Ziegfeld Follies (film)

This article is about the film. For the Ziegfeld Follies Broadway shows, see Ziegfeld Follies.
Ziegfeld Follies
Theatrical release poster
Directed byLemuel Ayers
Roy Del Ruth
Robert Lewis
Vincente Minnelli
George Sidney
Written byCharles Walters
Produced byArthur Freed
Starring
CinematographyGeorge Folsey
Charles Rosher
Ray June (uncredited)
Edited byAlbert Akst
Music byRoger Edens
Lennie Hayton
Conrad Salinger
Harry Warren
Production
company
Distributed byLoew's, Inc.
Release dates
  • August 13, 1945 (1945-08-13) (Boston)
  • July 15, 1946 (1946-07-15) (United States)
Running time
110 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$3,403,000[1][2]
Box office$5,344,000[1]

Ziegfeld Follies is a 1945 American musical comedy film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, primarily directed by Vincente Minnelli, with segments directed by Lemuel Ayers, Roy Del Ruth, Robert Lewis, and George Sidney, the film's original director before Minnelli took over.[3] Other directors that are claimed to have made uncredited contributions to the film are Merrill Pye, Norman Taurog, and Charles Walters.[4][5] It stars many MGM leading talents, including Fred Astaire, Lucille Ball, Lucille Bremer, Fanny Brice (the only member of the ensemble who was a star of the original Follies), Judy Garland, Kathryn Grayson, Lena Horne, Gene Kelly, James Melton, Victor Moore, William Powell, Red Skelton, and Esther Williams.

Producer Arthur Freed wanted to create a film along the lines of the Ziegfeld Follies Broadway shows, and so, the film is composed of a sequence of unrelated lavish musical numbers and comedy sketches. Some of them, such as Pay the Two Dollars, originated in George White's Scandals.[6] Filmed in 1944 and 1945,[7] it was released in 1946 to considerable critical and box-office success.

The film was entered into the 1947 Cannes Film Festival.[8]

  1. ^ a b "The Eddie Mannix Ledger" (Document). Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  2. ^ Fred Stanley (Jan 9, 1944). "HOLLYWOOD 'TAKES'; Metro Plans Bi-Annual Movie Editions of 'Ziegfeld Follies' -- Other Notes". New York Times. p. X3.
  3. ^ Levy, Emanuel (2009-04-14). Vincente Minnelli: Hollywood's Dark Dreamer. St. Martin's Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-4668-0005-2.
  4. ^ Naremore, James; Naremore, Chancellors' Professor of English and Communication and Culture James (1993-05-28). The Films of Vincente Minnelli. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-38770-5.
  5. ^ "Ziegfeld Follies". Park Circus. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
  6. ^ Stein, Jacob A. (1986). "Comes the Revolution You'll Pay the Two Dollars". The American Scholar. 55 (4): 510–519. ISSN 0003-0937. JSTOR 41211359.
  7. ^ Morella, Joe; Epstein, Edward Z.; Garland, Judy (1975). Judy: the films and career of Judy Garland (4. paperback printing ed.). Secaucus, New Jersey: Citadel Press. p. 132. ISBN 978-0-8065-0206-9.
  8. ^ "Festival de Cannes: Ziegfeld Follies". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-01-06.