1936’s Best Picture winner is a huge (over 3-hours long!) biopic of the great showman, Florenz Ziegfeld. The Thin Man himself, William Powell, is fantastic as the clever ladies man and producer Flo Ziegfeld, and he’s surrounded by an equally excellent cast working with a great script: Ray Bolger, Myrna Loy, Luise Rainer, the hilarious Fanny Brice, and Frank Morgan.
The filmmakers take full advantage of their subject’s life, making almost half this film its own Ziegfeld musical, with extravagant sets, numbers, and costumes. I’ve often said I’m not a fan of bio-pics, but this one is very entertaining. Maybe a tad long, but strong and steady throughout.
