Ziegfeld Girl is a 1941 musical that has one of the finest casts assembled with screen icons Judy Garland, Lana Turner, Hedy Lamarr and James Stewart. The three leads all want to be Ziegfeld girls! Legendary musical choreographer Busby Berkeley was the man in charge of the musical numbers for this picture. The film was directed by another screen legend in Robert Z. Leonard who directed movies for nearly forty years!
Taking place in the 1920s, Florenz Ziegfeld is doing his yearly search for talented women to be on his Broadway show the Ziegfeld Follies. Three women, Sandra Kolter (Lana Turner, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Johnny Eager) Susan Gallagher (Judy Garland, The Clock, Me and My Gal), and Sheila Regan (Hedy Lamarr, Comrade X, Boom Town) are soon discovered and become Ziegfeld girls. In this picture each of the three girl has their own story, where they find fame, love, and tragedy. Sandra gets involved with a married man, Frank Merton which causes her to think twice about her career as a Ziegfeld Girl. Susan is part of a vaudeville act with her father and is afraid to leave him behind while she pursues her career and Sheila is turn between her career and her lover Gil (James Stewart, Rear Window, Vertigo).
All in all, Ziegfeld Girl is another highly entertaining picture with excellent acting, compelling characters, and musical numbers.
As part of the Judy Garland 100th birthday celebration, Warner Archive has given Ziegfeld Girl a Blu-ray release, and I think fans should be pleased with their output. The video quality for the film is top notch, with fine details to the scenery, deep black levels, and crisp whites to go with a balanced greyscale. The boost in contrast gives the film added sharpness. Film grain is present throughout and no sign of DNR being applied.
For the audio the English DTS -HD Master Audio 2.0 soundtrack is delicious with clean and clear dialogue and musical numbers that are a bit more aggressive and dynamic. No sync issues or age old ammolites such as hissing, crackling or popping were detected during the audio presentation. English subtitles are available for the release.
The extras for this release are ported over from Warner Brothers 2004 DVD.
We get the Introduction by John Fricke who spends about five minutes talking about Judy Garland.
There is the MGM Promo Short: We Must Have Music This vintage 1941 short discusses music in films, from live performances, silent films to early talkies.
Our Gang Short: Melodies Old and New. This short is from 1942 and is the 203rd installment of the long running Our Gang series. During this era of the Our Gang shorts, Edward Cahn handled the directing of the films.
There are a couple of audio-only outtakes
“Too Beautiful to Last”, which is performed by Tony Martin.
“We Must Have Music Finale”. This one is performed by Tony Martin and Judy Garland.
We also got a nearly four-minute theatrical trailer
As with many Warner Archive releases on home video, there is the song selection feature which is instant access to Ziegfeld Girl’s 16 main musical numbers, which are listed below.
Main Title
“Laugh? I Thought I’d Split My Sides”
“You Stepped Out of a Dream – Part 1”
“You Stepped Out of a Dream – Part 2”
“You Stepped Out of a Dream – Part 3”
“Whispering”
“I’m Always Chasing Rainbows” (Rehearsal)
“I’m Always Chasing Rainbows” (Audition)
“Caribbean Love Song”
“Spanish Dance”
“Minnie from Trinidad”
“Mr. Gallagher & Mr. Shean”
“Ziegfeld Girls Melody”
“You Stepped Out of a Dream” (Reprise)
“Your Never Looked So Beautiful Before”
End Credits
This Blu-ray release from Warner Archive is another must own for fans of musicals and of the talented cast and crew in the film. This is another strong effort from Warner and is a highly recommended release!
Ziegfeld Girl
Director- Robert Z. Leonard
Cast- Lana Turner, Hedy Lamarr, Judy Garland, James Stewart
Country of Origin- US
Distributor – Warner Brothers/ Warner Archive
Number of Discs – 1
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date –6/21/22