Rating: 
Summary: RITZ BROS. PERFORMANCE TEARS THE HOUSE DOWN
Review: This film is a treasure. It is an artfully done Hollywood does Hollywood film, circa 1938; with it's tongue in it's cheek, and a great sense of humour, panache and whimsy.
It is so very flavorful of the period, that wafts of nostalgic sighs are brought on by the efforts...particularly hearing and seeing George & Ira Gershwin's poignant "Love Walked In", as sung by Kenny Baker, who really had a fantastic voice.
The film score was almost entirely a Gershwin job, with the exception of the music for the ballet (directed by Ballenchine!) sequence, written by Vernon Duke.
I am told that this was the last score done by George Gershwin before his untimely passing soon after.
Vera Zarina is superb, no matter what anyone said. She could dance,and she could act....and she was beautiful.
Edgar Bergan and Charlie McCarthy make their screen debut here.
Adolph Menjou effortlessly outdoes "himself" in a role so similar to so many he played. He's wonderful!
Andrea Leeds is sweetly adorable and sings sweetly too!
Although Phil Bakers part could have been expanded to get more of his ability and talent exposed, his appearance here is an enjoyable extra attraction....and the irony is that the character that he is playing is getting the same treatment in the sub-plot story line, make of it what you will!
Ben Hecht and others of no small abilities contribute to the writing mix.
The entire production just reeks of talent:
- writing, cast, music, choreography, photography, lighting, direction and all!
Really speaking, this film is showcase for some fantastic specialty acts of the day....nevermind the plot line!
And while all the "acts" are a pleasure to watch in the luscious pastel shades of vintage technicolour; it is the antics of the infamous Ritz Brothers that steals the show.
After viewing them do their shtik in the "Serenade to a Fish"
routine, you will know why the rest of the cast seems to be sleepwalking through the picture by comparison.
The under rated by posterity Ritz Bros. were a talented trio
who were capable of far more than is revealed in this picture, as anyone who ever saw them dance could attest to; They could leave you breathless at their agility and finesse, while at the same time have you rolling in the aisle laughing.
Seeing them do their thing here, even though their bits are short and leave you hungry for more for, is; as used to be said; worth the price of admission alone!
While, of course, the Ritz Bros. are not everyone's cup of tea, as neither is Vera Zarina, Adolph Menjou, Kenny Baker, Bergan & McCarthy et al.....they do deserve special mention here, as they get ignored by others too often
as unmentionable or unworthy of notice, which is unfortunate; as they gave a lot of people a lot of joy.
If you are a Ritz Bros.fan, you will love this film, and you will be rewinding to see their bits again and again to savour every precious moment of it. And if you are just a fan of this genre and period; the film as a whole, will bring many happy smiles.
Rating: 
Summary: The "Follies" Fails
Review: "The Goldwyn Follies" has a nice look to it, good actors, and a memorable Gershwin score, yet somethow it's disappointing. Normally that's all I need for a musical to succeed, but "Goldwyn Follies" left me wanting less, not more.
The plot of the film could have been compressed to about 90 minutes, instead the film holds off the payoff so it can elongate the sketches and provided for longer dance sequences. But, I think the film could have had the same amout of songs, same amout of dances and move at a faster tempo, simply because nothing important is being said.
Fans of the genre, and I'm one, may not mind the pace because as the saying goes, "they don't make 'em like they use to". But, they also didn't make them this slow.
Take Astaire and Rogers for example. Their movies have a better pace to them, have great songs and dance numbers and are told at shorter length.
"The Goldwyn Follies" is about a small town girl Hazel Dawes (Andreal Leeds) who finds herself working for a Hollywood producer, Oliver Merlin (Adolphe Menjou). Merlin has had a string of flops lately as audiences are not able to relate to his works. Merlin decides his films need a more "human touch" and decides the only way that can be accomplished is if he has someone outside of Hollywood help him with his stories.
Hazel is just swept away by the more glamorious lifestyle and soon meets a boy, Danny Beecher (Kenny Baker) whom she thinks has real talent and wants to give him a break.
Unless this is the first film you have ever seen, you csn guess where the material will go. Only the film arrives at these conclusions at such a slow rate.
Just like a "real" follies show we are treated to music, dance, romance, and comedy. And none of it blends correctly. The Ritz Brothers and Edgar Bergen are the main comic relief, only one has to admit, they serve no purpose to the plot. In fact they slow the movie down. The plot would not change one bit if their characters were removed. We would have exactly the same story being told.
The music in the film is supplied by George and Ira Gershwin, and I believe was the last time the two worked together, George died suddenly. The score includes; "Our Love Is Here To Stay", "I Was Doing All Right", "I Love To Rhyme", and apparently the song the producers thought would be the big hit, "Loved Walked In". Funny how "Our Love...ect" became more popular.
And that's another problem I have with the movie. I think it would have ended better if "Our Love" was the last song sung. It would have fit in better with the plot.
In a prime example of Hollywood being out of touch with the public, pay attention to the cliche, "Hollywood" ideas Hazel gives Oliver. It makes one wonder, why couldn't he think of it?
But, those who watch this movie may not even be paying attention to such things. And they have a right not to, only I couldn't help myself. ** 1\2 out of *****
Bottom-line: Well meaning but ultimately flat musical from Hollywood's "Golden Age". Lots of stars and good Gershwin score give the film whatever amount of charm it has.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining but disjointed
Review: "The Goldwyn Follies" has not fared well with critics even from the time it was first released, some of whom have called it one of the worst films ever made. My own personal opinion of this film isn't quite so jaundiced as that. Part of the problem seems to be that Samuel Goldwyn attempted to out-Ziegfeld Ziegfeld, and in the process released a film that, while entertaining, seems rather disjointed. In certain respects "The Goldwyn Follies" stumbles & staggers like a car with a bad transmission. Perhaps it would have been better had this film been done in a revue form similar to the Ziegfeld Follies style. Having said all this, "The Goldwyn Follies" is still worth viewing for all the varied & various entertainers who appear: ballerina Vera Zorina, Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy, the Ritz Brothers with their own particular brand of insanity, popular singer Kenny Baker (a regular on Jack Benny's radio show at the time), opera star Helen Jepson, vaudevillian Bobby Clark (who for some reason was not permitted to use his trademark painted-on glasses), and radio comic Phil Baker. The film's plot involves film producer Oliver Merlin (Adolphe Menjou) whose movies fail consistently at the box office. While shooting a film on location with his temperamental star Olga Samara (Zorina), Merlin overhears Hazel Dawes (Andrea Leeds in her first film following her triumph in "Stage Door"), a young woman who watches the film shoot with a friend & comments about how less than human the characters seem to be. Mr. Merlin follows Hazel to a drugstore soda fountain where he hires her to be "Miss Humanity" and critique his ideas for film scenes but not to associate with actors so as to lose her down-to-earth qualities. Eventually Hazel meets a prospective movie singer (Baker) who runs a lunch counter, and a love interest develops between them. "The Goldwyn Follies" features music by George & Ira Gershwin as well as choreography by George Balanchine. The former's contributions include the song "Love Walked In" while the latter's include a "Romeo and Juliet" sequence resembling a competition between "The Nutcracker" and "West Side Story" as well as a ballet featuring Vera Zorina as a water nymph who ascends & descends from a pool. For all the problems this film may have had, in the end it isn't a total washout. P.S. Keep your eyes open for an appearance by a young Alan Ladd in a bit as an auditioning singer.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining but disjointed
Review: "The Goldwyn Follies" has not fared well with critics even from the time it was first released, some of whom have called it one of the worst films ever made. My own personal opinion of this film isn't quite so jaundiced as that. Part of the problem seems to be that Samuel Goldwyn attempted to out-Ziegfeld Ziegfeld, and in the process released a film that, while entertaining, seems rather disjointed. In certain respects "The Goldwyn Follies" stumbles & staggers like a car with a bad transmission. Perhaps it would have been better had this film been done in a revue form similar to the Ziegfeld Follies style. Having said all this, "The Goldwyn Follies" is still worth viewing for all the varied & various entertainers who appear: ballerina Vera Zorina, Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy, the Ritz Brothers with their own particular brand of insanity, popular singer Kenny Baker (a regular on Jack Benny's radio show at the time), opera star Helen Jepson, vaudevillian Bobby Clark (who for some reason was not permitted to use his trademark painted-on glasses), and radio comic Phil Baker. The film's plot involves film producer Oliver Merlin (Adolphe Menjou) whose movies fail consistently at the box office. While shooting a film on location with his temperamental star Olga Samara (Zorina), Merlin overhears Hazel Dawes (Andrea Leeds in her first film following her triumph in "Stage Door"), a young woman who watches the film shoot with a friend & comments about how less than human the characters seem to be. Mr. Merlin follows Hazel to a drugstore soda fountain where he hires her to be "Miss Humanity" and critique his ideas for film scenes but not to associate with actors so as to lose her down-to-earth qualities. Eventually Hazel meets a prospective movie singer (Baker) who runs a lunch counter, and a love interest develops between them. "The Goldwyn Follies" features music by George & Ira Gershwin as well as choreography by George Balanchine. The former's contributions include the song "Love Walked In" while the latter's include a "Romeo and Juliet" sequence resembling a competition between "The Nutcracker" and "West Side Story" as well as a ballet featuring Vera Zorina as a water nymph who ascends & descends from a pool. For all the problems this film may have had, in the end it isn't a total washout. P.S. Keep your eyes open for an appearance by a young Alan Ladd in a bit as an auditioning singer.
Rating:
Summary: More of an extravaganza than the script merited
Review: 11/6/02 I've seen this extravaganza thanks to "BlockBuster'video as it was before my time....I felt than it was too much of an extravaganza...of muscial renditions with a minor story plot;however based on when it was meant to be seen (in the late 1930's) when movies had more domainance than audience's financial ability to be entertained by musicians at the better clubs or renown theatres, as time goes by more and more we will apreciate the efforts of our first movie moguls,movie entities and movie actors,actresses and the studios's 'cast of 1000'..we're considered lucky when they clone certain scenes in animations with & thanks to modern technology(e.g. movies on dinasours).11/6/02
Rating:
Summary: COLOURFUL BUT PONDEROUS
Review: A lavishly corny confection. In this one, producer Adolphe Menjou seeks the advice of an average American girl (Andrea Leeds) concerning the qualities of his shows. The pluses this film has to offer include the ballet sequence, which is definitely a matter of taste, some fairly comical lines and the colour photography, which was the best yet in its day, because it wasn't considered "obtrusive". A rather inane script has Leeds fall in love with a greasy spoon cook and wannabe singer (Kenny Baker, who warbles LOVE WALKED IN about a dozen times) Leeds says zestfully: "I love hamburgers".........The very fact that Goldwyn put his name in the the title of a movie indicated that he considered it an extravaganza and a masterpiece (if not the greatest movie-musical ever made). Wrong. Granted, the musicals that were churned out at an alarming rate by Fox were fast and cheap, studded with vaudeville; they simply collapsed from sheer overkill. In his search for a formula, Samuel Goldwyn first paid three writers, including Dorothy Parker, $125,000; he then tore up their script and hired Ben Hecht. A curiousity from the thirties.
Rating:
Summary: COLOURFUL BUT PONDEROUS
Review: A lavishly corny confection. In this one, producer Adolphe Menjou seeks the advice of an average American girl (Andrea Leeds) concerning the qualities of his shows. The pluses this film has to offer include the ballet sequence, which is definitely a matter of taste, some fairly comical lines and the colour photography, which was the best yet in its day, because it wasn't considered "obtrusive". A rather inane script has Leeds fall in love with a greasy spoon cook and wannabe singer (Kenny Baker, who warbles LOVE WALKED IN about a dozen times) Leeds says zestfully: "I love hamburgers".........The very fact that Goldwyn put his name in the the title of a movie indicated that he considered it an extravaganza and a masterpiece (if not the greatest movie-musical ever made). Wrong. Granted, the musicals that were churned out at an alarming rate by Fox were fast and cheap, studded with vaudeville; they simply collapsed from sheer overkill. In his search for a formula, Samuel Goldwyn first paid three writers, including Dorothy Parker, $125,000; he then tore up their script and hired Ben Hecht. A curiousity from the thirties.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful Classic
Review: Being a fan of old movies, I've watched too many to name. This one in particular is one of those you'd like to go back and watch again and again. As you can see, it's out of print at the moment, but I believe it's well worth your money. It's very extravagent, music oriented, and has much comedy in it to keep you laughing throughout the entire movie. If you appreciate old movies/musicals you'll enjoy this one. It has a lot going on and I'd recommend it for all ages. Happy viewing! =D
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Classic
Review: Being a fan of old movies, I've watched too many to name. This one in particular is one of those you'd like to go back and watch again and again. As you can see, it's out of print at the moment, but I believe it's well worth your money. It's very extravagent, music oriented, and has much comedy in it to keep you laughing throughout the entire movie. If you appreciate old movies/musicals you'll enjoy this one. It has a lot going on and I'd recommend it for all ages. Happy viewing! =D
Rating: 
Summary: if you have a large screen tv or projection system...
Review: If you have a large screen tv or projection system, the video is sadly lacking in clarity.
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