The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

"A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody"

''The Great Ziegfeld' is an MGM musical made in 1936, directed by Robert Z. Leonard and starring William Powell, Myrna Loy, Luise Rainer, Nat Pendleton, and Frank Morgan. The movie gives a fictionalized account of the show business life of legendary producer/showman Florenz Ziegfeld and showcases a series of spectacular musical productions.

The movie was nominated for seven Academy Awards and won three, for Best Picture, Best Actress for Luise Rainer for her portrayal of Anna Held and Best Dance Direction for Seymour Felix for "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody".

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The success of the movie was helped by the strong cast. Willian Powell as Ziegfeld and Myrna Loy as his second wife, Billie Burke, were already well known as an on-screen couple from 'The Thin Man' in 1934, and Luise Rainer who played Ziegfeld's first wife, Anna Held, was a rising young star from Austria whose part, although small, included a dramatic scene on the telephone, which helped win her the Best Actress Oscar. Her win made 'The Great Ziegfeld' the first ever musical for which one of its cast won an Academy Award.

The movie is a long one at 185 minutes, and chronicles Ziegfeld's working life from his beginnings as small-time carnival barker to Broadway impresario and creator of of the famous Ziegfeld Follies, the spectacular collection of musical and comedy vaudeville acts which were so popular between 1907 and 1931. The Follies were inspired by The 'Folies Bergere' of Paris and featured the top performers of the day. Three such performers, Fanny Brice, Ray Bolger, and Harriet Hoctor, perform as themselves in the movie.

MGM spared no expense in making the movie and the spectacular musical productions are unforgettable and do justice to Ziegfeld's reputation. "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody" is an eight minute delight with an elaborate set with a a large circular stairway which looks like a gigantic wedding cake which the camera climbs, and supporting a large cast of beautiful girls singing to the Irving Berlin tune.