That's Dancing!

This Hollywood documentary celebrates dancing in the movies. This starts with an older bundled Gene Kelly presenting a troupe of New York City break dancers. It's cheesy but endearing cheese. He points out the obvious point (which I never considered) that the movement of dance wasn't never captured in the art of the whole human history until the invention of the moving pictures. The start is mostly dancing girls doing bad dances and showing a bit of leg. Then the movie goes through various big sign posts starting with Busby Berkeley and his extravaganza of beautiful babes. There is a very young cute Sammy Davis Jr. Transitioning into his modern self. That's probably my favorite cut. Mikhail Baryshnikov has a section with ballet. It's a lot of movie clips. It becomes a highlight reel but that's fine.

Those who love dance of any kind and classic film will be thrilled with That's Dancing! Some segments are too short and some of the narration I agree is obtrusive(especially for the 42nd Street number)- there could have been much less of the talking over scenes- and not always necessary(the opinion on break-dancing, went on for a little too long and it did ramble a bit). The hosting is mixed, Gene Kelly is very engaging and informative and while he's not always easy to understand Mikhail Baryshnikov also says things of good value but didn't get a huge amount out of Liza Minelli. That's Dancing! is still splendid stuff though, it's skilfully filmed and the editing of the footage is done slickly and not awkwardly. The music of course is outstanding and of good variety, good that it showed more than one style or genre rather than just one without skimming the surface, and the dancing even better, especially in the Busby Berkeley, Nicholas Brothers, Flashdance, West Side Story and Fred and Ginger numbers. The scenes featured feature some deserved classics like Pick Yourself Up, Night and Day, Forty-Second Street(pretty much anything with Busby Berkeley's involvement in fact), Broadway Rhythm and If Only I Had a Brain/We're Off to See the Wizard(in an extended scene cut from the film), as well as the ballet sequence from The Red Shoes and the scene from Yankee Doodle Dandy. And of all the stars featured the ones that stood out were Fred and Ginger(obviously, it would be a crime really to miss them out), Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn, Shirley Temple and Bojangles Robinson, Eleanor Powell, Ann Miller and the Nicholas Brothers tap-dance(the Wizard of Oz extended cut scene was charming though if too long, you can understand why it was cut). In conclusion, a very good documentary with the best stuff splendid. 8/10 Bethany Cox

I can't add a whole lot of critical commentary to what's already written here, so let me say why I enjoyed this film. Would have gotten 10 stars if there hadn't been a lot of stupid narration. After you hear Liza Minelli's monologue, you'll know how she got her career; born to the right people.

Anyhoo . . . FANTASTIC dancing, and great clips, even if as others have said they are not necessarily the best of the performers. I was born in 48 so a lot of this was news to me. Shirley Temple dancing with her black partner (Bo Jangles somebody) alone was worth the price of admission. An interview with Busby Berkeley on set. Anne Miller doing her thing (remember her from Mulholland Drive?) A clip from the Wizard of Oz, which was edited out, of Ray Bolger dancing up a storm. On and on.

These people don't dance . . . they float, they fly, they defy gravity and all of Newton's laws. It's a sight to behold. Fred Astaire didn't have legs, he had springs. Some people did walk out of the theatre after a few minutes, but I'll tell you, I sat there with my mouth hanging open most of this flick.

Here's an outstanding collection of some of the great dance numbers from the early 1930s to the mid 1980s.

From the early years, I've always found it fun to marvel at the talent of Ruby Keeler, Eleanor Powell, Fred Astaire, Bill Robinson, Shirley Temple, Gene Kelly, etc. Here they all are on one tape! What a great tribute to these great entertainers and perhaps it can turn people on to watching some of these great musicals of the past.

I'm also always awed at those great sets on the Busby Berkley extravaganzas. They were incredible. The more you like tap dancing, which I do, the better this tape (or disc, now that it's out on DVD) will look to you, but there are other forms of dance featured in here, too.

this film is a must see for lovers of musicals. It's amazing how far film has come in such a short time. Great scenes from the best of the MGM musicals with narration from some of the greatest stars of those movies. Very informative and gives you a good overview of how the times affected the types of movies that were made. Wonderful music! Incredible dancing! Great fun!