That was an excellent one.

Brilliant and touching

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

With great actors like Joan Crawford and James Stewart, how could 'The Ice Follies of 1939' possibly go wrong? Also like musicals and ice skating (seen especially with Sonja Henie) has dazzled on film. So 'The Ice Follies of 1939' had a lot going for it.Sadly, 'The Ice Follies of 1939' did go wrong. Badly wrong. It is among the worst films for both Crawford and Stewart and career-worsts for them in terms of performances. Very little of 'The Ice Follies of 1939' works, but it is not irredeemable by all means, then again this is coming from somebody who always tries to see good in bad films. The best thing about the film is the ice skating sequences, in both choreography and dancing they are dazzling and where 'The Ice Follies of 1939' sparkles the most.The production values are another redeeming quality. It is a beautiful-looking film and looks expensive, shot in gorgeous rich Technicolor and lavishly produced in the set design. The costumes are both distinguished and elegant. The music has energy and pathos and fares well on its own as well as within the film.Unfortunately, neither Crawford or Stewart are on top form, quite the opposite. Crawford tries but overdoes it, while Stewart simply walks through his role. They do in all fairness have a pathetic script to work with that is impossible to rescue at any rate. As do the rest of the cast that fail to distinguish themselves in forgettable roles other than perhaps Lew Ayres (Lewis Stone is pretty wasted).The script is just full of clunky rambling dialogue, sickly sentimentality, badly written clichés and the cringe factor. The underdeveloped and flat characters also don't help, even the best of actors old and new would struggle to do anything with them.Nor the mostly non-existent story, and when there is a hint of one it's tired and contrived with terribly dull pacing and scenes that go on for too long. Reinhold Schunzel's direction throughout is incredibly dreary.In conclusion, sparkles in three areas, melts completely everywhere else. 3/10 Bethany Cox

I can only imagine that when Joan Crawford,then a reigning star at MGM was handed this script, she asked,"Seriously,LB?" Let's face it, the only reason this awful mess was made was GREED. LB Mayer wanted to cash in on the millions being made by Darryl Zanuck at FOX with the skating pictures Sonja Henie was doing. Joan Crawford and Jimmy Stewart as a couple (no way) of skaters(no way) that get married and end up temporarily separating because she becomes a BIG MOVIE STAR within moments of meeting a movie mogul! Boy,those studio contracts must have been iron-clad because nobody in their right mind would have read this horrible script and decided to make this film unless there were dire consequences to not doing so! Miraculously, this pile of manure didn't kill her career and later in '39 she made The Women. Fortunately, Jimmy Stewart also survived this horror.The color sequence at the end is interesting because it was the first time Crawford was seen in color, and the actual Shipstad-Johnson skaters are good,but the God-awful blue gown she was in almost ruined that.Maybe,I'll try to dig up some actual critic reviews from 1939 of this film. It will be interesting to see what they thought of this train wreck.

Experts tell us that MGM had high hopes for this strange movie pastiche, but it's hard to believe that from the tired on-screen shenanigans. With Sonia Henie making millions for 20th Century Fox in her kitschy skating musicals, Metro imported (at no small cost) the famed International Ice Follies and paired them with Crawford, one of their top-ranked, but skidding, stars. I still find it hard to fathom WHY Metro executives could ever have thought that this lumbering, tired film could serve any use in reversing Crawford's diminishing box-office drawing power. She, James Stewart, and Lew Ayres, seem to be walking through their roles in a most obvious case of movie-making by the numbers, with a plot that is nothing but insulting to its audience.This is not to say that certain pleasures can't be found in the film, if you want to take the time to look. Joan is as beautiful as ever and the Ice Follies finale (in which Joan does NOT skate) looks great in Technicolor. Happily and ironically, it was this film's total failure that brought Crawford one of her best screen roles, that of Crystal Allen in George Cukor's THE WOMEN. Reckless and with a feeling of nothing to lose, Crawford went after that unsympathetic part with a vengeance, AGAINST the advice of LB Mayer, who said it would finish her (but then again, what did HE know.....he LIKED the idea of this one!!)Not nearly as interesting as either THE BRIDE WORE RED (1937) or THE SHINING HOUR (1938), Crawford's other box-office flops of the period, this one is strictly for Crawford or Stewart completists.

This MGM musical was one of the reasons Joan Crawford was labeled box-office poison in the late 30s. After two other big flops "The Bride Wore Red" (1937) & "The Shining Hour" (1938), she starred in this dry and tiresome musical, with her playing ex-skater who becomes a famous Hollywood actress. Look out for the peculiar Technicolor finale on ice! Two stars here.