable budget when the grand finale is shiftily edited to incorporate the conclusion of the most lavishly eye-popping spectacle from "The Great Ziegfeld." A definite curio--was this Louis B. Mayer's subconscious warning to all his female contract players what working for MGM ultimately had in store for them? More stars than there are in hell? Worth watching (and scratching your head over).

Showgirls -- most of them just want to get married

[looseWasp · 6/10 · 31 October 2000]

If you're a Ziegfeld Girl, you're on top of the world. With many luminous shots of Hedy Lamarr and Lana Turner and a few Judy Garland numbers thrown in, this film chronicles the three stars' meteoric rise to fame in the Ziegfeld follies; some handle it better than others. Jimmy Stewart and Eve Arden also appear.

This is a women's musical, and there is a fair amount of talk about what a woman wants and what makes her happy. Although the film takes it for granted that most women will find fulfilment by being someone's wife, there is room for an alternative: of the three aspiring showgirls, one knows that she really only wants a husband's love, and one has to hit bottom before she realizes it; the third has no need for it whatsoever.

Shoddy finale stifles the overall impact of an otherwise meticulously crafted backstage yarn

[movieman-200 · 7/10 · 11 August 2005]

"Ziegfeld Girl" is not one of MGM's greatest musical achievements so much as it is one of their biggest rip offs. The plot wreaks of faint formaldehyde right down to its stolen montage sequence from "The Great Ziegfeld" (1936) that supplants Virginia Bruce from the top of that film's revolving staircase with Judy Garland in a blonde wig. What a sham! If the film had absolutely no merit at all this would be an easy review to write. However, "Ziegfeld Girl" is a blessed with a stellar cast including Lana Turner, Hedy Lamarr and Ms. Garland, as well as Tony Martin, Jackie Cooper and Edward Everett Horton. The film also has two lavish set pieces all its own, the rather maudlin, though eye-popping "You Stepped Out Of A Dream" with the entire cast parading down a gigantic spiral staircase and "Minnie From Trinidad", a Garland standout with a tropical theme that is both light, humorous and melodic. Garland also has the outstanding solo ballad, "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" though this is sung with only modest accompaniment and an uninspired stage backdrop.

THE TRANSFER: In keeping with Warner's commitment to the classics, "Ziegfeld Girl" looks remarkably pristine on DVD. The gray scale is perfectly balanced. Contrast and black levels are right on. Some scenes suffer from age related artifacts. There are also minute traces of edge enhancement but nothing that will terribly distract. The audio is mono but nicely balanced.

BOTTOM LINE: "Ziegfeld Girl" is for fans of Judy Garland. It's not an outstanding musical but will nevertheless entertain.

Uneven mix of Hollywood melodrama and Tinseltown fluff

[jamesrupert2014 · 6/10 · 1 April 2020]

Three girls, brash Brooklynite Sheila Regan (Lana Turner), earnest daddy's-girl Susan Gallagher (Judy Garland), and exotic beauty Sandra Kolter (Hedy Lamarr) follow different paths when they become the titular characters, the living props (and sometimes entertainers) that adorned the stages in the Ziegfeld's extravagant Follies. The central story is the rise and fall of Sheila, who abandons her working-class boyfriend (a miscast Jimmy Stewart) for high-roller Geoffrey Collis (Ian Hunter) before falling from grace (literally and figuratively) and bottoming out hustling drinks in seedy speakeasies. Turner is pretty good but the toggling between her being slapped around by a bitter ex-palooka (Dan Dailey) or struggling to maintain poise when deathly ill, and the over-the-top froth on the Follies' stage was a bit jarring. While the girl from Flatbush's star was waxing and waning, Hedy Lamarr wanders around dreamily, dealing with temptation and the needs of her violinist husband Franz (Philip Dorn), untimely finding a trite epiphany through an ex-showgirl fearful of losing her man. Meanwhile, talented songbird Susan deals with her father's reluctant realisation that his Vaudeville-style of show is passé (until, of course, he's given a change to 'put on a show' in front of the tux-and-gowned crowd at the Follies). There are a couple of good song and dance routines including Garland's poignant rendition of 'I'm Always Chasing Rainbows' (her second hit in as many years involving rainbows and bluebirds) and an energetic rumba showpiece 'Minnie from Trinidad'. The great secondary cast is full of familiar faces (and voices) including former child-star Jackie Cooper as Sheila's concerned brother, Eve Arden as an experienced gold-digger, and Edward Everett Horton as Noble Sage, the unseen Ziegfeld's lieutenant (I can't hear Horton's voice without thinking about 'Rocky and Bullwinkle'). The film is overlong and some of the side-plots dispensable (Jimmy Stewart mobbed up and in the can for bootlegging??). Other than a couple of highlights, the music and production numbers don't compare to 1936's 'The Great Ziegfeld' or some of the 1930's 'Gold Diggers' films and, while frothily entertaining at times, 'Ziegfeld Girl' lacks the timeless charm of the best of the genre.

Watchable but boring...

[et18 · 6/10 · 21 May 2007]

I found this movie kind of boring. It lacked a good script. I thought it lacked something else: a plot! While there's a lot of good musical numbers, I must say this movie didn't entertain me one bit!! I liked Judy Garland in this movie but I think Lana Turner "overacted" in this movie which makes the movie kind of funny instead of serious. I found her character dull. Her character doesn't do anything to help make the movie batter. Judy Garland was better in this movie, even though she looked like she didn't want to be in it, and she sure as hell deserved to be handed a way better script than this cheesy and boring movie. The only musical number to standout was Minnie from Trinidad, which had great costumes.

A musical soap opera in black & white.

[movibuf1962 · 8/10 · 25 April 2003]

There are lots of comments using the word 'unusual' to describe the book's lack of spontaneous musical numbers. I think that can be forgiven since the whole business is a backstage melodrama of the Ziegfeld dynasty. The film's predecessor "The Great Ziegfeld" was presented the same way: a biography proper, but with integrated musical numbers presented as examples of the Ziegfeld shows. In this case, the players are exotic beauty Lamarr, in love with her own husband but briefly tempted with the spoils of success (and a possible dalliance); working-girl Turner in the showier role of ambitious-girl-gone-bad; and Garland- the true, explosive talent of the group. (Note she is not given the glamorous presentation of the other two, but presented as the vulnerable and heartbreaking singer that she always was.) Her best moment- and the film's best scene- is the performance of "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows-" cleverly staged as an audition nearly wrecked by Garland's vaudeville dad; the song is a springboard to her maturity throughout the film. All of these plots progress fine, but too slowly- and when it is all over it feels more like 3 hours instead of 2. (I also wish it had been filmed in color to better show off the spectacular costumes.) The ending of the film is fairly ambivalent; you don't know the outcome of Lana Turner's character, and that's probably on purpose. The last spotlight is only on Garland, and even that has been achieved with a bit of trick photography from the earlier film "The Great Ziegfeld."

Half-hearted!

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 11 July 2015]

If ever a musical cried out for Technicolor, this one is it. If M-G- M wanted to save money, surely they could have done justice to Adrian's sumptuously and bizarrely over-decorated costumes and gowns and Gibbons' sets and Berkeley's choreography by filming these sequences in color and the rest in sepia — the rest doesn't deserve color that's for sure. In fact the rest doesn't even deserve to have been made in the first place. One doesn't expect the surrounding story in a musical to be strong, but this one is particularly weak. Despite the fact that it incorporates three plots, all of them are dull, clichéd and thoroughly unbelievable as well as thoroughly familiar. If ever familiarity bred contempt, this is a good example right here. At least the hoary old showbiz trouper plot with Judy Garland does allow Chas Winninger to strut his stuff (once with Garland and once in a very agreeable duet with Al Shean himself); but as for the Hedy Lamarr husband Philip Dorn, a budding but starving concert violinist, and romantic complications provided by charmless if musically accurate singer Tony Martin, plus the even worse Lana Turner's poor elevator girl who wants Ian Hunter's riches and jilts her humble, truck-driving boyfriend James Stewart, we would be better off without them. All they do is provide an excuse for Lamarr to look wooden-facedly glamorous and Turner to look super- slinky and glamorous (nice photography by Ray June). Although he receives first billing, Jimmy Stewart's role is both small and colorless – despite at least one half-hearted attempt by the screenwriter to pep it up a bit.

This is the sort of film that, despite its outrageously long running time, would make a good movie pack — just extract the highlights and the musical numbers and songs to receive quite passable entertainment. True, it's not in color and Berkeley's routines lack the drive, freshness, originality, pace and sheer zip of his Warner Bros work.

As it is, however, not one of my favorite musicals. Even a minor Fox musical like "Mother Wore Tights" pours crud all over it. (Dan Dailey is in this one too, but here he neither sings nor dances — he plays a prize fighter complete with cauliflower ear!)

The three don't share a match but the result is the same.

[mark.waltz · 8/10 · 12 October 2015]

The three girls here are Hedy Lamarr, Lana Turner and Judy Garland. Turner is discovered, not sipping sodas but running an elevator. One of Ziegfeld's scouts finds Garland performing with her father in burlesque. Hedy Lamarr happens to be there just because her boyfriend is auditioning for a place in the orchestra. These three girls are all chosen as Ziegfeld girls, and while the glamorous Lamar and Turner both have leading roles in the musical number, Garland is featured in the chorus. One will make it to the top of the wedding cake; another will retire to be a wife, and the third will end up in tragedy.

This is an unofficial sequel to The Great Ziegfeld with the focus on the girls rather than the man behind the scenes. He is absent here, but the plot is something similar to some of the subplots from the original. Legengs of real life Ziegfeld girl scandals are still being talked about today with Turner an amalgamation of several real life Follies girls.

Garland, who would later stand out in the supporting role of Marilyn Miller in the 1946 Jerome Kern musical bio Till the Clouds Roll By, is perky and sweet, but her character is no different than any of the roles that she played opposite Mickey Rooney. Here, she gets Jackie Cooper instead. Lamarr remains a beautiful block of ice, which leaves Turner to get the best scenes as a self- destructive train wreck.

Musically, this is just as lavish looking as its predecessor and Tony Martin provides the voice for the Follies leading man who makes a play for Lamarr even though he's married

Lamarr does get to liven up in a confrontation with the wife that takes a different turn. James Stewart also has a rather thankless part as Turner's boyfriend who ends up involved with gangsters. Smaller roles played by Charles Winninger, Edward Everett Horton and Eve Arden are brief but memorable. Dan Dailey has a nir as a low-class brute who abuses the down on her luck Turner. Garland explodes finally in her big production number, Minnie From Trinidad, where she dances with a chubby but talented hoofer and appears to be propelled high up on a platform with only bamboo poles lifting it.

This propelled Turner into stardom and showed that she was more than just another blonde beauty. She really gives her all acting wise. Some elements make this seem forced and an artificial view if the Fillies, but as directed by Robert Z. Leonard, it is a worth-while follow up to the original.

Glorifying the American Girls

[lugonian · 7/10 · 28 February 2023]

ZIEGFELD GIRL (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1941), directed by Robert Z. Leonard, is basically a sequel in name only to the Academy Award winning three-hour blockbuster of THE GREAT ZIEGFELD (1936) starring William Powell, also directed by Robert Z. Leonard. Though the Ziegfeld character is mentioned numerous times in the story, his character never appears. An attempt for another musical blockbuster like its predecessor, it fails mostly in styles and orchestrations being more 1941 modern than to the time and era prior to Ziegfeld's death in 1932. Had it been titled ZIEGFELD FOLLIES of 1941, or even THREE BROADWAY GIRLS, then this modernized version to an original story by William Anthony Maguire would have been sensational. Even without these merits, the film itself is quite entertaining, bearing a huge impressive cast headed by James Stewart, actually in a supporting role to the major lead performers of Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr and Lana Turner, with well-staged choreography by Busby Berkeley. Of the three for the show, Garland shines with her vocals while Turner gives the meatiest performance. For Viennese born Lamarr, another star attraction foreign in character as well as in musicals, she does not sing nor dance. She becomes a star attraction by simply sitting and listening motionlessly to her leading man singing to her, and nothing else.

Supposedly set during the roaring twenties, "The fabulous era - when Florenz Ziegfeld glorified the American Girl, and New York wore her over its heart like an orchid - while she lasted." The plot centers upon three young girls from different walks of life: Sheila "Red" Regan (Lana Turner), a department store elevator girl living with her parents (Edward McNamara and Fay Holden), and younger brother, Jerry (Jackie Cooper), who is selected by Noble Sage (Edward Everett Horton) to report to Florenz Ziegfeld productions for a upcoming job as a chorine. Problems persist when her boyfriend, Gilbert Young (James Stewart), a truck driver who loves her, fears he will lose her in the process to millionaire Geoffrey Collis (Ian Hunter) and luxurious life; Susan Gallagher (Judy Garland), 17-year-old daughter of a vaudeville has-been (Charles Winninger) who breaks up their partnership so she could have real success on her own; and Sandra Kolter (Hedy Lamarr), married to struggling violinist Franz (Philip Dorn), who feels himself a failure when finding himself forced to obtain a job beneath his dignity. With Sandra's beauty attracting the attention of Ziegfeld's associate, Sage, she becomes the real breadwinner and romance attraction to lead singer, Frank Melton (Tony Martin), married to a former Ziegfeld girl (Rose Hobart) of years ago. Others in the cast include: Paul Kelly (John Slayton, stage manager); Eve Arden (Patsy Dixon); Dan Dailey Jr. (Jimmy Walters); Felix Bressart (Mischa); Bernard Nedell (Nick Capalini), with Mae Busch and Joyce Compton, among others.

Production numbers include: "Laugh, I'd Thought I'd Split My Sides," "You Stepped Out of a Dream," (pleasingly sung by Tony Martin); "Whispering," "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows," "The Caribbean Love Song," "Minnie From Trinidad," "Gallagher and Shean" (wonderfully performed by Charles Winninger and Al Shean); "Ziegfeld Girl," and THE FINALE: "You Gotta Pull Strings," "You," and "You Never Looked So Beautiful Before." Of the tunes, Judy Garland stops the show with her long but highly entertaining number of "Minnie from Trinidad." The finale consists of production number montages lifted from THE GREAT ZIEGFELD to new playback 1940s style orchestration.

Overall, ZIEGFELD GIRL (which should have been titled ZIEGFELD GIRLS since it revolves around three girls), is quite impressive, even down to Lana Turner's binges and notable staircase scene. Who knows how much longer the director's cut was before the song or story edit process took place for its present 134 minute time frame? Available on video cassette and later DVD process, ZIEGFELD GIRL can be seen and enjoyed occasionally on cable television's Turner Classic Movies channel. (***)

Three Broadway hopefuls

[HotToastyRag · 4/10 · 27 June 2018]

Ziegfeld Girl is comparable to Stage Door, so if you liked one, go ahead and rent the other. Both stories follow a handful of girls who want to make it on the stage and show how they deal with the ups and downs of show business. In this 1941 film, Judy Garland, Lana Turner, and Hedy Lamarr are the three hopefuls, each with their own unique personalities and perspectives.

With a huge supporting cast, James Stewart, Jackie Cooper, Tony Martin, Charles Winninger, Edward Everett Horton, Eve Arden, Fay Holden, and Dan Dailey, you're in for a treat if you like star-studded backstage musicals. Movies like Ziegfeld Follies, Words and Music, and Till the Clouds Roll By all cater to that genre, and while it is fun to see a bunch of famous people for five minutes in the same movie, usually the script and story falls a little thin. This one isn't the worst in the world-trust me, I've seen some doozies-so if you want to rent it, it won't hurt you.