The Ice Follies of 1939

directed by Reinhold Schunzel
Category: "Musical"
Year of Release:1939
Date Added:04/15/2026
Date Watched:04/15/2026
Description:Larry Hall (James Stewart) and Eddie Burgess (Lew Ayres) are a well-known ice skating team. Larry meets Mary McKay (Joan Crawford) and puts her in his show as a singer. It bombs, and the three are out of work. Mary visits movie exec. Douglas Tolliver, and he gives her a chance in the movies. Within months, she's a huge star. Larry decides he can't be married to her unless he's a star too. He takes off and almost immediately manages to create a hit ice follies show. But Mary and Larry realize that their fame keeps them so busy there's no way they can be together. Mary decides to quit show business, even though, in one short year, she's become a top star. But Tolliver won't let her. He visits Larry and makes him a producer of ice-skating movies starring Mary. Really.
My Rating:3

Reviews for The Ice Follies of 1939

Review - Ice Follies of 1939, The

Where to begin. First of all, the three stars chosen to star in an ice-skating movie couldn't ice skate. There was even a running joke about how Mary (Joan Crawford) couldn't skate. Second, the two long ice-skating bits that take up most of the final third of the movie (the second one in color), have nothing to do with the three or with the plot. In fact, the three stars are in the audience watching the second bit, with Mary's character sitting on a couch in the movie watching ... never mind. It was just stupid. After Crawford's character makes it in the movies, she's given a new hair style to make her look more glamorous. Instead, it makes her decidedly unattractive. Even at her best, I never thought she was very pretty. Not only that, but she's supposed to be Stewart's wife, but mostly she looks more likely to be his mother. Just a dud.
Back to the list