Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

audiemurph Let's give this movie credit for one thing: it doesn't claim to be anything other than what it is: an unconnected series of musical numbers and comedy sketches, meant to honor the late Florenz Ziegfeld. So, if that is what you want, terrific. If a particular scene bores you, you can fast-forward through it without missing anything.The strength of the film was the wise decision to let Fred Astaire appear in more than one number. His dancing and on-screen personality are always delightful, because his joy in performing is obvious and catching. The highlight of the movie comes in the last performance, when he performs a wonderful tap-dance and singing number with Gene Kelly. They are so palpably having a good time that you almost forget how dreary so much of the rest of the film was! The comedy sketches are absolutely the most miserable and un-funny things ever captured on celluloid. Painful, painful, painful. Good grief, do they drag on forever. Keenan Wynn performs an old Vaudeville sketch in which a man cannot get the operator to put his call through to a nearby number, while a parade of other characters have no problem putting calls through to the most obscure and distant locations on the planet. Potentially funny, yes? Well, yes, when Lou Costello did it two years earlier in "Who Done It" - that was the definitive version of the sketch. It is one of the funniest things Lou ever did. Why in the world would MGM have Wynn try to do the same sketch - he tries very hard to mimic Lou Costello's facial contortions and grunts and squeals of frustration - but it stinks.And the "Pay him the two dollars" routine with Victor Booth and Edward Arnold - well, if this represents Vaudeville at its best, then I guess I don't regret not having been alive to see it after all. And Victor Hume takes a rare stab at comedy too; he appears to be trying to mimic Shemp Howard, and none too well at that.The musical numbers in general are what you would expect from MGM - lavish, expensive-looking, and otherwise spectacular.While it may not be everyone's cup of tea, I actually enjoyed the claymation at the beginning of the movie. One of the most bizarre and surreal scenes in any MGM movie ever has to be the 45 seconds of Eddie Cantor, in glorious claymation, and in blackface, for goodness sake, singing "If you knew Susie". It is hilarious, and the claymation really captures Cantor's performance style to a Tee - for comparison, I strongly suggest you watch "A Few Minutes with Eddie Cantor" (1923, in sound) on Youtube.And speaking of classic Hollywood racial insensitivity, a long "drama in pantomime" features Fred Astaire and as a Chinese, stalking another white actress pretending to be Chinese. You really have to shake your head. And are Fred and Gene dancing in front of a statue of Civil War General Nathan Bedford Forrest? Perhaps not, but he sure looks Confederate....Like I said, Ziegfeld Follies gives you get exactly what it claims to give you. But have the fast-forward ready.

juanandrichard I have enjoyed reading the various postings about this movie, but found it somewhat depressing to find so many viewers have been obviously conditioned by present day "standards of talent." (and by that I mean there is no one today to fill the shoes of these musical giants). Speaking for myself, this was quite an amazing achievement in the form it was meant to be -- a "Review" -- not a musical with a storyline -- and I think it is only fair to judge it on those terms, rather than what you wished it would be. My opinion: most of the comedy numbers were OK, but one should remember that these numbers were directed at a 1946 audience, who appreciated this kind of gentle humor more than present day viewers. As for the musical numbers -- I don't think MGM ever mounted anything as lavish and, in particular, "This Heart of Mine". One posting said the storyline didn't make any sense (it certainly did to me), and more than one decried the inadequacy of Lucille Bremer as a dancer. Lucille Bremer was not only beautiful, but was an excellent dancer and for me, they were perfect together. "Limehouse Blues" (filmed on the "Dorian Gray" set) is one for the history books. Judy Garland looked beautiful and, in an early example, showed what a terrific range she possessed. The Technicolor was magnificent. By the way, contrary to what was posted, this was one of MGM's highest grosses of he 1940s.

writers_reign Let's start with the negatives; arguably the weakest songs ever written by les freres Gershwin and Harry Warren; 'comedy' sketches that are just not funny - even in the mid forties I doubt anyone would have found the Keenan Wynn sketch funny, Red Skelton just about gets away with his Guzzler's gin routine, whilst Victor Moore and Fanny Brice respectively verge on the embarrassing. However, what we DO have is the brilliant Fred Astaire who shines in all four of his numbers. Astaire can make anything or anyone, a song, a dance partner, look good and he is called upon to do both in The Babbit And The Bromide, enhancing one, The Gershwin's weak song and two, Gene Kelly; while he actually makes Kelly look good he still leaves him for dead. Another plus is Virginia O'Brien, who, like Astaire, enhanced everything in which she appeared. The Harry Warren-Arthur Freed number Beauty Is Everywhere is total garbage and it doesn't help having Kathryn Grayson perform it - to be fair to her she knew it was garbage and initially refused to sing it. Even Judy is mediocre in her only appearance. Why they didn't use Sinatra, who was at the studio, is a mystery, so what we're left with is Astaire and O'Brien but luckily they are worth the price of admission alone.

L. Denis Brown I missed this film when it was first released just after the war ended, but I noted the incredible array of stars featured and decided to watch it whenever a suitable opportunity offered. However it dropped out of attention before this occurred, and it was only very recently that I noticed it was scheduled to be screened again by TCM on television. I therefore took the opportunity to see it at last. After watching for a few minutes I felt I knew exactly what was being shown - it was an overlong and very tedious T.V. advertisement for MGM Studios that took the form of unrelated sequences featuring the various stars they had under contract. Whether it was more acceptable on the big screen I do not know as I never saw it there, but even if it were to be shown in a local cinema again I would certainly not be prepared to pay good money in order to find out.On television, the longer it ran the clearer it seemed that my initial impression was precisely correct. The only link provided between the various sequences was the attempt to parade them in the form of a Broadway show devised in Heaven after his death by Ziegfeld himself - presumably so that we were encouraged to think of him as remaining an honorary member of the MGM Studio team. The various stars who were "encouraged " to take part in this travesty of a film probably felt quite ashamed of their part in it. It was nominally directed by Vincente Minnelli, but history appears to indicate that he should not be too severely blamed. I understand that he had no part in directing the totally disastrous first segment, and he was only responsible for some of the others, even during these he has been reported to have been on a very tight rein. He too I am sure would prefer his no doubt enforced role in this film to be quickly forgotten.Out of kindness to the talented and hardworking participants who clearly tried very hard and deserved much better, I will rate this at 3. For a film buff this is almost certainly justified by the sequence starring Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly dancing together. I believe this is the only film in which this occurs and, apart from the great opportunity to admire the incredible timing they both showed, it was extremely interesting to be able to compare their very different techniques at such close quarters. But the rest is best quickly forgotten.