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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: 4 / 5

These retrospectives of the glory days of MGM musicals are beginning to look like museum pieces themselves. When the first That’s Entertainment came out in the 1970′s, the films it was celebrating were still within reasonable memory. Now we’re talking half a century and most of the genial narrators are no longer with us. Maybe we need an updated version.

Of course, back then, we didn’t have the original films readily available on video or DVD, so That’s Entertainment was the only way to catch some glimpses of those musicals while waiting for our local television stations to screen one or two. But glimpses are all we get. No musical number is shown complete – instead we get “highlights”. This seems a curious decision. If it was a question of keeping the running time down, most of us would gladly sacrifice the bulk of the schmaltzy and frequently embarrassing intros by the old stars. A simple caption or subtitle over each clip with the name of the film, performers and year would have been enough. We don’t really want to listen to Liza gushing on about Mama. And why didn’t they edit Esther Williams as much as they did everyone else?

Not surprisingly, the first That’s Entertainment contained all the biggest hits – Singin’ In The Rain, Dancing In The Dark, Ol’ Man River, Gigi, An American In Paris, etc. So the second film got slightly more adventurous in its choices of material, coming up with gems like Bobby Van’s hopping dance, Bob Fosse and Carol Haney dancing in Kiss Me Kate, and the fantastic Cyd Charisse wrapping her long legs around everything in sight in Singin’ In The Rain. The second film also tried to expand its scope beyond musicals by including snippets of drama (Garbo saying “I want to be alone”) and comedy (very brief shots of various stars plus the Marx Brothers stateroom scene from A Night At The Opera). They also dispensed with the collection of narrators and just had the aging Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire do the introductions in song and dance (sort of). Nice to see the two together but not as nice as the (still incomplete) clips.

The third That’s Entertainment is, in some ways, the most interesting as they really went deep into the archives for material, some of it previously unseen. A particularly nice touch is side by side views of two versions of the same number. It helps to compensate for the lack of blockbusters.

As an overview or a guided tour through MGM’s greatest hits, the That’s Entertainment films are enjoyable and wonderfully nostalgic. But they can never be as good as seeing the original films. Luckily, more and more of them are coming out on DVD. But, as an introduction to the magical world of MGM musicals, That’s Entertainment is pretty good.
Rating: 3 / 5

I bought this set with the understanding that it is of more historical than entertainment value. The first installment of the series is excellent and entertaining all the way through, but subsequent installments tend to drag at times. I felt that Judy Garland got a little too much screen time in the later installments, as well as some of Gene Kelly’s modern dance numbers in the later installments. This sort of entertainment is still far superior to 99% of what passes as family entertainment today, and it is excellent for showcasing the superior talents of yesteryear compared to the less than stellar attitudes and behavior exhibited by so many of today’s “stars”, both on and off screen. These are the kind of shows that you may only watch once a year, unless you are a big musical or MGM buff, but they are worth having in your collection even on that basis.
Rating: 3 / 5

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: 3 / 5

This is one of those movies that I could watch every day for months and never become bored. I hope you’ll feel the same if you’re a “golden age of Hollywood” fan, especially of the MGM musicals. The introductions by the MGM stars (and yes, they are aging, it happens to everyone!) are somewhat pompous, phony and wooden — the lone exception, in my opinion, is Liza Minelli. Other than that curious phenomenon, this first of a trilogy of “That’s Entertainment” movies from MGM, is truly the best, with their greatest clips being in this movie. As Liza said, “thank God for film” because we can forever see for ourselves just why a movie star was, well, a star. Agreed, this first film of the series could use a little editing, but that doesn’t detract from the rest of the scenes nor the message. The movie does serve dual purposes — as a short documentary of the evolution of the grand musicals, as well as outstanding excerpts of the greatest MGM had to offer. I think my favorite scene, though, was the black and white footage of all the MGM stars having lunch together in a huge gathering. It will provoke quite the nostalgia! I know it’s been said many times before, but those were truly the golden days of film making, and after watching this movie you’ll understand why. It’s a shame very few movies are now produced that are up to the same wholesome MGM standards.
Rating: 5 / 5

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