Ziegfeld Follies | |
---|---|
Directed by | Lemuel Ayers Roy Del Ruth Robert Lewis Vincente Minnelli George Sidney |
Written by | Charles Walters |
Produced by | Arthur Freed |
Starring | |
Cinematography | George Folsey Charles Rosher Ray June (uncredited) |
Edited by | Albert Akst |
Music by | Roger Edens Lennie Hayton Conrad Salinger Harry Warren |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Loew's, Inc. |
Release dates |
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Running time | 110 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $3,403,000[1][2] |
Box office | $5,344,000[1] |
Ziegfeld Follies is a 1945 American musical comedy film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), primarily directed by Vincente Minnelli, with segments directed by Lemuel Ayers, Roy Del Ruth, Robert Lewis, and George Sidney, the film's original director before Minnelli took over.[3] Other directors that are claimed to have made uncredited contributions to the film are Merrill Pye, Norman Taurog, and Charles Walters.[4][5] It stars many MGM leading talents, including Fred Astaire, Lucille Ball, Lucille Bremer, Fanny Brice (the only member of the ensemble who was a star of the original Follies), Judy Garland, Kathryn Grayson, Lena Horne, Gene Kelly, James Melton, Victor Moore, William Powell, Red Skelton, and Esther Williams.
Producer Arthur Freed wanted to create a film along the lines of the Ziegfeld Follies Broadway shows, and so, the film is composed of a sequence of unrelated lavish musical numbers and comedy sketches. Some of them, such as Pay the Two Dollars, originated in George White's Scandals.[6] Filmed in 1944 and 1945,[7] it was released in 1946 to considerable critical and box-office success.
The film was entered into the 1947 Cannes Film Festival.[8]