That's Entertainment!

... instead it's a celebration of MGM's golden age of the musical with introductions by the big stars of that golden age, roughly 1930-1960. Frank Sinatra, Mickey Rooney, James Stewart (seriously, his earliest film roles included warbling in a MGM musical), Elizabeth Taylor, Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and many others share a few of their memories and introduce various famous musical numbers from MGM musicals. One of the biggest stars of MGM's 30s and 40s musicals, Judy Garland, had died in 1969, but Mickey Rooney had a great deal to say about her contributions and about their friendship.

If you've seen "Singin In the Rain" then the primitive nature of the very oldest musical numbers from "Broadway Melody" and "Hollywood Revue" in 1929 might be shocking in contrast to the production values of the ones from the 1940s.

What does this film not do? It doesn't go into detail as to why the movie musical went out of vogue by 1960 and why they specifically stopped being made at MGM. Tougher labor laws and the end of the studio system made large casts of extras and large stables of contract talent impossible to continue by 1960 due to expense. That MGM struggled with understanding post war movie tastes was the reason that studio had trouble specifically. In fact the studio was still struggling in 1974 when this was made and was a big hit that year for MGM.

So if you love the old musicals from Hollywood's golden age, I'd really recommend this one. If you actually want to watch a documentary on the MGM musicals, might I suggest an Episode of Great Performances entitled "Musicals Great Musicals: The Arthur Freed Unit at MGM", made in 1996.

I saw this movie occasionally on PBS when I was a kid and I bought the collector's edition of the entire series in '98 and each time I watch it I feel more and more nostalgic about the old Hollywood musicals-a genre of which we'll never see an equal. Gene Kelly, Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Leslie Caron, Eleanor Powell and Ann Miller are the stars who really show off their great talents in this production of selected clips which include highlights of "Broadway Melody of 1938", "The Wizard of Oz", "Meet Me in St. Louis", "An American in Paris", "Singin' in the Rain", "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" and "High Society" among others. There's also a whole roster of legendary guest stars: Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, Peter Lawford, James Stewart, Mickey Rooney, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby and even Liza Minelli just at the start of her career. They introduce some of the greatest moments in the history of the MGM Musical genre. It's great fun for anyone who loves the musicals of a gone-forever age.

For anyone who longs to experience some of the great movie musical moments again, "That's Entertainment" is a Godsend. For anyone who hasn't seen many, or any, of the great MGM musicals and wants to know what made them great, "That's Entertainment" is a revelation. Either way, it's an entertainment extravaganza that can't be beat, and it's easy to see why it was the surprise movie hit of 1974.

In fact, I remember the first time I saw it. I was sixteen, and I saw it at a matinee showing, with my Mother, at the now-defunct Cooper Theater in Denver, Colorado. I think what amazed us the most about the film was that, after almost every number, the audience burst into prolonged applause. You'd think it was a concert instead of a movie! But that's the appeal that these timeless musical moments have. You don't just watch this movie, you're PART of it.

As Frank Sinatra says at the outset of the film, "You can wait around and hope, but you'll never see the like of this again."

An affectionate tribute to the great movie musicals that became a great movie musical itself. See it! See it! See it!

Extremely entertaining compilation film that looks back at classic MGM musicals. If I had any real complaint it would be the clips are mostly very short and it leaves you wanting to see more. Must have been even more frustrating in 1974 when that wasn't an option. It was nice seeing some of the (literally) old stars introduce the clips. It was especially nice to see the great MGM backlot one last time before it was torn down. But man, the sight of it in such disrepair made me kind of sad. The same sadness could be seen on the faces of some of the old stars as they walk around the lot, talking about how the old place doesn't look quite the same as when they made movies there. There's a wistful feeling throughout the film. Yes, it's a celebration of these great musicals but there's also this feeling of mourning for a bygone era.

In the mid-seventies, when MGM as a producing force in studio history was pretty much dead, a couple of researchers started to put together a compilation of the greatest moments from the birth of the talkie to Gigi's glut of Academy Awards at the end of the 1950s. The idea of this first 'That's Entertainment!' was to showcase the cream of the musicals, using a number of MGM's former contact stars (Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Elizabeth Taylor, Mickey Rooney et al) to link segments together.

The result was so breathtaking and brilliant that two further sequels followed; one almost immediately, and the third after a gap of twenty years, in time for MGM's seventieth birthday. This first compilation shows us sequences from 'An American In Paris', 'Singin' In The Rain', 'The Harvey Girls', 'Hollywood Revue', and on, and on. It has special segments devoted to Astaire, Kelly, Garland, Garland with Rooney, and, er, Esther Williams. It should give any viewer the appetite to seek out full movies they haven't seen, and to reflect with affection on those they have.