gridoon2018 You do not have to be a fan of musicals to appreciate "That's Entertainment"; being a movie buff in general should be enough. Although, if you're looking for a comprehensive documentary on the genre, this is not it: with a few exceptions (most notably James Stewart), most of the hosts don't give you much of a historical context on the development of the genre, and of course the film focuses exclusively on the musicals made by MGM, ignoring all other studios. There is not much point in doing a "traditional" review for a project like this, so I'll just name my favorite moments from it:Clark Gable's utterly delightful, semi-parodic "Puttin' On The Ritz" from "Idiot's Delight"Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly dancing together for the first and only (up to then) time in "Ziegfield Follies" Astaire's astonishing, gravity-defying dance on the ceiling in "Royal Wedding".Esther Williams' extravagantly spectacular swimming pool number from "The Million Dollar Mermaid".And all three sequences from what is perhaps the apogee of the Hollywood musical, "Singin' In The Rain": Donald O'Connor's hyperkinetic "Make'Em Laugh", the finale to the Broadway Ballet, which is a technical marvel, and of course, the exhilarating title song and number.*** out of 4 as a whole.

mark.waltz Movies and Broadway in 1974 were in a state of emergency with the lack of family entertainment (exclusing Disney, of course) and the state of society. "Boy Do We Need It Now!", the adds for this compilation of clips from MGM musicals made between 1929 and 1958 exclaimed. From "Broadway Melody" to "Gigi", from "Wedding of the Painted Doll" to "Thank Heavens For Little Girls", from Bessie Love to Leslie Caron. The docu-musical covers the height of the movie musical era, even though musicals continued to be made on a regular basis through the mid 1970's, most of them unmemorable even with the few classics thrown in.MGM continued to make the occasional musical, with film versions of "Bells Are Ringing" and "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" being highlights, and such later newer classics as "Fame" and "Victor/Victoria". But when you've got Jeanette and Nelson, Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Howard Keel, Kathryn Grayson, Jane Powell and Esther Williams, to name a few, you focus on that era, and that is what the first of four entries into the "That's Entertainment!" franchise focuses on, with many of the stars providing insight into the behind the scenes of what it was like to work at MGM.Long before Turner Classic Movies, the former stars of MGM ("More Great Movies!" one pre-TCM promo exclaimed) got together to reminisce and show off the highlights of the past. "That's Entertainment!" focuses on the musicals made at MGM (three of which were Oscar Winners) and with Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, Elizabeth Taylor, Mickey Rooney, Frank Sinatra and Liza Minnelli (representing her parents) narrating, it is certainly nostalgic indeed. This was prior to home video and cable T.V. as well, so unless you had a local channel which broadcast them, you had very little chance to see them. No wonder why this was one of the top box office films of the year. Today's younger fans of this genre are too accustomed to DVD and TCM to appreciate what it was like to have this if you didn't have immediate access to these classics.So in retrospect, getting to see "A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody" and "Rosalie" on the big screen again with their many extras and Mickey and Judy putting on a show in a barn, Gene stompin' around in the rain as he is approached by a suspicious cop, Fred sailing across the sky while dancing with Joan Crawford, the joy of the arrival of the "Show Boat", Esther descending above a giant pool with smoke all around her and delightful shots of the city of lights with "An American in Paris" and "Gigi", is still a bit of heaven on earth. The delight of the stars to present this years after making these films is never self-gratifying egotism; A lot of hard work was put into making these gems, and now in its 40th Anniversary, "That's Entertainment!" remains one of the top salutes to a golden age that has never been surpassed.

bmbdsm Created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Metro Goldwyn Mayer studios in 1974, this film was a tremendous hit, and inspired two followups. The premise is that simple: show excerpts from the famous musicals of MGM, the studio that created the best of them! The film is broken up into several segments, each one introduced by some of the stars of these marvelous films: Liza Minnelli introduces one on her mother Judy Garland, as does Mickey Rooney. Donald O'Connor introduces one on Esther Williams, etc. This is full of so many goodies, that it would be impossible to name them all within the confines of this review. So many great stars are here: Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Jane Powell, June Allyson, Lena Horne, Ann Miller, and on and on and on and on. Wonderful film, and a reminder of an era when stars and films had class. I was born in the 90's, and I would rather watch any of these gems featured in this film than some mindless action flick or the dime-a-dozen horror films of today. I truly wish we could go back to this kind of film-making today. As Frank Sinatra says in the film, "You can wait around and hope, but I'll tell you; you'll never see the likes of this again." Until that does happen, watch this exuberant film, and bask in the glory of the MGM musicals. Recommended. 10/10.

MartinHafer Unless you absolutely hate musicals, there's no reason to think that you would not enjoy "That's Entertainment!". That's because as a celebration of the MGM musical, it contains a bazillion clips from their greatest films in the genre. If you don't like one, you are bound to love the next. And, with so many great films, there is so much to like.The clips are not just thrown together in a random manner but are arranged in blocks. Each block is narrated by an MGM icon from their golden age--such as Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, Debbie Reynolds and Gene Kelly. Each is shown walking the VERY sad MGM backlot while discussing the films. I say sad because the sets were in dilapidated condition and were bulldozed right after this film was completed--a pathetic ending to some wonderful movie moments and locales.By the way, it sure would have been nice if each clip had been identified--perhaps with a small title in the corner in the beginning. As a huge fan buff, I really tried to identify all the clips but couldn't.