After years of reading of this on a bio book on Jimmy Stewart, I finally got to see this one. He plays an ice skating producer who gets fired from his latest show along with his star, Joan Crawford, and his partner, Lew Ayres. They're bumped by a big-time movie producer, Lewis Stone, from whom Ms. Crawford manages to get a contract with. I'll stop there and just say this was quite entertaining though things threaten to become a downer when the marriage of Stewart and Crawford strains. There's some funny scenes like that of Stewart, Ayres, and Crawford reading her script or when a couple of them encounters Lionel Stander-who I know best from "Hart to Hart" as their butler, Max-as a promoter who's broke. Oh, and whenever I hear Jimmy say Crawford's character name-Mary-I always go back to his role in my favorite movie, It's a Wonderful Life, whenever he addressed Donna Reed's character by that name. And the Technicolor sequence at the end must have been a sight for sore eyes back then! So on that note, I recommend The Ice Follies of 1939. P.S. I just found out that Mr. Stewart was born on this day in 1908, so Happy Birthday up there in Heaven!

He puts on his own ice show.Joan Crawford was 34 (according to her) when she made this film with 31-year-old James Stewart. She would do some terrific films over the next five years before Louis B kicked her out of MGM, and she bounced back immediately at Warner's. It's a credit to her that after a dog like this, she was able to show her face at the studio. This is the film that she was making at the beginning of "Mommie Dearest," by the way."Ice Follies of 1939" was an attempt, I think, to cash in on the interest in figure skating and ice shows, thanks to that little Norwegian, Sonja Henie, who was making skating films over at 20th Century Fox.The story concerns a young couple, Larry McCall and Mary McKay (Stewart and Crawford) who work in a show as ice skaters along with Stewart's old partner Eddie (Lew Ayres). When they get fired, Mary knows it's because she's not very good, and she's holding Larry back. What Larry wants is to produce and direct his own ice show. When their car is hit by a film casting agent (Lewis Stone), Mary, now Mrs. Hall, goes personally to collect the money he owes them for the car. She pretends to have no interest in films and gets a contract for $75 a week. Mary starts moving up in the film world, and Larry leaves, not wanting her to support him. He says that when they've both made it, they can get back together. That proves a little more difficult than they expected.There are two HUGE skating segments in this film, and there is some terrific skating. The thing is, after watching the film for a while, where there has been just a bit of skating, it's a surprise that these scenes go on and on. The script itself is completely formulaic and predictable and not worthy of any of the stars.Stewart and Crawford don't make the best couple. She's too sophisticated for him and, as a strong woman, she was better with a tough type like Gable. Well, they were under contract and made what they were handed. One of the negatives of being with a studio.

This harmless piece of fluff is moderately interesting for reasons having nothing to do with its intentions, which must have been to tap into the lucrative ice skating fan base that was packing theatres to see Sonia Henie in 20th Century Fox features at the time. This opus does have a stellar cast (Joan Crawford, James Stewart, Lew Ayres, Lewis Stone) all at their best even though utterly wasted and a vivid Technicolor ice show sequence at the end in which we get to see the above-mentioned personages in color. It is also a way to satisfy the curiosity of MOMMIE DEAREST viewers who have always wondered what FOLLIES was about since it figures in the plot of that biopic. Well, it's about nothing much and was a good example of why Joan Crawford's career wasn't a bed of roses, even though she triumphed in THE WOMEN the same year. She's actually quite good in this, playing a nice girl who chooses marital bliss over movie stardom. For half the movie she is coiffed in an unusually severe and darkly tinted manner which accentuates the severity of her features, giving her a rather cruel and drawn appearance. In some of these scenes she strongly resembles Merle Oberon. Stewart gets a chance to practice pratfalls and inventive prop handling and excels at both. At one point after his character hears joyous news, he does a somersault from a chair onto a bed and back onto the floor like a skilled acrobat. He was a consummate actor even then.

This MGM musical was one of the reasons Joan Crawford was labeled box-office poison in the late 30s. After two other big flops "The Bride Wore Red" (1937) & "The Shining Hour" (1938), she starred in this dry and tiresome musical, with her playing ex-skater who becomes a famous Hollywood actress. Look out for the peculiar Technicolor finale on ice! Two stars here.