That's Entertainment!

Rating:
Summary: endlessly enjoyable
Review: Made to celebrate MGM's 50th Anniversary, THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT splices together gloriously-restored footage of some of their greatest musicals, hosted by some of their best stars.

Hosted by Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Gene Kelly, Peter Lawford, Liza Minnelli, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Mickey Rooney, Frank Sinatra, James Stewart and Elizabeth Taylor, THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT is a walk down memory lane, full of nostalgia and insightful information.

With Liza Minnelli presenting a tribute to her mother, the late Judy Garland, and Bing Crosby telling some great stories, this is a great addition to any classic film collection.

An extravaganza brimming with footage from over 100 films, and the dazzling talents of over 125 stars.

You'll adore it.

Rating:
Summary: More Stars Than There Are In The Heavens
Review: Musicals--that most surrealistic of motion picture genres--have fallen out of fashion over the past few decades... but at one time they dominated motion picture screens. MGM, a studio which boasted it had "More Stars Than There Are In The Heavens," was reknowned for the musical talents it had under contract. And this clever compilation, with its various segments introduced by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, Debbie Reynolds, Bing Crosby, and Mickey Rooney, offers an extraordinary collection of musical moments from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s--the golden age of the genre.

The compilation is very, very broad and includes performances by both the still-famous and once-famous, and gives us the opportunity to see some magical moments without having to wade through the entire genre or assess whether or not you actually want to sit through an obscure film in order to see one five minute musical moment. While it includes performances by the delicious Lena Horne (performing "Honeysuckle Rose" before a sophistocated set of drapery and mirrors), the brilliant Elenor Powell (with several offerings, the most memorable being "Begin the Begine" with Fred Astaire), and a host of others, most of the collection revolves around four MGM superstars: Gene Kelly, Esther Williams, Fred Astaire, and Judy Garland. The tribute to Esther Williams is particularly welcome, a marvelous array of some of the most beautiful and beautifully surreal scenes ever put to film; the tribute to Judy Garland, touchingly introduced and narrated by daughter Liza Minnelli, is also particularly well done.

But the real feast here is of musical oddities and rareities. In its search for musical talent, MGM put almost every star under contract through their musical paces--and the result is often truly bizarre. Among the most memorable of these is Joan Crawford, who believe it or not was considered a jazz dancer of some note during the 1920s, and here she (introduced by an emcee as "the personfication of youth, beauty, joy, and happiness) sings and then athelitically stops through "Got A Feeling For You." Robert Montgomery looks awkward trying his hand at light opera; Jimmy Stewart sings pleasantly but unspectacularly; Jean Harlow belts out "Reckless;" and Clark Gable gives a remarkably charming throw-away performance of "Puttin' On The Ritz." It is all tremendous fun.

Of further interest is the fact that most of the narrators have filmed their scenes on the MGM backlot--which was on the verge of demolition when this compilation was made in 1974. It's fading glory is touching, nostalgic, and offers a final glimpse of what was the world's greatest film studio before it entered its final decline. A drawback to the compilation is that at the time it was made few if any of these films had been restored; some of the oldest film clips are in rather poor condition and the brilliance of Technicolor is somewhat reduced in certain scenes. But even with this problem, THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT is a feast of brilliant colors, costumes, spectacular dance numbers, and beautiful sounds, enough to delight any long-time musical fan and convert newcomers to the genre--and the inexpensive price of the video leaves you without excuse for not having it. Strongly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: THE BEST
Review: Seeing MGM`s THAT`S ENTERTAINMENT is as someone else has said here; like eating the best candy in the world....

Everything about this compilation is ace; it`s a work of art and some musical scenes are edited 2 greater effect here than from the picture they originated...

Tasty? Indeed it is. Wanna c TASTELESS? C "That`s Dancin`" 1985. Wanna c some more tasty things?; the 1976 and 1994 sequels are JUST THAT.

Last week I even witnessed it on the big screen here in Norway and I had no idea the big finalies were in 70mm - PEOPLE left the building spellbound and I`m gonna c it again this Friday.

I first saw it on New Years eve 1981 and the video was purchased in 84. Needless 2 say, I have worn several copies out hehehehe

Rating:
Summary: The title says it all!
Review: Thank heaven for MGM musicals! From Black and White to Tecnicolor and Metrocolor, from tap-dancers to pool divers all of the best is here! Scenes from all of the greats including Singin' In The Rain, Gigi, On The Town, The Great Zeigfield, An American In Paris, Meet Me In St. Louis, Babes In Arms and too many more to name! It also has walk on apearances by some of MGM's greatest stars like Elizabeth Taylor, Fred Atsisire, Bing Crosby, Liza Minelli, Peter Lawford, Donald O'Conner, Debbie Reynolds, Mickey Rooney, Jimmy Stewart and of course Gene Kelly! If you love MGM musicals this is an absolute must!

Rating:
Summary: That's Entertainment I: Do it: big, right, and with class!
Review: That's Entertainment I - Reviewed By David E. Shattuck

I have always liked musicals and have had my favorites but viewing "That's Entertainment I" gave me a great lesson into their history. Do you remember at Christmas ever receiving one of those exotic candy samplers in your stocking? Well watching this video gave me a taste of a lot of "fine chocolates" that I want to sample over and over again. You start out visiting the remains of the once great MGM studios hosted by various famous stars who worked for those studios such as Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelley, Jimmy Stuart , Elizabeth Taylor, Donald Connor, Debbie Renoylds,Mickey Rooney and Liza Minelli. I felt like I was in Greece touring the ruins of the gods with those gods and goddesses as my tour Guides. It made me sad to see this once great institution in ruins, those stars aging, and the art form called the musical in decline in our era. Throughout its history MGM created over 200 musicals with the high points being in the 30s, 40s, and 50s. Perhaps the last great musical, the Sound of Music was in the 60s over 30 years ago. The early musicals were traced back to the 20s and were born when sound arrived in the movies. I wondered what happened to many of those silent movie stars who were the first victims of technological downsizing in Hollywood. My personal favorites have always been Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse but I learned about Eleanor Powell and found her a better partner to Fred Astaire than Ginger Rodgers who looked stressed but excellent in her numbers with Fred. There was a classic clip of Fred who proved he could dance with a hat rack ( which didn't look as good as Ginger ) and a scene from the "Royal Wedding" where he danced on the sides of the walls and the ceiling always winding down to a sitting position like he never expended a bit of energy and showing no sweat. I had many of one liner observations from the video and here they go: I enjoyed a clip from the Ziegfield Follies which turns out to be the only musical in which Gene Kelley and Fred Astair worked together; their is a rare footage of Jimmy Stuart walking in song with Eleanor Powell; a timeless dance between Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse to "Dancing in the Dark" from the "Bandwagon";scenes of Gene Kelley doing his own acrobatic stunt dances; Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney numbers from the Hardy Boys (They made a great couple); Ann Miller (the best lady tap dancer) from "Small Town Girl"; Donald Oconnor doing a classic comedy dance in "Singing in the Rain"; and of course the color and pageantry of Ester Williams swimming with the likes of Fernando Lamas, Van Johnson, Peter Lawford, Ricardo Montabaum, and even Jimmy Durante, Red Skelton, and cartoon characters Tom and Jerry. (Ester was a well sculpted figure with strong muscular legs and perhaps might be a body builder today). I thoroughly enjoyed "That's Entertainment I" and look forward to watching II and III. I pray that there will once again be a revival of the musical . Today the musical lives on in different forms such as "Riverdance" and interesting enough in the many animated movies of Disney such as Aladdin and Pocahontas . I close with a quote from the video by Frank Sinatra who said the MGM motto has always been, "Do it big, do it right, and give it class". Now that's entertainment!

Rating:
Summary: AMAZING!
Review: This film really does have the best scenes from the best musicals without you having to sit through a hundred different movies.
The film is split into several sections with each section being devoted to either a star or a type of musical although Judy Garland does recieve 2 sections devoted to her, one by a very aged Mickey Rooney covering her early career and one by her daughter covering her classics.

Not only is this film good to watch because of the amazing musical numbers [the Busby Berkley and Zeigfeld ones are AMAZING] but it is also extremely amusing to watch straight actors atempting to sing [Elizabeth Taylor really takes the cake].

Its nice to see all of the hollywood greats coming together to make a movie although Clark Gable and Judy Garland to leave glaring holes where they should have hosted sections and it would have been better if the film were made 10 years earlier as quite a few notably Peter Lawford have passed their sell by date.

All in all it is very nostalgic and brings togethrer the best of the best is a star studded tribute!

Rating:
Summary: Good but drags a bit
Review: This works best if you are a fan of all or most of the stars of the Golden Age. If you are only interested in one or two, you will probably get bored. It's a little sad to see the stars older and heavier than in their heyday, although the worst problem for me was having them do their segments in the MGM graveyard. This undercuts the film's nostalgic intent, because it's depressing to see those shabby abandoned sets. But it still has its good moments. I liked having Liza Minelli do the tribute to her mom and dad, and Fred and Gene introducing each other's films.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable But Needs Some Editing
Review: Well, they had the right idea, and most of the truly classic moments are here. And they are exuberant, giddy delights, the kind you can watch over and over again. The narrations are low key and unobtrusive, but often unintentionally hilarious, particularly when stars prance about in dated clothes and try their best to be pensive (Mr. Lawford's outfit takes the cake). Worse, the film is saggy, with a few too many uninspired scenes. There's 90 minutes of wonderful material here; too bad it lasts over 120 minutes.

Rating:
Summary: MGM's Glory Days
Review: When I re-viewed this film recently, I suddenly remembered how I was actually kind of suspicious of it when it first came out. What's there to be suspicious of? Well, you gotta remember, it was the early 70's, and people were just getting over their 60s hangover. The "silent majority" was gaining sway over the "counterculture," and the winding down of the Viet Nam war inevitably led to a kind of "cooling of America."

And the Beatles had broken up. Janis, Jimi and Jimbo were all dead. And suddenly, what appeared to be "establishment entertainment" was reasserting itself with a vengeance. The Carpenters, Anne Murray, all this soft stuff. And to top it all off, MGM releases this ode to itself and tells us, by implication anyway, that REAL entertainment was not all that acid rock. The real stuff is MGM movie musicals from the 40s and 50s. To a young (would-be)hippie, it all seemed like cultural retrenchment and I wasn't having any of it.

Well, actually, I was. I had to check it out. Hey, those Busby Berkeley styled numbers were pretty trippy after all! And those Esther Williams clips? Psy-kay-delic! And hey, it may not have been A HARD DAY'S NIGHT, but it was all good dreamy stuff from the Hollywood dream factory.

Well, it's all a mystery now why I was even a little wary of the movie back then. Yeah, as someone noted below, it is indeed a bit self-congratulatory, but then what retrospective isn't? But the film's highlights show that such an attitude is warranted, actually. Astaire, Kelly, Garland, all those amazing talents, the like of which we'll likely not see again--not on AMERICAN IDOL anyway.

Looking back, I don't know why I felt so threatened by this "establishment" product back in my salad days. I should have just taken it for what it was and is. Entertainment.

Rating:
Summary: Remember it!
Review: When I saw this in the theater years ago, my date that night sang along with every song. That was well over twenty five years ago and now I am doing the singing along! This is the very best of the "That's Entertainment" series with wonderful performances by Hollywoods greatest singers and dancers. If you love the musicals this tape is for you - enjoy it!