Those dancers dressed as glittering black birds with fringe to their ankles... simply the most amazing, exotic costumes I've ever seen, and I'm over 70.
These movies are magnificent in black & white. You can imagine the colour in your mind as you are swept away by the music and dancing. Today's Hollywood lacks the combination of talent these actors possessed.
It's unbelievable. The spiral staircase looks like an enormus cream cake with all these beautiful ladies. Absolut amazing. Just "Wow." I'm very touched.
No, it's a triumph of set design over choreography. Ziegfeld would fill a stage, but so full that the performers could not hoof much even if they were capable of it- and his chorines were picked on looks, not footwork. Ziegfeld was into tableaux and costumes, not dazzling movement. The film recreates his aesthetic but does not translate it into cinematic terms: you see a stately procession, not the camera angles and fast cutting of a Busby Berkeley or the simpler but elegant coverage of a Fred Astaire number by Mark Sandrich. 'The Great Ziegfeld' was not a true musical at all. It was a biopic of Flo with stage interludes, harking back to the canned Broadway revue of early Talkie days. The future belonged to another MGM picture released just beforehand, Eleanor Powell's 'Born to Dance'. Watch the finale, 'Swingin' the Jinx Away', to see how lavish sets, a huge cast, a virtuoso soloist and a brilliant composer can collaborate to produce a truly dynamic and sensational *moving* picture. That was Metro's breakthrough in surpassing Warner and RKO as a maker of musicals: a crown it retained for 20 years until the genre faded. The second clip underlines how the initiative passed to it. Fred, Gingerless, is a guest star duetting with Eleanor Powell in a number principally choreographed by her on a set designed by her boyfriend- and in the judgment of most, for once he is outdanced. 'Begin the Beguine', not 'A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody', is the sequence most people remember because it foregrounds supremely polished dancing against a costly but austere backdrop. It would be possible to recreate a Ziegfeld extravaganza, but not this duet. Sinatra was right.
You might be right but the Babylon sequence from Intolerance is pretty amazing. I should also point out the chariot race from Wylers Ben Hur. Reel 9 in magnetic stereo is in a class by itself. Shangri la in Lost Horizon is awe inspiring. The staircase is two shots. Around the base is one, then the climb and pull back.
These two footages come from "That`s Entertainment (1974)". I was a 18 years old Japanese when I watched this movie at a movie theater in Tokyo in 1975. I was so captivated by this movie that I still remember my excitement vividly.
Hello ❕ Another Japanese here 😉 I was 13 back then, and watched “That's Entertainment“ at a movie theater three times in a row. I remember I was so facinated by it that I could not leave my seat. Almost half a century after that, it is like a dream that I can see some of the scenes on CZcams.
One of the most gorgeous black and white films I've ever seen. It's like something out of a fairytale, or a dream wedding cake. The Great Ziegfeld is one of my most favorite films. Easily top 20.
I dare any popstar-actress-actor-performer to learn this exceptional number. Incredibly talented people once we had. Above all, their beauty was enhanced by class and scene lights, not edited by photoshop.
What makes the Pretty Girl number remarkable is that it's filmed in one continuous take. Every participant had to be in place and do their designated moves. No one could make a mistake because of the single take. I wonder if there was more than one required to get it perfect?
Agreed. What I find amazing is that right at the end, there are still actors in the background that are on the screen for just moments showing that the clip is even larger!
A pretty girl is like a melody That haunts you night and day, Just like the strain of a haunting refrain, She'll start up-on a marathon And run around your brain. You can't escape she's in your memory. By morning night and noon. She will leave you and then come back again, A pretty girl is just like a pretty tune.
Thank God I got to see what Real Hollywood was before this time we live in now! This was actors who thrive on skills and the direction of the studios!!!
I love watching these old Hollywood musicals, with so much class and talent. Nothing can compare to the Ziegfeld productions, or Fred Astaire and his dancing partners. Back then they didn't even have the technology or computers of today.
That Broadway Melody from 1940. I've never seen such exquisite dancing in my life. I cannot imagine the amount of practice hours that those artists put into it.
Every-time I watch those dancers I feel a tear coming on for the sheer brilliance, dedication and artistry. A time when Hollywood was truly at the top of its game.
Wikipedia: The "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody" set alone was reported to have cost US$220,000 (US$4,053,381 in 2019 dollars[3]),[4] featuring a towering rotating volute of 70 ft (21 m) diameter with 175 spiral steps, weighing 100 tons.
Although the voice heard singing Irving Berlin’s music and lyrics was that of the tenor Allan Jones, Dennis Morgan (a lyric baritone) was chosen to lip-synch Jones’ voice because Morgan resembled John Steel, the tenor who had introduced the song in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1919.
Molly, If you’ve not heard John Steel’s 1919 Victor recording of “A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody,” here’s a link to it: czcams.com/video/mB097aRIolc/video.html
Dennis Morgan singing "A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody" (1936) Just one of my bestest favorite magnificent (BB??) musicals. How and why they did them all is beyond comprehension. Could never ever do them today. Think: rehearsing schedule!?!? Eeekkkk. So yeah, we are fortunate to see/have on film in 2020 ❤ Just. So. Unbelievable.
But that wasn't Dennis Morgan's voice. They dubbed it with Allan Jones' voice. I don't know why. And I don't know why they didn't have Sinatra mention it in That's Entertainment. I can't believe someone involved didn't know it.
I agree with all of th here replies...Now...take it to the BIG SCREEN! I'd pay whatever the price. We need this respite from all of the ugliness that's in our world today. Hollywood was incredible from the late 1900's through and after the war...All of the pre code movies were fabulous. Kay Francis....Norma Sheerer....Hollywood now, can never compete...NEVER ....EVER!!! Some young women today could benefit seeing well groomed, well mannered NO NOSE RINGS..., women. It was a magical, creative passionate industry. Now for the most part...garbage...
Musicals will never be the way it was then .absolutely beautiful the dancers and there dance scenery back then was beautiful. Fred Was a great tap dancer then so was Eleanor Powell a great female dancer .they may be gone but there dance routine will always be remembered. Rest in peace to all the best dancers of that time godbless them amen🙏🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🦋🦋🦋🌹🌹🌹🕺💃🙏💖
Two interesting facts about that AMAZING stage number: 1) What you see on film is the FIRST attempt at the production. They got it perfectly right the first time. 2) Although Dennis Morgan did have a beautiful singing voice, he was lip syncing to Allan Jones voice. Here is the proof from IMDB's listings: The Great Ziegfeld (performer: "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody" (1919) - uncredited) Some of the powerful notes were simply beyond Morgan's range.
Also as the camera pans back out, there is that girl on the top row that decides to fluff up her dress just as it's going round almost out of sight. Presumably, she thought she was out of shot.
Albert Yokum - At first, they're playing "Rhapsody in Blue" by George Gershwin, but don't ever say he wrote the "Pretty Girl" song too - give the credit to Irving Berlin.
The story goes that in the Fred Astaire dance number, MGM couldn't find a supplier to take on the mirrors, so MGM made them themselves in-house - glass mirror floor and 30' tall mirrors upstage ... what a beast of a job that would have been, not to mention 'choreographing' the movement of the mirrored rear wall of the set to avoid unwanted reflections that would ruin the scene - production talent at it's best... without even mentioning the 'Pretty Girl; set - do you realize that that monumental spiraling curtain is actually cut / made to sit on each step, as it rotates back into the closed position... now a behind the scenes shot of that set operating would be absolutely gob-smacking...
I saw this clip (the cake), on That's Entertainment (I believe they show the whole clip on that). It's the most amazing scenery in any film that I've ever seen! Mixed in with that old fashioned Hollywood romance. I feel nostalgic for those times, before I was even born.
The awesome talent in Hollywood in those days can never be equalled.....all these movies needed, were to be shot in color, adding a dazzling new dimension to them.
It'll be marvellous if someone was to do one of them 60 FPS, colour, AI jobs on them. And it's true, they are pure entertainment of the very highest quality.And as you say, awesome talent.
I recently just rewatched "The Towering Inferno." It was interesting to see Fred Astaire as an elderly gentleman and not in a musical. A lot of stars in that movie.
For that role he received the only Academy Award nomination of his long career, in the Best Supporting Actor category. He lost to Robert DeNiro (as Vito Corleone, The Godfather Part II)
Luis Humberto Vega did not know. Thanks for the information! With it being a big effects, disaster movie I didn’t think there would’ve been academy nominations beyond technical categories. Hey, looks like he got the Golden Globe for the role though. Just looked it up.
@@TheIndependentLens Oh, that, about Astaire being awarded the GG is news to me, thank you. I follow the Óscars but not the other awards. Too bad those 1-derful dancers of Hollywood's Golden Age never received the recognition they deserved as actors as if the performing of a dance was not hard enough. Unless they starred in some intense drama with a lot of crying and emoting they were usually ignored in the acting categories. When you asked Donald O'Connor about his profession he simply answered 'I am an actor.', implying that singing, dancing, comedy, drama and anything else comprising the performing disciplines formed part of, were branches of Acting. I definitively agree with him, and he was great at everything he did.
When MGM assigned Cukor to direct Rosa Ponselle’s 1936 screen test for a proposed film of “Carmen,” a script was drafted and sent by him to Ponselle through her manager, Libbie Miller. When Ponselle read the script she sent a handwritten letter to Cukor saying, “Georgie [her pet name for him], there’s a character missing from the script and he’s pretty important-Don Jose!”
Probably someone has already mentioned this, but it's worth repeating. While that is Dennis Morgan in the scene, it is definitely NOT Dennis Morgan singing. It's Allan Jones (father of future singer Jack Jones) singing. For some reason they dubbed in Jones's voice. I don't know why. I also don't know why they didn't have Sinatra point this out in That's Entertainment.
These films were before my time.but i love them.how talented this guy was.plus look at all those people extas.you said it.it was pure beauty and talent. I read that Fred wasnt a good person to deal with but if you are a professional and perfection then hes the one.they look like they are having so much fun.
16 seconds in the second girl on the left in white totally looses count and messes up. She plonks herself down on that step it must have been a real jolt. I always wonder if any of the other three girls noticed, or any of the boys on the stairs to the right. The boys have very little time to move from the two lines facing each other to the one line up the side of the staircase. The lead girl in black also has to move to where Dennis Morgan was standing for his last part of his solo section, between the first two girls in the big white frocks. All of the girls in black with the black masks also had to do a mad dash while the camera is focusing on Virginia Bruce in time for the pull-back. Dennis Morgan also has to run from the end of his opening solo which is before this clip starts at the very beginning of the number, behind the massive curtain while action/dancing is going on in front of it, to be in his place for the final solo. As fabulous, truly fabulous as this number is, I've watched it so many times and focused on what the camera isn't picking up. A LOT of running to get into new positions for that pull-back. It would have been absolutely incredible to have worked on this. That contraption that lifts the huge weight of fabric in the curtains must have been massive and very complicated. Not only is it lifting the curtain with it's weight, but it's also lifting it AND turning at the same time and lifting and lowering in in drops! Amazing, amazing work.
@@jean_mollycutpurse_winchester thanks for that. It is one of my favourite numbers... it has a couple of faults but.. imagine stopping because it was your fault! or simply because a dress wasn't sitting quite right! One of the girls at the top of the stairs also moves her head around to get Virginia Bruce's dress away from her so she can be seen. Very annoying.
@@jean_mollycutpurse_winchester third girl from the very top below Virginia Bruce.. she pushes Miss Bruce's dress to one side so she can be seen! Naughty! And captured on film forever.
That long SINGLE camera shot - without edits - unbelievable. Just imagine the rehearsals and re-takes and do-overs. I remember watching this on a small black and white TV set in the early 60's. Does anyone know where to find the full spiral staircase clip? It begins long before this feature cuts-in.
Cut out the fantastic beginning, of A Pretty Girl, missing at least a couple of minutes, don’t know why. This is really the end of “A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody”
Why doesn't tap dancing come back in style? It would be great exercise, you can do it alone or in pairs, it is flexible in its choreography, and requires a degree of athleticism. Sounds like it would be a winner!
Without reading all the comments, I don't know if anyone has already mentioned it...but it's worth mentioning anyway. For some reason I have never heard, Dennis Morgan's singing voice was dubbed over wih Allan Jones's voice. Why? 🤷🏻♂️
There were said to be 400 chorus girls who worked regularly in Hollywood at this time, but Seymour Felix, the choreographer, found it hard to round up twenty who fitted his requirements. They had to be at least 5 ft 6 ins tall, above average for American girls, with faces that stood up to close-ups. Felix won the second Oscar given for dance direction for this scene, but he walked off his next assignment, 'Born to Dance', when his ideas for the finale were shot down by Cole Porter and Eleanor Powell. Felix's career then declined. His Broadway-based notions of staging, like Ziegfeld's, were too static for *motion* pictures.
Boy, could we use some of these uplifting, extravagant musicals now in this utterly drab and dreary world we live in today...
Oh, I so totally agree!
I watch these old movies over and over again
Most Art Deco thing I've ever seen ! ❤❤❤🎵🎺♠♥🎷🎼🎥💽🎭🌚🌂
Absolutely!!!!!😄
Those dancers dressed as glittering black birds with fringe to their ankles... simply the most amazing, exotic costumes I've ever seen, and I'm over 70.
Totally agree. So beautiful.
No one could out-tap Powell.. not even Astaire! She makes it look joyous and effortless.
Doesn't she just! So wonderful.
These movies are magnificent in black & white. You can imagine the colour in your mind as you are swept away by the music and dancing. Today's Hollywood lacks the combination of talent these actors possessed.
Absolutely agree!
The decline of the studio system meant the decline of fabulous musicals, alas.
MGM was the greatest musical factory ever invented. No studio has ever produced musicals that can equal those of the Freed Unit.
No argument there. Agree with you 100%!
It's unbelievable. The spiral staircase looks like an enormus cream cake with all these beautiful ladies. Absolut amazing. Just "Wow." I'm very touched.
Incredible, isn't it!!
Just think how long it took to get everyone in place! Probably hours.
What it took to put together a production of this magnitude just unbelievable they went all out.
I know! It's pretty fantastic to our modern eyes!
Unbelievable! You don't see this kind of "organic" talent anymore.
Amo toda esa época dorada de los Musicales, Talento, Elegancia y Clase un deleite visual y auditivo,,Viva ese Hollywood,,de antes,,Y Love it
I’ve been in love with this picture and Mr. Morgan my entire life! Just fantastic!
Entirely agree! Just amazing.
巨大なデコレーションケーキのようなセットを考え沢山のダンサーや俳優、歌手まで全ての登場人物にヘアメイクし衣装を着せる、そこにはどれだけの人手と労力がかかったか。
ここまでの豪華なショウはできないと言われたそうで、今もって不可能です。
よく見るとみんな違う魅力的な人ばかりで眼福です。
夢の工場MGM🏭、かつての栄光をこうして自宅で楽しめるようになって嬉しい一方、もう一度こんな魅力ある映画産業が栄えることがないのが残念です😢
I could not agree with you more! What an amount of effort!
The “cake” is the most spectacular production ever done in Hollywood!
Yes, it is amazing!
No, it's a triumph of set design over choreography. Ziegfeld would fill a stage, but so full that the performers could not hoof much even if they were capable of it- and his chorines were picked on looks, not footwork.
Ziegfeld was into tableaux and costumes, not dazzling movement. The film recreates his aesthetic but does not translate it into cinematic terms: you see a stately procession, not the camera angles and fast cutting of a Busby Berkeley or the simpler but elegant coverage of a Fred Astaire number by Mark Sandrich.
'The Great Ziegfeld' was not a true musical at all. It was a biopic of Flo with stage interludes, harking back to the canned Broadway revue of early Talkie days.
The future belonged to another MGM picture released just beforehand, Eleanor Powell's 'Born to Dance'. Watch the finale, 'Swingin' the Jinx Away', to see how lavish sets, a huge cast, a virtuoso soloist and a brilliant composer can collaborate to produce a truly dynamic and sensational *moving* picture.
That was Metro's breakthrough in surpassing Warner and RKO as a maker of musicals: a crown it retained for 20 years until the genre faded. The second clip underlines how the initiative passed to it. Fred, Gingerless, is a guest star duetting with Eleanor Powell in a number principally choreographed by her on a set designed by her boyfriend- and in the judgment of most, for once he is outdanced.
'Begin the Beguine', not 'A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody', is the sequence most people remember because it foregrounds supremely polished dancing against a costly but austere backdrop. It would be possible to recreate a Ziegfeld extravaganza, but not this duet. Sinatra was right.
@@esmeephillips5888 thanks for the info and analysis.
With respect, I think 'Flying Down To Rio' the airplanes with girls on top takes the 🏆 trophy.💯
You might be right but the Babylon sequence from Intolerance is pretty amazing. I should also point out the chariot race from Wylers Ben Hur. Reel 9 in magnetic stereo is in a class by itself. Shangri la in Lost Horizon is awe inspiring. The staircase is two shots. Around the base is one, then the climb and pull back.
These two footages come from "That`s Entertainment (1974)". I was a 18 years old Japanese when I watched this movie at a movie theater in Tokyo in 1975. I was so captivated by this movie that I still remember my excitement vividly.
How wonderful for you!
@@jean_mollycutpurse_winchester Thank you very much for your cordial reply. Your site reminds me of my beautiful memory in my early youth.
Hello ❕ Another Japanese here 😉 I was 13 back then, and watched “That's Entertainment“ at a movie theater three times in a row.
I remember I was so facinated by it that I could not leave my seat. Almost half a century after that, it is like a dream that I can see some of the scenes on CZcams.
@ちゃちゃこ May I ask what you thought of the movie?
@ちゃちゃこ How do you compare it with movies today?
One of the most gorgeous black and white films I've ever seen. It's like something out of a fairytale, or a dream wedding cake.
The Great Ziegfeld is one of my most favorite films. Easily top 20.
It is so wonderful, isn't it?
@@jean_mollycutpurse_winchester Very much so indeed.
I dare any popstar-actress-actor-performer to learn this exceptional number. Incredibly talented people once we had. Above all, their beauty was enhanced by class and scene lights, not edited by photoshop.
You are completely correct of course. And that makes me sad. We have lost so much. All for the sake of progress and chasing the dollar instead of art.
What makes the Pretty Girl number remarkable is that it's filmed in one continuous take. Every participant had to be in place and do their designated moves. No one could make a mistake because of the single take. I wonder if there was more than one required to get it perfect?
Agreed. What I find amazing is that right at the end, there are still actors in the background that are on the screen for just moments showing that the clip is even larger!
@@jean_mollycutpurse_winchester yes, this is a snippet of the 8 minute number. You must catch the movie and will be even more wowed.
I have watched this number many times and remain blown away by it all. This was the "goldenest moment" of them all in Hollywood musicals.
A pretty girl is like a melody
That haunts you night and day,
Just like the strain of a haunting refrain,
She'll start up-on a marathon
And run around your brain.
You can't escape she's in your memory.
By morning night and noon.
She will leave you and then come back again,
A pretty girl is just like a pretty tune.
Nice one!
Anybody notice that the lady at the top always faces the camera while the staircase goes around her? Amazing.
All just Pure magic there will never be anything like it ever again.
So very true!
Thank God I got to see what Real Hollywood was before this time we live in now! This was actors who thrive on skills and the direction of the studios!!!
This was also when studios could work their actors into the ground and get away with it. You should read about how Judy Garland was treated.
@@kyoyameganebereznoff Yeah, but you actually had to be talented back then and talented in multiple ways.
Amen
It sounds more like Aled Jones singing!! His voice is so distinct! I’d swear that was him!
That's because it IS Allan Jones. His singing voice was used instead of Dennis Morgan's.
I love watching these old Hollywood musicals, with so much class and talent. Nothing can compare to the Ziegfeld productions, or Fred Astaire and his dancing partners. Back then they didn't even have the technology or computers of today.
That Broadway Melody from 1940. I've never seen such exquisite dancing in my life. I cannot imagine the amount of practice hours that those artists put into it.
The most beautiful thing I 've ever seen...brings tears to my eyes
Yes, I agree!!
This clip is just the end of a very long and astounding sequence. You cannot look away from the screen.
Yes, I wish I had the entire clip.
Those women were part of something very special that they can tell their family for generations.
They certainly were!
Every-time I watch those dancers I feel a tear coming on for the sheer brilliance, dedication and artistry. A time when Hollywood was truly at the top of its game.
Life was grand back then. Everything, larger than life. And this, surely proves it. Just wow💕!!!
It's such a fantastic film.
In fact the opposite- life was at the tail end of the Depression...but the movies were made grand for escapism!
No one, today, has the genius to do such an innocent showstopper.
Wikipedia: The "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody" set alone was reported to have cost US$220,000 (US$4,053,381 in 2019 dollars[3]),[4] featuring a towering rotating volute of 70 ft (21 m) diameter with 175 spiral steps, weighing 100 tons.
That's amazing information. Thank you, Rowby.
Although the voice heard singing Irving Berlin’s music and lyrics was that of the tenor Allan Jones, Dennis Morgan (a lyric baritone) was chosen to lip-synch Jones’ voice because Morgan resembled John Steel, the tenor who had introduced the song in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1919.
Very, very interesting. Thank you.
Molly, If you’ve not heard John Steel’s 1919 Victor recording of “A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody,” here’s a link to it:
czcams.com/video/mB097aRIolc/video.html
Dennis Morgan singing "A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody" (1936) Just one of my bestest favorite magnificent (BB??) musicals. How and why they did them all is beyond comprehension. Could never ever do them today.
Think: rehearsing schedule!?!? Eeekkkk.
So yeah, we are fortunate to see/have on film in 2020 ❤
Just. So. Unbelievable.
It is truly wonderful, isn't it!
But that wasn't Dennis Morgan's voice. They dubbed it with Allan Jones' voice. I don't know why. And I don't know why they didn't have Sinatra mention it in That's Entertainment. I can't believe someone involved didn't know it.
@@ronaldcammarata3422 I was always annoyed that Sinatra didn't mention it was Allan Jones singing, and not Dennis Morgan in That's Entertainment!
I agree with all of th here replies...Now...take it to the BIG SCREEN! I'd pay whatever the price. We need this respite from all of the ugliness that's
in our world today. Hollywood was incredible from the late 1900's through and after the war...All of the pre code movies were fabulous. Kay Francis....Norma Sheerer....Hollywood now, can never compete...NEVER ....EVER!!!
Some young women today could benefit seeing well groomed, well mannered NO NOSE RINGS..., women.
It was a magical, creative passionate industry. Now for the most part...garbage...
Musicals will never be the way it was then .absolutely beautiful the dancers and there dance scenery back then was beautiful. Fred Was a great tap dancer then so was Eleanor Powell a great female dancer .they may be gone but there dance routine will always be remembered. Rest in peace to all the best dancers of that time godbless them amen🙏🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🦋🦋🦋🌹🌹🌹🕺💃🙏💖
Thank you. They certainly deserve all your loving praise.
Love all these old movies better than today with everyone flying around
I could not agree with you more! Just fantastic!
By the way, the singer is Allan Jones, dubbing Dennis Morgan
Thanks for that, Sanford.
There must be some people watching this scene and saying "Here's my grandma!"
Yeah, you're probably right!
How can they be this awesome in performing? Practice, ling ling 40 hours.
And well never ever see talent like this ever again. From all concerned on tbese works of art.
Absolutely true!
Two interesting facts about that AMAZING stage number: 1) What you see on film is the FIRST attempt at the production. They got it perfectly right the first time. 2) Although Dennis Morgan did have a beautiful singing voice, he was lip syncing to Allan Jones voice. Here is the proof from IMDB's listings: The Great Ziegfeld (performer: "A Pretty Girl Is Like a Melody" (1919) - uncredited)
Some of the powerful notes were simply beyond Morgan's range.
Also as the camera pans back out, there is that girl on the top row that decides to fluff up her dress just as it's going round almost out of sight. Presumably, she thought she was out of shot.
Albert Yokum - At first, they're playing "Rhapsody in Blue" by George Gershwin, but don't ever say he wrote the "Pretty Girl" song too - give the credit to Irving Berlin.
Just watched that again. Wow!! Double wow!!!
One of my absolute favs from MGM.
It is beautiful, isn't it?
I always thought this was unreal boy did they know how to make movies back then.
Dad started filming in 1957 this was 1969.
I wish I could be sitting up on those steps!
Me too!!!
The story goes that in the Fred Astaire dance number, MGM couldn't find a supplier to take on the mirrors, so MGM made them themselves in-house - glass mirror floor and 30' tall mirrors upstage ... what a beast of a job that would have been, not to mention 'choreographing' the movement of the mirrored rear wall of the set to avoid unwanted reflections that would ruin the scene - production talent at it's best... without even mentioning the 'Pretty Girl; set - do you realize that that monumental spiraling curtain is actually cut / made to sit on each step, as it rotates back into the closed position... now a behind the scenes shot of that set operating would be absolutely gob-smacking...
Thank you, John for that wonderful information. Truly astounding!
That is not Dennis Morgan's voice It's' Alan Jones.
The best crane shot of all time.
I’d have to say Gone With the Wind 1939
Although this is the greatest MGM Crane Shot indeed!
It's an excerpt from the documentary "That's Entertainment!" from 1974, celebrating MGM's 50th anniversary
The voice is Frank Sinatra's
Correct!
Flawless ( and very complex) dance routine ! Just beautiful perfection !
I saw this clip (the cake), on That's Entertainment (I believe they show the whole clip on that). It's the most amazing scenery in any film that I've ever seen! Mixed in with that old fashioned Hollywood romance. I feel nostalgic for those times, before I was even born.
Me too!
So classic and i love it... 😍😍
❤️
Pure beauty and artistry of an era sadly gone.............
So very, very true!
That curtain omg
It does rather take your breath away, doesn't it!!
Compare this to some of our current crap such as rap, etc and we've lost so much we cannot reclaim.
I could not agree with you more if I tried! It's very sad.
STILL unbelievable....
Wow wow wow there is literally nothing close to this now. Hollywood is long dead. It truly was the dream factory.
I know. It's sad to think that greed has taken Hollywood over so much.
The awesome talent in Hollywood in those days can never be equalled.....all these movies needed, were to be shot in color, adding a dazzling new dimension to them.
It'll be marvellous if someone was to do one of them 60 FPS, colour, AI jobs on them. And it's true, they are pure entertainment of the very highest quality.And as you say, awesome talent.
Exactly the technology of today could easily add true colour to these sequences. Maybe one day. 👍🥸🤓
Time marches on: 2021....
Thank goodness!!!!
I read somewhere that Robert Alda (father of Alan) was the actual singer.
I have a feeling somebody else mentioned that that in the comments as well. Thanks for your comment.
I have highlighted and commented on this unequalled musical number a few times now. Beautiful crane shot at the end.
Certainly amazing!
I'm referring to "A Pretty Girl is Like A Melody".
I love it!
Very Beautiful.
Thank you for your comment. I entirely agree!
I still get goosebumps watching the first one. Broadway Melody?
Me too!
Beautifull
Isso é maravilhoso! Só vocês americanos pra proporcionar isso pra gente! Parabéns e valeuuu 🤗.
Muito obrigado
Simply amazing
Isn't it just. Just wonderful. Never to be repeated.
I recently just rewatched "The Towering Inferno." It was interesting to see Fred Astaire as an elderly gentleman and not in a musical. A lot of stars in that movie.
A lovely elderly gentlemen indeed.
For that role he received the only Academy Award nomination of his long career, in the Best Supporting Actor category. He lost to Robert DeNiro (as Vito Corleone, The Godfather Part II)
Luis Humberto Vega did not know. Thanks for the information! With it being a big effects, disaster movie I didn’t think there would’ve been academy nominations beyond technical categories. Hey, looks like he got the Golden Globe for the role though. Just looked it up.
@@TheIndependentLens Oh, that, about Astaire being awarded the GG is news to me, thank you. I follow the Óscars but not the other awards. Too bad those 1-derful dancers of Hollywood's Golden Age never received the recognition they deserved as actors as if the performing of a dance was not hard enough. Unless they starred in some intense drama with a lot of crying and emoting they were usually ignored in the acting categories. When you asked Donald O'Connor about his profession he simply answered 'I am an actor.', implying that singing, dancing, comedy, drama and anything else comprising the performing disciplines formed part of, were branches of Acting. I definitively agree with him, and he was great at everything he did.
@@jean_mollycutpurse_winchester Although he was trying to sell Jennifer Jones a pup!
Super excellent with very good interesting video
When MGM assigned Cukor to direct Rosa Ponselle’s 1936 screen test for a proposed film of “Carmen,” a script was drafted and sent by him to Ponselle through her manager, Libbie Miller. When Ponselle read the script she sent a handwritten letter to Cukor saying, “Georgie [her pet name for him], there’s a character missing from the script and he’s pretty important-Don Jose!”
Thanks for that information.
the number was recorded early onsite is Allan Jones' voice but he was filming another musical when this was filmed
Better than the vitriol Hollywood makes today.
I could not agree with you more!
Amazing!
Agreed!!!
Que saudades dos bons musicais da MGM!
Me too!!
Probably someone has already mentioned this, but it's worth repeating. While that is Dennis Morgan in the scene, it is definitely NOT Dennis Morgan singing. It's Allan Jones (father of future singer Jack Jones) singing. For some reason they dubbed in Jones's voice. I don't know why. I also don't know why they didn't have Sinatra point this out in That's Entertainment.
Thank you for this information.
SPECTACULAR
And all narrated by Francis Albert Sinatra
These films were before my time.but i love them.how talented this guy was.plus look at all those people extas.you said it.it was pure beauty and talent. I read that Fred wasnt a good person to deal with but if you are a professional and perfection then hes the one.they look like they are having so much fun.
Agreed. I can't imagine how complex it must have been setting it up. I wonder how many DAs he had working under him.
この時代にこの完成度素晴らしい！
Most certainly!!
Molly Cutpurse
1 minute ago
It is from the film, The Great Ziegfeld (MGM, 1936)
Defo! Who knows where it might land, bring em on! Enjoy, at least we have CZcams!
I am not quite clear on your comment. Did you mean to paste it on another CZcams video?
16 seconds in the second girl on the left in white totally looses count and messes up. She plonks herself down on that step it must have been a real jolt. I always wonder if any of the other three girls noticed, or any of the boys on the stairs to the right. The boys have very little time to move from the two lines facing each other to the one line up the side of the staircase. The lead girl in black also has to move to where Dennis Morgan was standing for his last part of his solo section, between the first two girls in the big white frocks. All of the girls in black with the black masks also had to do a mad dash while the camera is focusing on Virginia Bruce in time for the pull-back. Dennis Morgan also has to run from the end of his opening solo which is before this clip starts at the very beginning of the number, behind the massive curtain while action/dancing is going on in front of it, to be in his place for the final solo. As fabulous, truly fabulous as this number is, I've watched it so many times and focused on what the camera isn't picking up. A LOT of running to get into new positions for that pull-back. It would have been absolutely incredible to have worked on this. That contraption that lifts the huge weight of fabric in the curtains must have been massive and very complicated. Not only is it lifting the curtain with it's weight, but it's also lifting it AND turning at the same time and lifting and lowering in in drops! Amazing, amazing work.
Very nice observations
@@jean_mollycutpurse_winchester thanks for that. It is one of my favourite numbers... it has a couple of faults but.. imagine stopping because it was your fault! or simply because a dress wasn't sitting quite right! One of the girls at the top of the stairs also moves her head around to get Virginia Bruce's dress away from her so she can be seen. Very annoying.
@@jean_mollycutpurse_winchester third girl from the very top below Virginia Bruce.. she pushes Miss Bruce's dress to one side so she can be seen! Naughty! And captured on film forever.
Unbelievable!
It is, isn't it!
Just imagine this in colour!!
That would truly be spectacular!
I always wonder what it would look like in color.
מה קרה לסרטים המצוינים האלה? האם זה הקללה שדור ישכח מה שהלך קודם?
meu Deus como amo ver isso....
queria ter vivido nesse tempo
Me too!!!
Veo estas interpretaciones y Wow ,palabras con emosion de ver actuaciones de verdadero valor artistico,verdaderos artistas y lo mejor en su tipo,
👍
That long SINGLE camera shot - without edits - unbelievable. Just imagine the rehearsals and re-takes and do-overs. I remember watching this on a small black and white TV set in the early 60's. Does anyone know where to find the full spiral staircase clip? It begins long before this feature cuts-in.
It is from the film, The Great Ziegfeld (MGM, 1936)
Just how much fabric did that curtain require?
Yes, unbelievable!
4,300 yards of silk rayon according to the publicity, if you can believe that.
Utter perfection
Couldn't put it better myself!
Cut out the fantastic beginning, of A Pretty Girl, missing at least a couple of minutes, don’t know why.
This is really the end of “A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody”
This is a clip from THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT (1974, narrated by Frank Sinatra). They only used a portion of the number in that film.
How did they remember all those steps? By practising about 16 hours a day, I guess!
I started dancing at two weeks old. Shirley 1959
Why doesn't tap dancing come back in style? It would be great exercise, you can do it alone or in pairs, it is flexible in its choreography, and requires a degree of athleticism. Sounds like it would be a winner!
Agreed. I did tap when I was a teenager.
Modern audiences won't like watching a well-dressed person tap for minutes on end.
Just simply beautiful. And folks they don't make them like this anymore. So take lessons.😊❤
So very, very true. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
@@jean_mollycutpurse_winchester Yes I did!❤
0:45 Such a strange vibrato. Guys and gals both sang that way back in the day.
Just to be vlear, though Dennis Morgan is in the movie, it is Alan Jones's voice you hear singing.
A zabudol som este na rko a f.astaira a g. Rogers.peter ragac,slovakia
Jewelry box of dream so sweet…
Lovely...
This is only the last part of this sequence.
Alan Jones voice......
I know...❤
Without reading all the comments, I don't know if anyone has already mentioned it...but it's worth mentioning anyway. For some reason I have never heard, Dennis Morgan's singing voice was dubbed over wih Allan Jones's voice. Why? 🤷🏻♂️
I believe, yes, somebody does mention that. Although, whether they offer the reason, sorry, I cannot remember.
Ehm... About ten times? (and I haven't read them all).
@@irmar Do you feel better now?
There were said to be 400 chorus girls who worked regularly in Hollywood at this time, but Seymour Felix, the choreographer, found it hard to round up twenty who fitted his requirements. They had to be at least 5 ft 6 ins tall, above average for American girls, with faces that stood up to close-ups.
Felix won the second Oscar given for dance direction for this scene, but he walked off his next assignment, 'Born to Dance', when his ideas for the finale were shot down by Cole Porter and Eleanor Powell. Felix's career then declined. His Broadway-based notions of staging, like Ziegfeld's, were too static for *motion* pictures.
Thanks for that, Esmee. Good information. I wonder how much money this effect cost?
Too bad it looks like these productions won’t be repeated. I’m almost feeling sorry for future generations
Oh, I defiantly feel sorry for future generations!