Terrell-4 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 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. They were big stuff in the Thirties. I think nowadays they'd be an acquired taste. 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. I've always been intrigued at how Bergen could maintain such a sharply split personality between himself and his wooden pal. Bergen may be bland but McCarthy really is funny, especially when looking at tall showgirls. Phil Clark, 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.

elvismanson I've been on the lookout for this film for over 25 years, since it was given the honor of inclusion on the first (and at the time, only) bad movie book, Harry Medved's The Fifty Worst etc. One man's meat can be another man's poison, but a combination of curiosity and masochism has driven me to seek out and view over 30 of the films on Medved's original list. The list doubtless includes films that some do not consider bad (two films on Medved's list are also in Roger Ebert's Great Movies) but I have not disagreed with any of Medved's selections after sitting through them. Individually and collectively they are painful to watch, actually make you either angry or nauseous or some other disagreeable sensation, with a moment here and there of entertainment (taken out of context) not nearly enough to balance the ghastly experience of the remaining bill of fare.So has Medved's judgment continued to bat 1.000? You bet, the streak continues. This film is chock-a-block with jokes that are not funny, beauty that comes off as ugliness, hopeless misuse of Gershwin material, dancing that comes off as forced, dialog that could have been written by a robot, aesthetic pretension that could provide a textbook definition of inanity. The color photography might look better in black and white (what with the subtle gradations of green clashing all over the costumes and scenery). And yes, there are moments with Charlie McCarthy, and a coloratura Siempre Libre, both done well enough to point up the vivid contrast between truly entertaining and worse than nothing.Sometimes a kind of negative serendipity is responsible for a bomb of a movie, but there is much premeditation here. George Gershwin was in the process of dying as he worked on this film. Sam Goldwyn, ever understanding, cut him from the payroll when he failed to show up for a couple of days. After George died and there was no original ballet music, Goldwyn passed up on the chance (offered by brother Ira) to film a ballet of American In Paris, instead having hack composer Vernon Duke compose his pale imitation of Ravel's La Valse which became the background for the Water Nymph ballet. So while watching the movie it may appear that Goldwyn had to make do with the likes of Phil Baker and the Ritz Brothers, but in fact he had other available resources which he foolishly chose to employ.This film is an atrocity. I can only thank Turner Classic Movies for disagreeing long enough to put it on their schedule. And for the scorecard, I've seen one of the two movies that grace both the pages of Medved's 50 Worst and Ebert's Great Movies: "Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia." While I usually see Ebert's point, I must agree with Medved on that one. Some day I hope to see the other homologous entry, "Last Year In Marienbad". Turner Classic Movies, take note.

drednm Mostly dreadful and overlong this "Follies" attempt patches together a lame plot with a variety of acts.Adolphe Menjou is fine as the movie producer who hires Andrea Leeds to give him the "human touch" in his films. He falls for her but she's in love with a hamburger slinger (Kenny Baker) she tricks Menjou into hiring for his new film. Throw into this stew Vera Zorina as a temperamental ballet star and you have the framework for this film.Edgar Bergen (and dummy) provide some humor, especially in a funny bit with radio star Phil Baker. Helen Jepson sings a few numbers (she's no Jeanette MacDonald), Bobby Clark plays the harried casting director, Ella Logan (trying to be Martha Raye) is the chaperone, Nydia Westman is the friend, Frank Shields (tennis pro and grandfather to Brooke) is the assistant director to Jerome Cowan. The Ritz Brothers (dreadful as usual) have one funny bit and stink in the rest of their appearance. Alan Ladd has a bit as an auditioning singer.

DeborahPainter855 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.