1936 - The Great Ziegfeld: "This is New York. I didn't think being married meant anything."

1936 Best Picture Winner

Premiered on March 22, 1936 in Los Angeles.

Budget:  $2 million

Gross: $3 million

This movie was tough for us to rate because it was in between one and two popcorn bags. It is the best of the poor Oscar winners (like Cimarron) and not up to par with the movies that we gave two bags to (like Grand Hotel). The film was somewhat interesting because the story was unique and intriguing. However, the plot moved along slowly and characters came into the movie, played in a dramatic scene, and then were never heard from again. These characters did nothing to move the story along.

There were a few interesting sidenotes: We saw an acctress produce tears for the first time. Up until this film, an actress would get emotional but you'd never see tears. This film showed tears not once, but twice and by two different actresses. We also enjoyed seeing a few different actors who would later star in the Wizard of Oz.

Callie
Favorite:  This movie was quite funny at times.  While the main character, Flo, was rather unlikeable at times he kept the movie rather intriguing and was quite witty.
Least Favorite:  It was very long!  There had to be some scenes that could be taken out to speed up the movie.

Joel

Favorite: I let the sets in Ziegeld's shows. Several of them were large and were controlled by machines that moved the stages all different directions during the songs. The movie makers created quiet a spectecal during the musical numbers.

Least Favorite: My favorite character was a talented stagehand who was "discovered" by Ziefleld. I wish that the writers would have given him a bigger part. He was interesting and could have moved the story along. Unfortunately, he was one of the many character who we are introduced to, only to never reappear.