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The Goldwyn Follies |  | Actors: American Ballet of the Metrop. Opera, Vivian Austin, Phil Baker, George Balanchine, Edgar Bergen
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $8.49
as of 11/22/2009 01:43 CST details
You Save: $6.49 (43%)
New (27) Used (8) Collectible (1) from $6.36
Rating:  5 reviews
Format: Color, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 116 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: M111732
UPC: 883904117322
EAN: 0883904117322
Theatrical Release Date: 1938
Release Date: April 7, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | A lavish musical extravaganza/comedy revue featuring the biggest stars of the 1930s and a toe-tapping Gershwin score. A stunning parade of talent through every avenue of entertainment. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSICALS Rating: NR Age: 883904117322 UPC: 883904117322 Manufacturer No: M111732 |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
THIS ROMANTIC MUSICAL COMEDY EXTRAVAGANZA IS ABOUT A HOLLYWOOD PRODUCER WHO CHOOSES AN UNWORLDLY GIRL TO ADVISE HIM ON MAKING MOVIES.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Two great Gershwin songs in an amusing razzberry aimed at Hollywood May 1, 2009
C. O. DeRiemer (San Antonio, Texas, USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Probably the only reason for remembering The Goldwyn Follies is that it's the movie George Gershwin was working on when he died at 38 of a brain tumor. In truth, the movie is a mish-mash, although a good-natured one, involving comedy bits, musical numbers and what Sam Goldwyn considered "class." The best thing about the film are two George and Ira Gershwin songs that are as fresh and wise today as when they were written, "Our Love Is Here to Stay" and "Love Walked In." The story line is as thin as a thread, designed to keep the numbers coming and to provide some fun at Hollywood's expense. Ben Hecht is credited with the screenplay. He artfully places some banderillas that probably puckered the skin of several types of Hollywood denizens, from producers to divas to sycophants to...you get the idea.
Hollywood producer Oliver Merlin (Adolphe Menjou) has convinced himself he needs someone to tell him honestly about the new movie he's working on, someone who will represent the big audience out there. On a location shoot he meets a young woman who fits the bill. She's Hazel Dawes (Andrea Leeds), gentle, sincere and honest. "I'm a producer of movies," he tells her. "I get my wagonloads of poets and dramatists, but I can't buy common sense. I cannot buy humanity!" "Well, I don't know why, Mr. Merlin. There's an awful lot of it," Hazel says. Merlin looks at her impatiently. "Yes, I know," he says, "but the moment I buy it, it turns into something else, usually genius, and it isn't worth a dime. Now, if you could stay just as simple as you are, you'd be invaluable to me. I'll put you on my staff. I'll give you a title, 'Miss Humanity.' Don't rush, you can finish your ice cream soda." Merlin brings her to Hollywood and consults her on everything from script changes to plot developments. Of course, she also meets a young man, Danny Beecher (Kenny Baker), who has a great tenor and a way with flipping hamburgers. Merlin makes changes in his movie. There's love, a brief misunderstanding quickly resolved and then a happy ending.
All this is just a clothes line to hang the comedy and musical numbers on. This is a review movie and Goldwyn gives us a lot to watch, including his idea of culture. This has usually meant excerpts from opera, over-produced and sung straight ahead. Here, we get a bit of an aria from Traviata. We also get a genuinely stunning water-nymph ballet danced by Vera Zorina, choreographed by George Balanchine and with music by Vernon Duke. But we also get the Ritz Brothers, frenetic, anarchic and, above all else, loud. Bobby Clark, a great burlesque, vaudeville and stage star, shows up as a casting director, all leers and cigars. Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy make several appearances. Bergen may be bland but McCarthy really is funny, especially when looking at tall showgirls. Phil Baker, a comic big in vaudeville and radio, shows up in a recurring gag and finally faces off with McCarthy. There's even Alan Ladd in a brief bit as one of several awful singers auditioning for a part in Merlin's movie. Kenny Baker, who was a singer much like a young Dick Powell but without the cockiness, does full justice to the two great Gershwin songs.
The Goldwyn Follies sprawls all over the place, still I like it. First, because it provides a look at some stars we've nearly forgotten, people like Edgar Bergen, Vera Zorina, Phil Baker and Bobby Clark. Even the Ritz Brothers. These were people who knew their stuff. They were professionals and it comes through. Second, those Gershwin songs. They are so good they lift the movie whenever Baker sings them. For me, they create a bittersweet feeling. George Gershwin was at the height of his powers when he wrote them. What on earth could he have created if he'd lived? So here's to George and Ira...
The more I read the papers, the less I comprehend.
The world and all it's capers and how it all will end.
Nothing seems to be lasting, but that isn't our affair.
We've got something permanent,
I mean in the way we care.
It's very clear, our love is here to stay.
Not for a year, but ever and a day.
The radio and the telephone
And the movies that we know,
May just be passing fancies and in time may go.
But, oh my dear, our love is here to stay.
Together we're going a long, long way.
In time the Rockies may crumble,
Gibraltar may tumble, they're only made of clay.
But our love is here to stay.
Comparing the 1998 DVD to this new re-master 2009 DVD. April 24, 2009
Paul J. Mular (San Carlos, CA USA)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Being a RITZ BROTHERS fan I have the old 1998 HBO/Samual Goldwyn Home Video DVD of this movie, which doesn't look bad. I cued up the two DVDs to see if there really is an improvement with this new MGM/FOX DVD release. AND THERE IS!
1) The old HBO DVD cropps off a significant amount of picture on the right side & the top of the picture!
2) The old HBO DVD is softer, details are lost in some dark objects that are there in this new MGM/FOX DVD.
3) The color balance looks better in this new MGM/FOX DVD. The HBO DVD does not look bad until you compare it to this new one.
4) The audio is a little crisper in this newer MGM/FOX DVD.
Should you go out & buy this new DVD to replace your old one? I would say it depends on how much you like this average movie.
The music is not outstanding.
The story is typical Hollywood idealism with a little of Hollywood reality thrown in near the end.
For me, it was seeing The Ritz Brothers that livened up the show.
Fans of obsure comedy teams will also recognize BOBBY CLARK of CLARK & McCULLAM comedy shorts playing Adolfe Menjou's lackie.
 An interesting musical film curio April 21, 2009
Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com (...in Middle America)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"The Goldwyn Follies"
(MGM, 1938)
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Adolphe Menjou almost steals the show here, in this potboiler musical about a plain-jane, all-American young woman (Andrea Leeds) who a bigshot director brings to Hollywood in order to act as a check on his own poor artistic judgment. She speaks for unjaded average folks, common people who want to see movies that look like real life. This idea isn't explored as fully as it could have been (although she does get to suggest a happy ending for "Romeo And Juliet!) but it's kind of a funny concept. Anyway, she latches onto a charming, handsome young would-be actor with a golden voice (played by Kenny Baker, although if you looked at him sideways, you'd swear it was Dick Powell...) After she finagles an audition for him, he instantly becomes a big star, almost outshining his grouchy Garbo-esque co-star.
This is an odd musical, imitative of the big Busby Berkeley in parts, but with very few song-and-dance numbers (it takes forever for the first song to hit the screen) and a major emphasis on high-culture performers, with a big chunk of "La Traviata" dropped in the middle of the film. This film may be for hardcore musicals fans only, but I'm sure they will be happy to see its re-release to DVD. Worth checking out, if only for the extended footage of Charlie McCarthy and his friend, legendary ventriloquist Edgar Bergen: how *does* Bergen do that?? (Joe Sixpack, Slipcue film reviews)
Early Technicolor at its best April 9, 2009
Lawrence L. Smith (Allentown Pa)
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
I was delighted to see the new DVD release. For the first time, this movie has been transferred to show how great the true Technicolor process was. There are subtle shades of color seldom seen in today's color processes. As for the picture itself, it is a mixed blessing with some great musical numbers and good comedy routines. Some of it is "slow" but keep in mind that it is 1938. For a dyed-in-the-wool movie buff (like me), it is a real treat seeing Vera Zorina, Charlie McCarthy and the Ritz Brothers in their heyday.
Only for the fan of the 1930's musical revue type movies January 25, 2009
calvinnme (Fredericksburg, Va)
23 out of 25 found this review helpful
One thing you can say about Sam Goldwyn's ventures into musicals. He could either hit them out of the park ("Whoopee", "Palmy Days", "The Kid From Spain", etc.), he could miss completely ("One Heavenly Night"), or he could come up with a film that really is a bit of a mess but enjoyable for the classic film lover. The problem here seems to be that the film is trying to imitate to some degree the Warner Busby Berkeley films of 1933, the problem being that it is five years later. You'd think that of all people Goldwyn would have gotten that, since Busby Berkeley was directing his dance numbers in his Eddie Cantor films before Warner Bros. got a hold of him. Kenny Baker is obviously trying to stand in for Dick Powell, and he's good enough, it's just that musicals were transitioning to a different phase by 1938, the year this film was released. Thus the backstage banter between chorus girls doesn't come off very well after the code. The Ritz Bros. are obviously trying to stand in for the Marx Bros. and they do have a funny routine about a cat, but in the end they do get a bit tiresome. The film does have the dashing Adolphe Menjou, and he improves just about every film he's in including this one. The Technicolor is gorgeous and the Gershwin music is wonderful.
However, the modern viewer has one strategic advantage over the viewer that saw this in the first-run. We're not trapped in the perspective of a 1938 movie-goer so we can enjoy the film for what it is - some great musical numbers with a little good comedy and a lot of silliness.
One thing I don't get. This film first appeared on DVD as part of the giant Hollywood Musicals Collection late in 2008. One of the other films making its debut on DVD was the long awaited "Whoopee" starring Eddie Cantor. Why is this film debuting as a solo and not "Whoopee"? Is MGM allergic to money or something? I'm hoping that the reason is that they intend to release a set of Eddie Cantor's musicals together in the very near future but I tend to believe that the studio is allowing political correctness to trump sound fiscal policy even in these slim economic times.
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