jerryunderwood1962 There is little that I could add to most of these reviews in terms of judging the quality of the movie.However, a couple of minor points have been missed.For one thing, one reviewer, who compared Tony Martin unfavorably to Frank S. and Dick Haymes, is comparing apples to oranges. Tony Martin was a relic of the 1930s in his classical singing style; it was already becoming obsolete by the time this movie was completed. By contrast, Frank and Dick Haymes were crooners—a very different kind of singing.Several reviewers have expressed a desire to see this movie in color, because of the dazzling costumes. The thing to remember is that we're seeing the film today on very different film than what it was originally printed on. Nitrate stock—the film that was used in 1941— showed blacks that were really black, and whites that were bright white, not shades of gray. This would have produced a very different visual experience for the audiences of 1941. For those viewers, the costumes, rather than merely appearing beautiful, would have been blindingly spectacular.It is unfortunate that the original nitrate prints have almost certainly disappeared forever.

oldblackandwhite 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.

writers_reign ... 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.

mookindahouse What looked like the big-budget spectacles that MGM normally churned out in the 1940s turned out to be a big train-wreck. 'Ziegfeld Girl' is definitely one of MGM's worst of the musical bunch. Judy Garland, fresh off of The Wizard of Oz, outshines her co-stars Lana Turner (playing a drunk showgirl who over dramatically falls down the stairs) and Hedy LaMarr (who all but gazes at the ceiling) as the showgirl who makes it in the Follies (Mr. Ziegfeld is never seen... HM I wonder why?). Jimmy Stewart plays Lana's mobster boyfriend. Yes, you read that right, Jimmy Stewart as a mobster. He's as unconvincing as Lucille Ball playing a Gypsy Rose Lee like stripper in one of her early movies. Combine all these with over-the-top Busby Berkeley numbers (with costumes that look like they were stolen from Lady Gaga's dressing room) including one with Garland that predates his nutty "Lady in the Tutti Frutti Hat" with Carmen Miranda. The finale with inter-splicings of The Great Ziegfeld must be seen to be believed. Overall, very underwhelming.