The original That's Entertainment was released in 1974 at a time when MGM were celebrating their 50th anniversary. The film was introduced by many MGM Stars of Yesteryear and it's aim was to highlight the quill of MGM musical magic from the 1930's - 1950's.
Two years later That's Entertainment II appeared with Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire wonderfully singing and dancing their way through another nostalgic compilation that once again displayed the best MGM musical clips from the same era, that due to time constraints could not be included in TE1.
That's Entertainment III, released in 1994, looks at the MGM musical from a different perspective. Here we concentrate on scene's that never quite made it into the finished film, scenes that in all probability WOULD have made it into the finished film, had the film actually been finished. and Scene's that did make it into a finished film but because of time's indiffence have long been forgotten.
The highlight for me was watching Fred Astaire AND Fred Astaire in split screen format dancing to the song "I Wanna Be A Dancing Man" from the otherwise poor movie "The Belle Of New York". Although it was the same song and the same routine, (albeit in different costume), he is in perfect unison with his previously recorded counterpart, which perfectly shows the lengths Astaire went to achieve his perfection.
The film opens with Gene Kelly explaining about the birth of the musical back when Hollywood first started talking. Apart from MGM's Hollywood Revue of 1929, (widely believed to be the first all talking, all singing and all dancing movie ever made), it was in fact Warner Brothers that streaked ahead in the development of the movie musical with the Busby Berkeley choreographed Dick Powell & Ruby Keeler musicals of the early 1930's. However, a few of MGM's early efforts are shown here which if I were to be blunt and honest, seem nothing more than pale ghosts of a Warner Brothers big production number especially the risqué 'girls in the shower' sequence which Berkeley would sort of make his pre-code trademark.
RKO were the next studio to become the musical 'big boys' with the success of the Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers musical comedies. While Fred & Ginger were taking the depression out of the depression, MGM were getting serious with high brow operettas starring Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. Not surprisingly, Astaire & Rogers were shooing away 'nearly' all of their rivals with their light-hearted plot lines. I say 'nearly', because MGM had their own version of Astaire about to hit the big time, albeit female, in the form of Ms Eleanor Powell, the undisputed Queen of tap. Here we see her performing a couple of great numbers from the 1930's. Her brilliant routine to George & Ira Gershwin's "Fascinating Rhythm", had already been included in the original That's Entertainment, but it's here again in part three,with another split screen effect that shows us how much effort and off screen technicians we used to perfect the scene, such as men with trucks removing superfluous portions of the stage allowing the camera to move in closer to Ms Powell as her routine progresses.
It was the advent of Eleanor Powell, the birth of the Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland partnership in the Andy Hardy movies and the acquisition of Fred Astaire and the discovery of Gene Kelly two years later, that paved the way for MGM to dominate the movie musical for the next 20 years.
TEIII however, does have a heartbreaking side to it. Fred Astaire, who was so involved in the first two installments, had passed away only seven years earlier and needless to say, his absence from a presenting role is just as noticeable as his presence in his archived footage.
Another thing that made me quite emotional was to see such an obviously ailing Gene Kelly, this movie was made about 18 months before his death, and it's actually painful to watch Gene as the frail shadow of his former athletic self with even his speech at times sounding powerless and laboured.
Of the nine stars that donated their time and talent for a presenting role as of today's date only 3 of them remain.
So, given my last three paragraphs, it was very difficult to watch That's Entertainment III without having some degree of mixed emotions, as I ended up putting too much emphasis on Man's Mortality and maybe not enough emphasis on how the movies are both timeless and lasting, and a moving snapshot of a different time. MGM Musicals are certainly timeless, lasting and above all, seriously enjoyable.
I have, in fact, only given TEIII a 9 out of 10 rating as it includes a scene from Gigi that DIDN'T include Maurice Chevalier or Hermione Gingold. Pretty shallow huh?.
Two years later That's Entertainment II appeared with Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire wonderfully singing and dancing their way through another nostalgic compilation that once again displayed the best MGM musical clips from the same era, that due to time constraints could not be included in TE1.
That's Entertainment III, released in 1994, looks at the MGM musical from a different perspective. Here we concentrate on scene's that never quite made it into the finished film, scenes that in all probability WOULD have made it into the finished film, had the film actually been finished. and Scene's that did make it into a finished film but because of time's indiffence have long been forgotten.
The highlight for me was watching Fred Astaire AND Fred Astaire in split screen format dancing to the song "I Wanna Be A Dancing Man" from the otherwise poor movie "The Belle Of New York". Although it was the same song and the same routine, (albeit in different costume), he is in perfect unison with his previously recorded counterpart, which perfectly shows the lengths Astaire went to achieve his perfection.
The film opens with Gene Kelly explaining about the birth of the musical back when Hollywood first started talking. Apart from MGM's Hollywood Revue of 1929, (widely believed to be the first all talking, all singing and all dancing movie ever made), it was in fact Warner Brothers that streaked ahead in the development of the movie musical with the Busby Berkeley choreographed Dick Powell & Ruby Keeler musicals of the early 1930's. However, a few of MGM's early efforts are shown here which if I were to be blunt and honest, seem nothing more than pale ghosts of a Warner Brothers big production number especially the risqué 'girls in the shower' sequence which Berkeley would sort of make his pre-code trademark.
RKO were the next studio to become the musical 'big boys' with the success of the Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers musical comedies. While Fred & Ginger were taking the depression out of the depression, MGM were getting serious with high brow operettas starring Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. Not surprisingly, Astaire & Rogers were shooing away 'nearly' all of their rivals with their light-hearted plot lines. I say 'nearly', because MGM had their own version of Astaire about to hit the big time, albeit female, in the form of Ms Eleanor Powell, the undisputed Queen of tap. Here we see her performing a couple of great numbers from the 1930's. Her brilliant routine to George & Ira Gershwin's "Fascinating Rhythm", had already been included in the original That's Entertainment, but it's here again in part three,with another split screen effect that shows us how much effort and off screen technicians we used to perfect the scene, such as men with trucks removing superfluous portions of the stage allowing the camera to move in closer to Ms Powell as her routine progresses.
It was the advent of Eleanor Powell, the birth of the Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland partnership in the Andy Hardy movies and the acquisition of Fred Astaire and the discovery of Gene Kelly two years later, that paved the way for MGM to dominate the movie musical for the next 20 years.
TEIII however, does have a heartbreaking side to it. Fred Astaire, who was so involved in the first two installments, had passed away only seven years earlier and needless to say, his absence from a presenting role is just as noticeable as his presence in his archived footage.
Another thing that made me quite emotional was to see such an obviously ailing Gene Kelly, this movie was made about 18 months before his death, and it's actually painful to watch Gene as the frail shadow of his former athletic self with even his speech at times sounding powerless and laboured.
Of the nine stars that donated their time and talent for a presenting role as of today's date only 3 of them remain.
So, given my last three paragraphs, it was very difficult to watch That's Entertainment III without having some degree of mixed emotions, as I ended up putting too much emphasis on Man's Mortality and maybe not enough emphasis on how the movies are both timeless and lasting, and a moving snapshot of a different time. MGM Musicals are certainly timeless, lasting and above all, seriously enjoyable.
I have, in fact, only given TEIII a 9 out of 10 rating as it includes a scene from Gigi that DIDN'T include Maurice Chevalier or Hermione Gingold. Pretty shallow huh?.