The Great Ziegfeld appears in an aspect ratio of 1.37:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This turned into a largely solid presentation.
Sharpness mostly came across well. A few shots seemed a little ill defined, especially when they featured leading ladies, as those utilized mild examples of soft focus. Nonetheless, the majority of the flick appeared reasonably distinctive and detailed.
I noticed no issues with jagged edges or shimmering, and edge haloes failed to agree. With a slight layer of grain, I suspect the presentation used some noise management but it did so in a modest manner, and I witnessed no print flaws.
Blacks looked tight and deep, and contrast seemed solid. The movie exhibited a nicely silver sheen that depicted the black and white photography well. Despite a bit more softness than expected, Ziegfeld offered a satisfying image.
In addition, The Great Ziegfeld presented a more-than-adequate DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack. Nothing about the audio excelled, but it seemed solid for its age.
Speech demonstrated pretty positive clarity and appeared surprisingly natural. Some lines were slightly edgy, but the dialogue didn’t seem as thin and shrill as I expected.
Effects were acceptably clean and accurate; they didn’t demonstrate much range, but they lacked distortion and were fairly concise. Music seemed similarly restricted but sounded fine for its age.
The songs were reasonably full and replicated the source material acceptably. Ultimately, Ziegfeld provided a relatively fine piece for a flick from 1936.
How did the Blu-ray compare to the DVD from 2003? The lossless audio seemed a bit stronger than its lossy counterpart, but there’s not a lot that can be done with 87-year-old material.
As for visuals, the BD seemed cleaner and richer than the DVD. It offered a nice step up in quality.
The Blu-ray combines old and new extras. In the “old” domain, we get a featurette called Ziegfeld on Film. In this 13-minute, 24-second program, we see film clips, home movies and other archival materials, and interviews with daughter Patricia Ziegfeld-Stephenson, actor Luise Rainer, and author Richard Ziegfeld. They discuss his career and life.
Parts of this echo what we see in the flick, but we learn some other elements as well, and we learn how the fiction differs from the reality. We also get notes about the creation of The Great Ziegfeld and reactions to the piece. It’s a short but tight and informative piece.
Another piece from the DVD, we locate New York Hails The Great Ziegfeld. This footage lasts four minutes, four seconds and shows the flick’s Broadway premiere.
We also hear some soundbites from largely unidentified – but apparently prominent – moviegoers. Though it’s a rough piece – it compiles bits without clean editing, and we see awkward starts and finishes to the comments – it offers an interesting glimpse of history.
If nothing else, it merits a look to watch Harpo Marx actually say “Honk honk” into the microphone!
As we head to features added to the Blu-ray, we find a vintage cartoon from 1936 called Toy Town Hall. It goes for six minutes, 32 seconds.
Hall focuses on a toddler who dreams that his toys come to life and put on a show. Like most cartoons of the era, it seems more cute than funny, but it offers an interesting time capsule.
In addition to the film’s trailer, we get an audio-only promo program called Leo Is On the Air. It spans 14 minutes, 25 seconds.
“Air” focuses on songs featured in the movie along with sound bites. It seems tedious but I guess it adds value for archival reasons.
Though it drags at times and could lose an hour of its running time, The Great Ziegfeld mostly presents a fun experience. Generally a light and plucky little romp, it boasts solid production values, fine acting, and enough clever moments to make it a winner. The Blu-ray features good picture and audio given the age of the movie, but the collection of bonus materials seems mediocre. Nonetheless, Ziegfeld comes as a likable little surprise that I recommend.
To rate this film, visit the prior review of THE GREAT ZIEGFELD