That's Entertainment! (1974)

That's Entertainment! (1974)*** 1/2 (out of 4)As Frank Sinatra says at the start of the program, certain studios were great at horror and others were known for their great gangster movies but MGM will always be remembered for their grand musicals. This documentary covers some of their greatest moments and has clips from dozens of films and legendary stars.There are too many film clips shown here to list all of them but I assure you that all of the big titles are here. THE WIZARD OF OZ, SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, THE BAND WAGON, ON THE TOWN, THE PIRATE, BABE IN ARMS, MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS and SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS. Again, there are dozens of other clips shown from the late 20s up to the late 50s when MGM was the king of musicals.Best of all is that these are broken down into various segments where we get some terrific hosts to discuss their time on the MGM lost. These names include Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, James Steawrt, Mickey Rooney, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Lisa Minnelli and Elizabeth Taylor.If you're a fan of musicals then this is a no-brainer, although one could argue that the best way to experience these songs and dance numbers are seeing the films in their entirety. This might be true but what's here is still incredibly wonderful and certainly entertaining. If you're unfamiliar with these movies then THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT! is even more valuable as it gives you a great idea of why these people became legends.

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.

This Compilation of Clips from MGM Musicals can serve two distinct and delightful Audiences. Those Older Folks who have been there and done that, and those who have not. It can be a Nostalgic Trip down Memory Lane or an Introduction to these Popular Movies for those that are Curious. The Movie is heavy on Self-Congratulatory MGM Hubris, but if taken in that context it can be forgiven. Because the Movie is non-stop in its inclusion of Colorful and Timeless Musicals and some of the Famous Songs and Dances, some in their Entirety, and others Shorten for Time Restraints.It is an Eye-Popping Extravaganza of Talent, be They Hoofers, Crooners, of Choreographers like the inimitable Busby Berkeley. The Film zips along and hardly wavers in its Title Conceit. There is much to take in here and it is a rewarding Experience.Recommended for an Introduction to the Musicals of the past as a Primer to determine further Exploration of the Genre. Also for those with a Yearn for Yesteryear and this Time-Stamped Art Form.

In a departure from my normal practice, I will not be awarding "That's Entertainment!"a mark out of ten. There seems little point in rating a film when ninety percent of it consists of clips taken from other films. This film is not a straightforward documentary history of the Hollywood musical. It was made by MGM as a celebration of MGM musicals, and studiously ignores anything made by that studio's rivals. Clips of song-and-dance numbers from some of those musicals are introduced by a number of the stars who appeared in them, such as Debbie Reynolds, Frank Sinatra and Mickey Rooney.This compilation was probably made because of the way the cinema was changing in the mid-seventies. Although the early part of the decade had seen two particularly fine examples in "Fiddler on the Roof" and "Cabaret", by 1974 the traditional cinema musical was on the decline. There was also a move away from shooting on sets towards shooting on location. Some of the introductory scenes are shot where the musicals themselves were filmed, on MGM's famous backlot which, by 1974, was starting to look very shabby and dilapidated. (It was to be demolished for redevelopment shortly afterwards).The first part of the film was not particularly interesting, largely because so many of the featured clips were taken from films which are now forgotten and even thirty-five years ago were probably little-known. I also wondered why so much attention was given to Esther Williams, who certainly looked good in a swimsuit but was a very limited actress and whose choreographed water-ballets must have looked hopelessly cheesy by the seventies. One thing that I did learn, however, is that the musical genre was so popular in the thirties and forties that many actors, who today would not be thought of as musical stars, were press-ganged into service, regardless of vocal talent (or the lack thereof). We therefore see clips of the likes of James Stewart, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Crawford and Clark Gable performing in some very obscure old films. (Stewart and Taylor also serve as presenters). Of these, it is Gable who acquits himself with the greatest honour, but his musical career never took off, apparently because his fans felt that all that singing and dancing was a bit sissy and out of keeping with his he-man image.Things liven up in the second half of the film, because it now starts to concentrate on the really famous musicals for which MGM is still remembered today. The smug, self-congratulatory tone is still present, but the studio can be forgiven a little self-congratulation when it is talking about films as good as "Show Boat", "Seven Brides for "Seven Brothers", "An American in Paris" and "Singin' in the Rain". These last two, of course, both starred Gene Kelly, who also acts as a presenter. Kelly and Fred Astaire, with their very different styles of dancing, were often perceived as rivals, so it was a good idea to have Kelly present a tribute to Astaire and Astaire present one to Kelly. The most moving moment comes when Liza Minnelli presents a tribute to her mother, Judy Garland, who had died a few years earlier."That's Entertainment!" was obviously popular, because it was followed two years later by "That's Entertainment II"". (There were to be two more similar compilations, "That's Dancing!" in the eighties and "That's Entertainment III" in the nineties). The appeal of films like this at the time was probably their nostalgia value for the older generation who could remember the original musicals. Today they seem more like a curiosity, albeit an entertaining one.