The Goldwyn Follies is a musical from 1938 that stars Adolphe Menjou, The Ritz Brothers, and Vera Zorina, among others. The story follows a small town girl’s trip to Hollywood to aid a movie producer in “humanity.” Since his last few pictures have failed, he feels he needs this young lady, whom he approached in a soda shop, to bring some common sense to his work in Hollywood. The problem is though that the star of Mr. Martin’s movies is interested in being his love interest and sees “Miss Humanity” as a threat. Laugh out loud comedy ensue, even if it is a very random film.
For the most part, this script is so disjointed that they really shouldn’t have tried to make it cohesive. It seems to be that it would have been a lot better as a true testament to Follies. That said, the musical doesn’t lack funny moments. The casting director’s assistant and Miss Humanity’s scene’s together are pretty fun as are every one of the segments with the comedy team The Ritz Brothers. Their song about a cat is easily the highlight of the film and will have you laughing out loud by the time it ends! While they do come off as a poor man’s Marx Brothers they are funny together and genuinely elevate this film.
Another high point is the Technicolor, it look really sharp here. While I’ve never seen the last version of this released on DVD, it is said that this is a huge improvement and I can attest to the sharp colors in this version. It doesn’t look soft like many re-release from this era have. The music of course, is excellent as well. So if you are simply looking for good songs and a few laughs then this will more than please you and the price won’t make you feel bad about buying it instead of renting it.
Reviewed by Mark Fisher
