A Film Canon

 

 

The Great Ziegfeld stands in the same relation to pre-classical Broadway as Sunset Blvd. does to classical Hollywood, concluding an era by elegaically embodying it. Hence its marked continuity with the stage; or, alternatively, its adoption of a theatrical perspective, evident in its prioritisation of theatrical space (the stages are all palpably grounded, with the camera never straying from a couple of vantage points), as well as its decision to conclude with the mythological spectre of the Great Depression. This ambitious scope produces a number of narrative trajectories, including the tempestuous life of producer Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. (William Powell), as well as the development of theatrical spectacle itself, here presented as an evolution from circus, to independent sideshow, to vaudeville and burlesque, to follies and, ultimately, to the kind of superspectacle that Ziegfeld made his own, and which gestures towards the 'musical' as we now understand it. In the end, however, it feels as if these inspirational narratives merely function as a pretext for a pervasive identification of business with both ethics and romance, respectively encapsulated in Ziegfeld's gentlemanly relationship with his biggest rival, and his inability to distinguish between an economic and sexual investment, explaining his first wife's jealousy upon hearing that he is opening a second show, and clarifying his various costumed extravaganzas as so many gifts of jewellery. By characterising business as a primarily charismatic activity, Leonard construes the Depression as a debit on charisma, and poses the question of whether cinema can recover it; that is, whether Powell is equal to Ziegfeld.