This is one of the films that was great in its time, but doesn't hold up well. Not because the performances aren't great -- they are. But most of us go to a film to see a particular movie star or two, and here you have to sit through well over a dozen stars performing specialty numbers just to get to the particular stars you want to see. Nevertheless, this film does provide us with an opportunity to see some of the great MGM stars of the mid-1940s.The film opens with William Powell reprising his role as Florence Ziegfeld...but this time in heaven. He's looking down thinking about how he would put together another extravaganza if he was still earth-bound. There's a clever claymation sequence with Powell reminiscing. And then he decides to open his new production with Fred Astaire with "Bring On Those Beautiful Girls" (which includes several stars, including a lovely Lucille Ball), which is a production number that I imagine the real Ziegfeld would have loved.There's an impressive water ballet by Esther Williams. Next up is an unfunny comedy segment about telephones with Keenan Wynn, who clearly was better is somewhat dramatic roles. The mostly forgotten comedy actor Victor Moore and character actor Edward Arnold do a mildly humorous skit, which seems to mostly be about lawyers and being jostled on the subway; it's a variation on a common burlesque routine (more frequently featuring a simpleton being egged on to make noise in a quiet zone). Free Astaire and Lucille Bremer do a wonderful dance number, which is odd in that he plays a jewel thief; the number is horribly over-orchestrated (a problem throughout the film). There is a comedy routine by Fanny Brice (and Hume Cronyn and William Frawley) about winning the Irish Sweepstakes; it is a rare opportunity to see the once immensely popular Fanny Brice ("Funny Girl"), a true Ziegfeld star. If you like Lena Horne, she does a beautifully staged number, although I found it to be rather racist. The highlight for many (including me) will be the Red Skelton performance entitled "When Television Comes", popularly known as "Guzzler's Gin"; this routine, more than any other, brought Skelton fame; however, it clearly shows one of the limitations of the film: this routine used to put audiences into hysterics, but here it plays rather flat without laughter and applause...and, this is supposed to be a stage show, so those 2 elements are missing, and putting those ingredients in would have made for a much more realistic experience. Another Fred Astaire number, Chinese-themed, is hardly his best dancing, but it is the most beautifully photographed and designed part of the film; the colors and textures are stunning; and it is unique. I didn't care for the Judy Garland number; it just seemed shallow. Fred Astaire is back AGAIN with a light-hearted dance number with Gene Kelly about their friendly competition.There are a couple of problems with this DVD. First, the film really needs to be restored, The colors are no longer true...for example, too much red in the skin tones.A second problem, at least for me, is that there is no plot. None at all. It's "just" a succession of musical and comedy numbers.Nevertheless, despite it faults, this is a rather remarkable film highlighting as it does the great MGM stars of the time. Ziegfeld would have been proud.

Along with the prior B&W "The Great Ziegfeld" and "Ziegfeld Girl", Hollywood's Technicolor tribute to a man who had great indirect influence on the nature of Hollywood musicals in the early sound period. Of course, the unique possibilities offered by film vs. live performances were not ignored in some productions, including the animated puppets in the opening sequence, where William Powell reprises his previous role as Ziegfeld, the narrator. Given all the ballyhooed thought and choices put into this revue production, and all the numbers cut from the final, I was hoping for a more uniform masterpiece of entertainment. The first and last musical productions feature a bevy of very ornately-dressed female dancers. The former is a carnival setting, emphasizing pink, with some of the girls sitting on live white horses on a merry-go-round, while others, including Cid Charisse, dance. B movie queen Lucille Ball directs a segment where a bevy of dancers dressed as black cats slip through the rubber bars of their apparent cage to dance in unison, while Lucille cracks a whip, as a lion tamer might. Later, Virginia O'Brian does a forgettable song while riding a fake white horse.The final production is quite different: not nearly as showy, but imparting a Dali-like surreal atmosphere. It stars Kathryn Grayson singing "There's Beauty Everywhere", in an ethereal setting: apparently a mountain plateau, with various skies, ranging from night with stars , to a cloudy orangish, to blue with white clouds, with wind, rock crystals, and gnarled logs. At times, the dancers, including Cid Charisse, frolic between mounds of soapsuds, presumably representing clouds, with a night sky background. Toward the end, they stand or lay about motionless on an otherwise featureless paved windy plain, as if elegantly dressed statue fertility symbols in Grecian style. The infamous soap bubble segment caused problems with toxic gas and was a mess to deal with. This was the chopped down remnant of a more elaborate original production.The several strictly comical routines are the most controversial parts of the plot less revue. Keenan Wynn's largely solo routine involves telephone operators who keep connecting him with wrong parties at a public telephone, in contrast to several other callers. Perhaps a satire on the element of luck in getting through life. Perhaps a comment on the hazards of having to rely on distant others to get things done in the modern world. We, who rely heavily on robotic artificial voices on telephones, can even more sympathize with this point. .. Victor Moore and Eddie Arnold satirize the utility of lawyers and the justice system in general. Red Skelton's drunk ad man act is an embarrassment. .. Fanny Brice recreates a skit she did for the follies. She, with husband, fight over an Irish sweepstakes ticket that they know, but landlord William Frawley doesn't know, has the winning number. Fanny, with her rolling eyes and other mannerisms, impressed me as the female equivalent of Eddie Cantor: unfortunately missing from this revue. Barbara Streisand would later play her in her hit "Funny Girl".Of the other musical numbers, Fred Astaire clearly dominates, being featured in 3, 2 costarring his prime dancing partner of the time: the striking young red head, Lucille Bremer(Producer Arthur Freed's recent mistress), and one with Gene Kelly: still a relatively new face in Hollywood: the subject of the opening humor. The two men do a vaudeville routine which Astaire had done on stage long ago with his sister. The story involves two hoofers who meet every 10 or 20 years, and dance and clown around a bit. Not terribly memorable otherwise. It's more a Kelly than an Astaire-type of production, probably in deference to Astaire's 2 other productions: "This Heart of Mine", and the bizarre garish surreal "Limehouse Blues": two of Astaire's most unique productions. This is not to slight Lucille, who performs flawlessly as his main dance partner. This is actually her shining moment in film, after the recent box office failure of her one starring role, again with Astaire, in "Yolander and the Thief". Her dancing and acting would again be briefly featured in the revue/biop "'Til the Clouds Roll By", after which her film career evaporated, after such high hopes by the MGM brass.Of the other musical numbers, Judy Garland's talk-dominated spoof of Greer Garson has some merit, but takes too long to get to the interesting part. The opera number is elegant, but ultimately unmemorable. Poor opera singer James Melton had his other 3 performances cut. In contrast to some others, I found Lena Horne's number quite flat. Esther William's water ballet, while not strictly a musical, is scenic, but nothing special if you've seen one of her films. I would have liked to see Astaire's cut song and dance number "If Swing Goes, I Go Too", which he composed. The audio outtake is included on my DVD. ..If you have the DVD, check out the included cartoons, especially "The Hick Chick".

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.

I'm a huge fan of this kind of entertainment, but I have to say I was mightily disappointed. Standouts were Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly and Fanny Brice. But some of the scenes were tedious and unwatchable. With such a great line-up of stars, this should have been a much better movie. With a few exceptions, I didn't care for the choice of music. I can always watch and enjoy Astaire and Kelly, but even those two were, I thought, not showcasing their best material. I was surprised to see Fanny Brice looking in her prime. I thought she belonged to a much older generation. Was she still active in the forties? Apparently so. An appearance by Eddie Cantor, arguably one of Ziegfeld's top stars would have been a real treat.