Gene Kelly, Esther Williams, June Allyson, Cyd Charisse, Debbie Reynolds, Lena Horne, Mickey Rooney, Ann Miller and Howard Keel introduce even more clips not included in Part 1 or 2. I thought they had covered everything but I was wrong.
There's nothing real bad here but highlights are: the color ending of "Hollywood Revue of 1929"; musical clips from unfinished, unreleased films; a fairly explicit (and quite funny) shower song sequence from 1932 with shower spray covering certain body parts; Eleanor Powell dancing to "Broadway Melody"; Esther Williams films; the Roth Sisters number; cut numbers from musicals; the song Two-Faced Women done by Cyd Charisse (cut from "The Band Wagon") and Joan Crawford shown side by side; Horne's talk about racism in 1940-50s Hollywood; Ava Gardner singing Can't Help Lovin That Man from "Showboat" with her actual voice and Horne doing it as a tryout; two Judy Garland numbers from "Annie Get Your Gun" (she had a nervous breakdown so Betty Hutton took over); Mr. Monotomy cut from "Easter Parade"; the Stereophonic Sound number and Elvis Presley doing "Jailhouse Rock". It seems strange to see a Presley number here but it's SO good and energetic I won't complain.
As about as good as part 2. Enjoyable.
For some reason MGM dumped this in 1994. It played in California and New York--and then the company just abandoned it. It never even played in Boston--a small independent cinema in Newton had to show it! I think the reason why was because some of the critics were shocked at how bad some of the hosts looked (Kelly, Miller, Horne and Rooney DO look terribly old) and MGM backed away from it. That's not a good reason but it was just ignored. Now it's back behind it. Strange but I'm glad this is out. Worth seeing.
There's nothing real bad here but highlights are: the color ending of "Hollywood Revue of 1929"; musical clips from unfinished, unreleased films; a fairly explicit (and quite funny) shower song sequence from 1932 with shower spray covering certain body parts; Eleanor Powell dancing to "Broadway Melody"; Esther Williams films; the Roth Sisters number; cut numbers from musicals; the song Two-Faced Women done by Cyd Charisse (cut from "The Band Wagon") and Joan Crawford shown side by side; Horne's talk about racism in 1940-50s Hollywood; Ava Gardner singing Can't Help Lovin That Man from "Showboat" with her actual voice and Horne doing it as a tryout; two Judy Garland numbers from "Annie Get Your Gun" (she had a nervous breakdown so Betty Hutton took over); Mr. Monotomy cut from "Easter Parade"; the Stereophonic Sound number and Elvis Presley doing "Jailhouse Rock". It seems strange to see a Presley number here but it's SO good and energetic I won't complain.
As about as good as part 2. Enjoyable.
For some reason MGM dumped this in 1994. It played in California and New York--and then the company just abandoned it. It never even played in Boston--a small independent cinema in Newton had to show it! I think the reason why was because some of the critics were shocked at how bad some of the hosts looked (Kelly, Miller, Horne and Rooney DO look terribly old) and MGM backed away from it. That's not a good reason but it was just ignored. Now it's back behind it. Strange but I'm glad this is out. Worth seeing.