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That's Entertainment!That's Entertainment! is a 1974 documentary released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to celebrate its 50th anniversary. The film turned the spotlight on MGM's legacy of musical film from the late 1920s until the late 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, Fred Astaire, Jeanette MacDonald, Cyd Charisse, Gene Kelly, June Allyson, Mickey Rooney, Mario Lanza, and many others was featured. Released around the time of Watergate and the Vietnam War, the tagline of this film was "Boy, do we need it now!" The idea of celebrating the happy-go-lucky musicals at MGM hit a nerve with the public. That's Entertainment! was hailed by critics and would become one of the top 10 grossing films of 1974. The film was hosted by: Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Peter Lawford, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Mickey Rooney, 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 as 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 iconic stars such as Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, and Greta Garbo. Gene Kelly directed the introductory segments featuring him and Astaire, which included Kelly returning to the city of Paris which was featured in two of MGM's most famous productions, An American in Paris and Gigi. The film was highlighted by several newly-filmed musical numbers featuring Astaire and Kelly, including a couple of routines in which they danced together for the first time since the 1946 film Ziegfeld Follies, and for only the second time in their careers. (It was the last time 76-year-old Astaire danced on film.) The sequel received more critical acclaim, but was not as successful at the box-office as the first film. Some 18 years later, in 1994, That's Entertainment III was released. Many changes had occurred since the first two films - sadly including the deaths of Fred Astaire and many other MGM stars of the past. Plus, the advent of home video and cable TV had made many of MGM's films readily accessible to audiences - a luxury they did not have in the mid-1970s. In order to provide a "hook" for audiences, the producers decided to feature footage cut from famous MGM musicals due to public interest. Many of these numbers were shown for the first time in That's Entertainment III. Highlights included: - An alternate version of Eleanor Powell's extended tap dance routine to "Fascinatin' Rhythm" from Lady Be Good which showed the behind the cameras activity needed to keep the scene moving smoothly.
- "Ain't it the Truth", a Lena Horne performance from Cabin in the Sky which was cut (some say censored) before the film's release because Horne sang the song in a bubble bath.
- Several previously unseen Judy Garland production numbers, including "Mr. Monotony", cut from Easter Parade because it was deemed too risque for the period of the film (the suit Garland wears in this number is the famous "Get Happy" suit from Summer Stock three yrs. later) ; an extravagant musical number "March of the Doagies" cut from The Harvey Girls; and two numbers filmed for Annie Get Your Gun ("I'm An Indian Too" and "Doin' What Comes Naturally") before Garland was replaced by Betty Hutton due to her frequent absences and incoherency (due to her addiction to sleeping pills).
- Footage from an abandoned 1930 musical called The March of Time.
- Debbie Reynolds singing "You Are My Lucky Star" in a sequence cut from Singin' in the Rain.
- Ava Gardner's unused vocal tracks for "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" for Show Boat before she was dubbed by vocalist Annette Warren.
- The opening dance sequence from The Barkleys of Broadway with the credits overlay removed so that the dance routine by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers can be viewed unobstructed for the first time.
Hosts for the third installment in the That's Entertainment! series were Gene Kelly (in his final appearance before cameras before his death in 1996), June Allyson, Cyd Charisse, Lena Horne, Howard Keel, Ann Miller, Debbie Reynolds, and Esther Williams, making her first appearance in a theatrical film in more than 30 years. All three films were released to DVD in 2004. The box set collection of the films included a bonus DVD that included additional musical numbers that had been cut from MGM films as well as the first release of the complete performance of "Mr. Monotony" by Judy Garland. The home video version of That's Entertainment III itself also contains several musical numbers not in the theatrical release. That's Dancing! In 1985, MGM released That's Dancing!, a retrospective that looked back at the history of dancing in film. Unlike the That's Entertainment! series, this film did not focus specifically on MGM films and included more recent performances by the likes of John Travolta (from Saturday Night Fever) and Michael Jackson and from the then-popular films Fame (1980) and Flashdance (1983). A highlight of the film was the first theatrical release of a dance routine by Ray Bolger for his "If I Only Had a Brain" number that had been cut from The Wizard of Oz. The hosts for this films are Gene Kelly, Ray Bolger (his last film appearance before his death in 1987), Liza Minnelli, Sammy Davis Jr., and Mikhail Baryshnikov. This film is sometimes considered part of the That's Entertainment! series, especially since its starting credits contain a card with the That's Entertainment! III title, but even though it shared studio and producers, it is considered a separate production.
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