You won't be disappointed!

A Major Disappointment

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

For starters - (If nothing else) - I thought that this 1938 film's Technicolour effects were nothing short of being absolutely astounding to behold. You could clearly tell that great attention to colour co-ordination was very much a major issue in this $2 million production.Now almost 80 years old - The Goldwyn Follies definitely had its good points, as well as its not-so-good points. Featuring 7 Gershwin songs - This picture's story of comedy, music, and romance was obviously very much a product of its time. And, because of this it did make it difficult for this viewer not to scrutinize it just a little too critically.... (But I still give it a 6-star rating) And, finally - When it came to watching famed ventriloquist, Edgar Bergen constantly moving his lips whenever it was his puppet/sidekick Charlie McCarthy's turn to speak - I thought that he was one of the most amateurish and unconvincing performers in his specialized profession that I have ever seen.

While there are a lot of things to praise about this Samuel Goldwyn musical extravaganza, the most obvious failure in this overlong attempt to bring the "Ziegfeld Follies" to the movies is its hypocritical fight against its own theme, bringing reality into the movies. Adolph Menjou is cast as a Samuel Goldwyn like film producer who keeps making the most pretentious movies with his temperamental star (Vera Zorina) and searches for reality after a preview goes bad. He happens to overhear two sisters discussing what they witnessed in the filming of his next opus, and hires one of them (Andrea Leeds, "Stage Door") to be "Miss Humanity", to tell him how to alter his plots to be more realistic and acceptable to the average movie goer. What happens then becomes even worse than the tripe he was making before as Leeds even makes him change the ending of "Romeo and Juliet", seen here in a modern ballet that is the epitome of audaciousness.When Leeds happens to meet a singing fry cook (Kenny Baker), she secretly pushes for him to get an introduction to Menjou in order to become the juvenile in the altered version of the movie she had seen him making before. Baker spends more time singing "Love Walked In" that you get to the point where you want to walk out if he warbles it again. When he breaks into "Our Love is Hear to Stay", he hits the nail on the head of the song you'd rather hear over and over. Both songs are classics in the Gershwin repertoire (two of the last he ever wrote), but in the case of "Love Walked In", less is more.Broadway legend Bobby Clark gets one of his rare film roles as a casting director who always seems to have future "Finian's Rainbow" star Ella Logan in his lap whenever Menjou calls and is responsible for the parade of buffoons who come in to audition for Menjou while he's looking for a tenor. This audition sequence reminded me of the "Hitler" auditions in "The Producers" with the line-up of high-pitched male voices singing everything with the exception of "The Little Wooden Boy".The presence of the Ritz Brothers will be a hit or miss with today's audiences. The pop-eyed trio first encounter Menjou with their various animals, and then harass him some more during the tenor audition scene where they sing a song about Old Man Jenkin's cat. Later on, they pop up in a water ballet where they encounter a plastic whale then later turn into mermaids. Some of the humor is silly and dated, yet you'd have to be made out of iron not to laugh at some point, even if you are raising your eyebrows while doing it. Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy have a delightful routine of insults with the character man who keeps being shifted from one part to another, and never getting to play his accordion. McCarthy adeptly notes how the man sings through his teeth, praising his "falsetto". You get the drift of how this routine will play out.Menjou's character goes a little overboard when the tough producer becomes a bit lecherous towards Leeds, making demands that are totally absurd in nature. The ballet sequences might cause some viewers to hit fast forward, although a brief operatic sequence performed by Helen Jepson is a delight for the ears, even for a non opera buff like myself. I really didn't feel that this film really was made for "the common man", stuffing in several different styles of comedy and music that at times are a bit highbrow when mixed in with the likes of the Ritz Brothers.

This is one of the movies selected to the FIFTY WORST FILMS book by Harry Medved. And while I agree it is really bad, I'm not sure it reached the level of wretchedness needed to merit inclusion in the book--but it sure is close enough that I can't fault its mention. The only reason that I would not have included it is because although it's very bad, there are SMALL glimpses of actual entertainment scattered about. The problem is, is it worth slogging through all the awfulness and boredom to find it? I say "NO"!!! Avoid this film like the plague! If you don't believe me, read on,....The film starts with Adolph Menjou screening his latest production to a preview audience. They are laughing convulsively--a real problem since the film is a romantic drama! So, aware that his instincts are failing him, Menjou goes in search of someone to give him advice on what people really like. He picks a lady who has nothing to do with the movie industry and blindly listens to everything she says even though she has no idea what she's talking about. So, in other words, millions and millions of dollars are delegated based on this lady who Menjou nicknames "Miss Humanity". This idea is stupid and the nickname totally annoying. It gets worse, believe me.Then, the film becomes a giant "everything but the kitchen sink" extravaganza, where every few minutes, the action (such as it is) is punctuated by rather random song, dance, ventriloquism or comedy numbers. Ostensibly, the film is a variety show thinly connected by the plot. Oddly, however, the acts are generally just awful and probably won't appeal overall to anyone! After all, in some segments, there is opera, while in others it's Edgar Bergan and Charlie McCarthy, in another it's ballet or modern dance, and in others it's the incredibly unfunny antics of the Ritz Brothers. I honestly find it very hard to believe that all these incredibly divergent styles of entertainment will appeal to anyone--they may like some but hate the rest. Think about it--is there ANYONE who loves opera and ballet as well as the Ritz Brothers?! Frankly, I hate them all (especially the Ritz Brothers) and doubt if my opinion is much different from the average person. Yet, Miss Humanity seemed to like this and thought the average person would like this hodge-podge! As I mentioned above, the Ritz Brothers play quite prominently in the film. A couple times they were MILDLY funny, but most of the time they were like walking, talking migraines! I am a HUGE fan of silent and early sound comedy and think they were perhaps the most annoying comedy team ever. Their antics were far less funny and sophisticated than the Three Stooges and their act consisted mainly of annoying people! In addition, someone gave them a song to sing that is among the most UNINTENTIONALLY funny and obscene songs ever written--as they repeat the same word AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN--in fact, this is the entire chorus (it's a euphemism for BOTH a cat and part of a female's anatomy).There's a lot more I didn't like about the film, such as the countless times Menjou said to his talent scout "Basil, drop it" (it was funny the first time but not again and again) and the "Romeo and Juliet" song and dance number. Don't watch this unless you are trying to watch all 50 of the films in Medved's book or unless you are a masochist--it's THAT bad!PS--A final observation. So far, all but one of the many reviews for this film were either negative or extremely negative--with most scores being in the one to two-star range. So, how does this movie have an overall IMDb rating of 5.4 (as of 1/31/07)?! Occasionally, I think some people are deliberately flooding certain films with overly negative or positive scores to unduly influence the ratings. I observed a BAD Humphrey Bogart recently that actually had a much higher percentage of scores of 10 than CASABLANCA--even though the overall score was still quite low. This doesn't make any sense. Believe me when I say 5.4 is WAY TOO HIGH A SCORE to be believed!PPS--Look close--it's a very young Alan Ladd who is singing (badly) at the piano in Menjou's office.

A sweet romance, good character actors, vivid Technicolor, a little behind-the-scenes work at a major studio, and great songs make this a pleasant way to spend two hours. It's also interesting historically because it marks the transition between the end (for only a few decades, thankfully) of tap and the beginning of ballet in film musicals.