The Goldwyn Follies

The Goldwyn Follies
One of theatrical release posters
Directed by	George Marshall
Written by	Ben Hecht
Produced by	Samuel Goldwyn George Haight
Starring	Adolphe Menjou The Ritz Brothers Vera Zorina Andrea Leeds Edgar Bergen
Cinematography	Gregg Toland
Edited by	Sherman Todd
Music by	George Gershwin Vernon Duke
Production company	Samuel Goldwyn Productions
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	February 4, 1938 (1938-02-04)
Running time	122 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$2 million [1]

The Goldwyn Follies is a 1938 Technicolor film written by Ben Hecht, Sid Kuller, Sam Perrin and Arthur Phillips, with music by George Gershwin, Vernon Duke and Ray Golden, and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and Sid Kuller. The film was the first Technicolor feature produced by Samuel Goldwyn.

The film, which features Adolphe Menjou, Vera Zorina, Edgar Bergen (with Charlie McCarthy), Andrea Leeds, Kenny Baker, Ella Logan, Helen Jepson, Bobby Clark and the Ritz Brothers, depicts a movie producer who chooses a simple girl to be "Miss Humanity" and to critically evaluate his films from the point of view of the ordinary person. The style of the film is very similar to that of other musicals of its era, including the Gold Diggers series. George Gershwin had not completed the score before his death July in 1937; Vernon Duke finished the songs with Ira Gershwin and wrote the ballet music. ^[2]

The Goldwyn Follies was released in February 1938. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Score as orchestrated by Edward B. Powell under the musical direction of Alfred Newman, as well as for Best Interior Decoration. ^[3]

Cast

• Adolphe Menjou as Oliver Merlin (as Adolph Menjou)
• The Ritz Brothers as Themselves
• Vera Zorina as Olga Samara
• Kenny Baker as Danny Beecher
• Andrea Leeds as Hazel Dawes
• Edgar Bergen as Himself
• Charlie McCarthy as Himself
• Helen Jepson as Leona Jerome
• Phil Baker as Michael Day
• Bobby Clark as A. Basil Crane Jr.
• Ella Logan as Glory Wood
• Jerome Cowan as Director Lawrence
• Charles Kullmann as Alfredo in La Traviata
• The American Ballet of the Metropolitan Opera as Ballet Dancers
• Nydia Westman as Ada
• Alan Ladd as First Auditioning Singer (uncredited)
• Francis Xavier Shields Assistant Director (uncredited)

Soundtrack

Songs include:

• "Love Is Here to Stay"
• "I Was Doing All Right"
• "Spring Again"
• "Love Walked In"
• "I Love to Rhyme"
• "Where's the Gosh-Darn Cat?"

Reception

The film was nominated for the American Film Institute's 2006 list AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals. ^[4]

However, the film was also included in the 1978 book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (and How They Got That Way) by Harry Medved, Randy Dreyfuss and Michael Medved. ^[5]

References

1. Goldwyn Believes Color Photography Here to Stay; Budgets $2,000,000 for Big Musical to Prove It!: Stars Enlisted From Grand Opera to Radio for Role in 'The Goldwyn Follies' in Technicolor; Gigli's Screen Debut; Gloria Dickson on Way Up; Valentino Helps the Press Agents; Notes of the Theater. The Washington Post (1923–1954) [Washington, D.C.] 21 Sep 1937: 14.
2. Crow, James Francis. "Vernon Duke Chosen as Successor to Gershwin on Goldwyn Film Songs." Los Angeles Evening Citizen News, 14 September 1937, 6.
3. "NY Times: The Goldwyn Follies". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-10-17. Retrieved 2008-12-10.
4. "AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals Nominees" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-08-13.
5. Medved, Harry (1978). The Fifty Worst Movies of All Time (and how They Got that Way) (First ed.). Angus & Robertson. p. 288. ISBN   9780207958915 . Retrieved 16 May 2021.

• https://web.archive.org/web/20050208123500/http://musicalheaven.com/g/goldwyn_follies.shtml
• Harry Medved, Randy Dreyfuss, and Michael Medved, The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (1978)
• Green, Stanley (1999) Hollywood Musicals Year by Year (2nd ed.), pub. Hal Leonard Corporation ISBN   0-634-00765-3 page 79

External links

• The Goldwyn Follies at IMDb