Yes, tastes have certainly changed since Ziegfeld's time. Driven by technological improvement and boredom with all things nice this kind of lavish entertainment has gradually been replaced with arty and cheap realism where producers compete to grind the audience's minds into the dirt. Give me honest fantasy anyday!
It's just a story about a woman who unwittingly throws her boyfriend away in her pursuit for fame as a dancer. She enters into a pact with the Devil in the form of a two bit hoofer – she makes it into a Ziegfeld show, he has 5 years contractual sponging off her ahead of him. There's plenty of singing and dancing before the main show, none of it very good but all of it wonderful to watch. The version I saw was in b&w throughout although it's pretty obvious which bits are meant to be in colour, and it ran 94 minutes suggesting it wasn't from the 1950's TV print. A lot of silent films have been restored and preserved but most early talkies have been left to rot away, the soundtrack here has partially returned to blast and crackle and the photography is uneven suggesting a patchwork quilt of available segments has been assembled over the years – so concentration is often needed! I hope the remastered version hasn't got these flaws - but at least every word was clearly enunciated for the benefit of the microphone box. Favourite bits: The ambulance weaving through the streets of New York; the one and only Helen Morgan torch singing What Wouldn't I Do For That Man; the dreamy There Must Be Someone Waiting For Me; the stately and sumptuous sets and costumes of the show itself; even Rudy Vallee singing Vagabond Dreams - rather dully to be sure. I've always liked Eddie Cantor – especially singing, but imho his Jewish tailors shop sketch went on a couple of minutes too long.
So, a nice unassuming film with some spectacular moments and some great songs – well worth watching for people like me who can enjoy it through the ravages of time for what it was: nothing heavy, just (fairly) innocent entertainment.
