The Goldwyn Follies

Adolphe Menjou is producer "Oliver Merlin" who selects "Hazel Dawes" (Andrea Leeds) to be his modern day arbiter elgantiae - to keep him in touch with the mood of the ordinary person on the street. Good idea, in principle, but he doesn't particularly agree with her; nor does he really know how to implement her information - so what we end up with here is a bit of a shambles of a film. Comedy, opera, (good - Vera Zorina) ballet, ventriloquism, dancing - you name it, but much of it to no great standard. It reminded me of one of the "Good Old Day's" type Vaudeville theatrical performances that tried to have something for just about everyone; and though all get their five minutes of fame, the rest of it is of little interest. What is of note is that it was the final creative effort from George Gershwin who contributed "Love Walked In" and "Love is Here to Stay" to salvage something from this rambling effort. It's fun, colourful and generally positive but tries too hard to be all things to all folks and falls pretty flat much of the time. Far too long, too.