Movies - That's Entertainment!

Home > Listing Index > Movies > That's Entertainment!

	Movies - That's Entertainment!

That's Entertainment! is a 1974 documentary film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to celebrate its 50th anniversary. It was followed by two sequels and a related film called That's Dancing!.

The film turned the spotlight on MGM's legacy of musical film from the 1920s through the 1950s, featuring performances culled from dozens of the studio's famous films. Archive footage of Judy Garland, Eleanor Powell, Lena Horne, Esther Williams, Ann Miller, Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Jeanette MacDonald, Cyd Charisse, Gene Kelly, June Allyson, Mickey Rooney, Mario Lanza, and many others was featured.

Released during the height of the Watergate Scandal and just after the Vietnam War, That's Entertainment! was marketed with a tagline of "Boy, do we need it now!" The idea of celebrating the happy-go-lucky musicals of an earlier era hit a nerve with a nostalgic public; That's Entertainment! was hailed by critics and would become one of the top ten highest-grossing films of 1974.

The film was compiled in various segments hosted by a succession of the studio's legendary (and then-living) stars: Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Peter Lawford, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Mickey Rooney, Bing Crosby, James Stewart, Elizabeth Taylor, and Liza Minnelli (representing her mother, Judy Garland).

Most of the hosts were filmed on MGM's famous backlot, which looks disturbingly ramshackle and rundown in this film, due to the fact that MGM had sold the property to developers and the sets were about to be demolished. That's Entertainment! was the last major project to be filmed on the backlot.

The title of the film derives from the anthemic song "That's Entertainment!", which was introduced in the 1953 MGM musical, The Band Wagon
. The title is usually expressed with an exclamation mark, but it is also correct to refer to it without (see the DVD cover).

Sequels

In 1976, That's Entertainment, Part II was released. The idea of multiple hosts was dropped for this production, with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly partnering to co-host the retrospective.

For this second documentary, archivists featured more obscure musical numbers from MGM's vaults, and also featured tributes to some of the studio's best known comedy teams such as the Marx Brothers and Laurel and Hardy, romantic teams such as Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, and a montage of iconic stars such as Clark Gable, Mickey Rooney, John Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Joan Crawford, Jean Harlow, James Stewart, Lana Turner, and Greta Garbo.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for That's Entertainment! ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article That's Entertainment!; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay