Purely Joyful Movie!

A Brilliant Conflict

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Movies and Broadway in 1974 were in a state of emergency with the lack of family entertainment (exclusing Disney, of course) and the state of society. "Boy Do We Need It Now!", the adds for this compilation of clips from MGM musicals made between 1929 and 1958 exclaimed. From "Broadway Melody" to "Gigi", from "Wedding of the Painted Doll" to "Thank Heavens For Little Girls", from Bessie Love to Leslie Caron. The docu-musical covers the height of the movie musical era, even though musicals continued to be made on a regular basis through the mid 1970's, most of them unmemorable even with the few classics thrown in.MGM continued to make the occasional musical, with film versions of "Bells Are Ringing" and "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" being highlights, and such later newer classics as "Fame" and "Victor/Victoria". But when you've got Jeanette and Nelson, Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Howard Keel, Kathryn Grayson, Jane Powell and Esther Williams, to name a few, you focus on that era, and that is what the first of four entries into the "That's Entertainment!" franchise focuses on, with many of the stars providing insight into the behind the scenes of what it was like to work at MGM.Long before Turner Classic Movies, the former stars of MGM ("More Great Movies!" one pre-TCM promo exclaimed) got together to reminisce and show off the highlights of the past. "That's Entertainment!" focuses on the musicals made at MGM (three of which were Oscar Winners) and with Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Elizabeth Taylor, Mickey Rooney, Frank Sinatra and Liza Minnelli (representing her parents) narrating, it is certainly nostalgic indeed. This was prior to home video and cable T.V. as well, so unless you had a local channel which broadcast them, you had very little chance to see them. No wonder why this was one of the top box office films of the year. Today's younger fans of this genre are too accustomed to DVD and TCM to appreciate what it was like to have this if you didn't have immediate access to these classics.So in retrospect, getting to see "A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody" and "Rosalie" on the big screen again with their many extras and Mickey and Judy putting on a show in a barn, Gene stompin' around in the rain as he is approached by a suspicious cop, Fred sailing across the sky while dancing with Joan Crawford, the joy of the arrival of the "Show Boat", Esther descending above a giant pool with smoke all around her and delightful shots of the city of lights with "An American in Paris" and "Gigi", is still a bit of heaven on earth. The delight of the stars to present this years after making these films is never self-gratifying egotism; A lot of hard work was put into making these gems, and now in its 40th Anniversary, "That's Entertainment!" remains one of the top salutes to a golden age that has never been surpassed.

Unless you absolutely hate musicals, there's no reason to think that you would not enjoy "That's Entertainment!". That's because as a celebration of the MGM musical, it contains a bazillion clips from their greatest films in the genre. If you don't like one, you are bound to love the next. And, with so many great films, there is so much to like.The clips are not just thrown together in a random manner but are arranged in blocks. Each block is narrated by an MGM icon from their golden age--such as Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, Debbie Reynolds and Gene Kelly. Each is shown walking the VERY sad MGM backlot while discussing the films. I say sad because the sets were in dilapidated condition and were bulldozed right after this film was completed--a pathetic ending to some wonderful movie moments and locales.By the way, it sure would have been nice if each clip had been identified--perhaps with a small title in the corner in the beginning. As a huge fan buff, I really tried to identify all the clips but couldn't.

It's bad enough that Reel 13 feels the need to air these compilation films at all in place of an actual classic, let alone airing them in reverse order. In my blog from May about THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT PART II, I suggested that film suffered because it was an afterthought and focused on the leftover clips from the first one. Well, in rewatching THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT last night, my theory was confirmed. That's Entertainment is significantly more, well, entertaining, largely because it features all the big guns in the MGM library like SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, AN American IN Paris, THE BANDWAGON, the Mickey and Judy movies, etc. It is more comprehensive, more interesting, more educational, more star-studded (the second only features Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire as hosts – here we have those guys plus Sinatra, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Bing Crosby and more) and more impactful.It did start to drag a little toward the end, but I think much of that had to do with having seen the sequel so recently. I had my fill of scenes from MGM musicals for one summer, but that aside, I feel pretty confident that THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT stands on its own as both a fun trip back in time as well as a thorough and reverent celebration of one particular era in the history of cinema.

A marvellous two hours of sheer bliss.The pace of this film is very fast moving and contained COMPLETE musical numbers from some really memorable films.The quality of some of the film prints was excellent considering the age of some of the material. My only criticism is that MGM has NOT released Esther Williams 'One piece bathing suit'('Million dollar mermaid') or 'One the town' on DVD in England. Would MGM like to respond !! Meanwhile,I am now about to view 'That's Entertainment 11'Ray JenkinsSuttonEngland