That's Entertainment!

This got big notice when it came out in the mid '70s. With the advent of VHS, you could provide the public with something like this: a collection of great song-and- dance scenes from classic films. In this edition (there were two more to come), we see highlights of MGM musicals from the 1920s through the 1960s. Most of them were the '30s through the '50s.

MGM had many of the musical stars but not all, so you don't get Shirley Temple, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Julie Andrews and others. However, you do get a ton of great performers like Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Mickey Rooney, Esther Williams and others. To use a cliché, this is a must-have for music fans. In addition to the above stars, who are remembered in some of their best scenes, you have the incredible sets of the Busby Berkeley movies.

At over two hours, there is a lot of great material in here.

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.

This is it! This is the Holy grail of musical documentaries, the very definition of the term "They don't make 'em like this anymore.." everyone is here and in the subsequent 2 sequels. Oh, to see this in a movie theatre! 20 foot tall Gene Kelly performing "Singing In The Rain"! Busby Berkeley as his extravanganzas were meant to be seen! Definately worth watching even of you see it on video! A time capsule, a treasure. (sigh... Hollywood...)

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.

This is a sentimental and enjoyable look back at the time when M-G-M was the premiere studio in Hollywood and had more stars than there are in the heaven. Famous musical numbers are presented by some of those legends including Fred Astaire, Elizabeth Taylor and Frank Sinatra. I just don't like the way they brag and flatter each other. Is it really necessary to tell the viewer how good they were? The audience should be able to judge for themselves. And the numbers are great, no doubt about it. Fred Astaire's tap dance with Eleanor Powell is awesome, Donald O'Connor's "Make'em laugh" is funny, Gene Kelly sings in the rain and Judy Garland sings over the rainbow. It's also fun to see dramatic actors like James Stewart, Clark Gable and Cary Grant sing and dance. That's entertainment! Rating: 4/5