The Great Ziegfeld (1936) [Warner Archive Blu-ray review]

The Great Ziegfeld proved one thing about MGM. They loved Ziegfeld and weren’t afraid to revisit the same trappings in Ziegfeld Girl and Ziegfeld Follies. But, what was it about the 1930s obsession with the East Coast media extravagance?

Bored teenagers misunderstanding film history for clicks

This was the 1936 Best Picture Winner. Now, as a cultural historian, I apply a degree of value to that. A value that is lost on a generation of dead-eyed YouTubers trying to power watch marathons of movie with the attention span and intellect of pill popping teenagers.

For ages, The Great Ziegfeld was on MGM’s Mount Rushmore of studio defining films. After all, a three hour epic musical that also doubles as a biopic is a tall feat. Especially one that arrived in the heart of the Great Depression. Especially when the film ends on the death of the titular figure as he couldn’t escape the grasp of the Depression.

Naturally, I’d expect even film loving teens and young people to draw historical parallels between the modern era and the inherent drama of The Great Ziegfeld, but maybe I ask too much. I’m just saying that the film deserves a little more respect than it gets from the younger crowd.

The 1930s were an odd decade for cinema

Depression era cinema walked this line of balancing the financial misery of the time and trying to provide light entertainment. Yet, everything from the Mercury Theater’s stage work to Capra’s earliest films were about jabbing at this split. Audiences deserved to be entertained, but mass entertainment without a purpose is a distraction.

Yet, anything with too edgy of a message was either melodramatic or Socialist propaganda in a time when that noise mattered. So, what’s the big takeaway from The Great Ziegfeld? Was it just MGM making a biopic to thank the East Coast impresario that birthed most of the Hollywood Golden Age talent? Honestly, it’s not always that serious.

It’s no different than if A24 tried to make a biopic about Oprah Winfrey. You make a movie about a popular entertainer or pop culture figure. You do the slightest amount of work to raise the quality and reach across the entertainment aisles. Then, you end it on a sad note that shows how far everything has come. Oscar bait really hasn’t changed throughout the years.

The Great Ziegfeld was boffo big!

It’s very hard to understand films of this nature. Not only are you having to comprehend popular stage entertainment from a century ago. You are also having to understand Golden Age Hollywood filmmaking and the early days of staging awards fare. That’s a lot for people that can’t handle sex scenes are movies made before 1990.

The film was 16 reels longed when finished and featured some of the biggest costuming demands known to man or wolf. It was a flashy movie where an entire stretch of the film was staged around a 220,000 dollar wedding cake. The audacity to frame a movie around enough food to feed a starving city and then charge those same people a nickel to watch it is barbaric. Sadistically fun, but barbaric.

Before someone screams that it wasn’t a real cake, I know. But, film is a visual medium and we telegraph certain things to the audience through our choices. That being said, that entire last big push felt like like this attempt to cash in on Busby Berkeley without paying for him.

What’s the deal with that Blu-ray?

Warner Archive brings The Great Ziegfeld to Blu-ray with featurettes, a vintage cartoon, newsreel and some audio-only radio promo material. You also get a trailer. The A/V Quality continues Warner Archive’s loving devotion to the vaults of American cinematic history. Seriously, there is only so much TCM can do and the magnificent barons at Warner Archive are doing the rest.

The 1080p transfer shines with few flaws or image quality dips. However, I find the DTS-HD 2.0 mono track to be true to the source. However, it doesn’t really get a chance to pop. That is a middlin’ concern, but something to bring up for the audiophiles.

The Great Ziegfeld is now available from the Warner Archive Collection. Purchase your own copy at MovieZyng!