The Great Morgan

Frank Morgan, the professional bumbler, decides he's not getting the respect (and money) he deserves at "the studio," so he calls studio boss "KF" -- Leon Ames -- and demands the job of producing a picture. His proposition is, surprisingly, accepted, and after weeks of Morgan's confused shooting, and going ever farther behind schedule and over budget, KF demands to see the result. Disgusted with the professional editor's inability to make any sense from the available footage, Morgan fires him and cuts and splices the film himself -- after, predictably, dumping the contents of the film storage shelves on the cutting room floor.

In the projection room, the resulting product, of course, turns out to be a disaster. (Everything about this movie and the film-within-the-film is predictable, but who cares?) Interspersed with a bit of inane "original footage" -- some of it, naturally, upside down -- Frank has picked up pieces of other MGM productions, which are presented complete and straight: A "Donkey Serenade" (not Allan Jones'}; a neat Elinor Powell dance sequence; songs by Virginia O'Brien with an unbilled Tommy Dorsey and Band, and by the King Sisters; and two MGM shorts complete with title, credit, and "The End" cards -- the familiar John Nesbitt Passing Parade "Our Old Car," and a "new" (to me and IMDb) Pete Smith Specialty on professional "Badminton," that's worth the price of admission.

A very entertaining little movie, especially if you like Morgan and the films of the '40s. I do.

I'm a fan of character actor Frank Morgan (the wizard in "The Wizard Of Oz"), and, as a fan of old films, I think the work that is being done with film preservation is much needed. So, when I read that this hour-long film which had been thought lost had been found, I was quite interested.

Yawn. There's nothing here to hold your attention for an hour. There's a silly plot line with frustrated actor Morgan becoming a bumbling producer. In actuality, that thin plot attempts to hold together a number of MGM shorts...but it's not short enough. These shorts are of minimal interest (or is it just that it's dated?).

This film was a great disappointment, and I can only assume that Frank Morgan was forced to do this film.

The plot of this film if you could call it a plot has Frank Morgan dreaming big dreams of becoming a big producer on the MGM lot. The first thing he should have done is hire a competent editor.

Anyway when he sits down to screen it with studio boss we get some musical numbers,, a John Nesbitt Passing Parade feature and a Pete Smith specialty all rolled into this concoction. Morgan's future at Leo the Lionville remained as an actor.

Some nice musical numbers, but this was a weird movie.

This isn't really a feature film. It's actually an amalgamation of shorts tied together by a flimsy and unfunny storyline about actor Frank Morgan (playing himself) producing his first movie at MGM. There are five shorts in all, four musical vignettes (Eleanor Powell, Lucille Norman & Carlos Ramirez, the King Sisters, and Virginia O'Brien and Tommy Dorsey), a Pete Smith short ("Badminton"), and a "Passing Parade" short ("Our Old Car").

It's hard to understand why MGM would bother doing this, when those shorts could have been shown separately before their feature films. In any case, it doesn't work. None of the shorts are first rate, while the silly Morgan storyline is painful to watch. But not all is lost. "The Great Morgan" allows us to take a rare glimpse at a few behind-the-scenes MGM workers: sound recorder Douglas Shearer (Norma's brother), art director Cedric Gibbons, and costume designer Irene. Too bad Louis B. Mayer didn't play himself (a more dignified movie equivalent is played by Leon Ames). Also, there's a clever (and bizarre) twist at the end involving Leo, the lion, and the ever-befuddled Frank Morgan. That one last minute is worth seeing -- else, you won't believe it.

Beloved American character actor Frank Morgan plays himself in this offbeat film. Morgan, who thinks he's not getting the respect he deserves, convinces studio head K.F. (Leon Ames) to let him produce his own movie. The result is a curious and jumbled collection of short subjects, including several musical numbers, a sentimental look at "Our Old Car", and a segment about badminton. All shorts are strung together with shots of Morgan and Ames watching the movie in a screening room.

Morgan is his usual befuddled self, Ames is classy and dignified as usual, and some of the shorts are mildly entertaining. The musical numbers are very dated, and the badminton short just goes on and on and on. "Our Old Car" is pretty good for lovers of nostalgia. The final gag is quite funny, if you can wait that long. Good movie for die-hard Morgan fans, tough sledding for others.