The Goldwyn Follies

"The Goldwyn Follies" is a 1938 movie, written by Ben Hecht, Sam Perrin and Arthur Phillips, with music by George Gershwin, Vernon Duke, and Ray Golden, and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. Some sources credit Kurt Weill as one of the composers, but this is apparently incorrect. "The Goldwyn Follies" was the first Technicolor film produced by Samuel Goldwyn.

The movie, which features Adolphe Menjou, Edgar Bergen (with Charlie McCarthy), Andrea Leeds, Kenny Baker, Helen Jepson, Vera Zorina, Bobby Clark and the Ritz Brothers, depicts a movie producer who chooses a simple girl to be "Miss Humanity" and to critically evaluate his movies from the point of view of the ordinary person. The style of the film is very similar to other musicals of its era, including the "Gold Diggers" series and others. For the most part, the plot is there to hang songs on instead of for any purpose in and of itself. The film is choreographed by George Balanchine.

Songs include:
* "Our Love is Here to Stay"
* "I Was Doing All Right"
* "Spring Again"
* "Love Walked In"
* "I Love to Rhyme"

This was the last film score written by George Gershwin before his death on 11 July 1937. "The Goldwyn Follies" was released on 20 February 1938. The movie was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Score and for Best Interior Decoration.

References

*http://musicalheaven.com/g/goldwyn_follies.shtml
*Harry Medved, Randy Dreyfuss, and Michael Medved, "The Fifty Worst Films of All Time" (1978)

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030194/ "The Goldwyn Follies" at IMDB]