That's Entertainment! III

source: That's Entertainment! III

Gene Kelly, Esther Williams, June Allyson, Cyd Charisse, Debbie Reynolds, Lena Horne, Mickey Rooney, Ann Miller and Howard Keel introduce even more clips not included in Part 1 or 2. I thought they had covered everything but I was wrong. There's nothing real bad here but highlights are: the color ending of "Hollywood Revue of 1929"; musical clips from unfinished, unreleased films; a fairly explicit (and quite funny) shower song sequence from 1932 with shower spray covering certain body parts; Eleanor Powell dancing to "Broadway Melody"; Esther Williams films; the Roth Sisters number; cut numbers from musicals; the song Two-Faced Women done by Cyd Charisse (cut from "The Band Wagon") and Joan Crawford shown side by side; Horne's talk about racism in 1940-50s Hollywood; Ava Gardner singing Can't Help Lovin That Man from "Showboat" with her actual voice and Horne doing it as a tryout; two Judy Garland numbers from "Annie Get Your Gun" (she had a nervous breakdown so Betty Hutton took over); Mr. Monotomy cut from "Easter Parade"; the Stereophonic Sound number and Elvis Presley doing "Jailhouse Rock". It seems strange to see a Presley number here but it's SO good and energetic I won't complain. As about as good as part 2. Enjoyable. For some reason MGM dumped this in 1994. It played in California and New York--and then the company just abandoned it. It never even played in Boston--a small independent cinema in Newton had to show it! I think the reason why was because some of the critics were shocked at how bad some of the hosts looked (Kelly, Miller, Horne and Rooney DO look terribly old) and MGM backed away from it. That's not a good reason but it was just ignored. Now it's back behind it. Strange but I'm glad this is out. Worth seeing.

It's easy to see why Siskel & Ebert gave this one a big two thumbs up. And even the hard to please Rex Reed said: "Two hours of paradise regained--pure magic!" Easily among the best of the 'That's Entertainment' compilations, it features June Allyson, Cyd Charisse, Lena Horne, Howard Keel, Ann Miller, Debbie Reynolds, Mickey Rooney and Esther Williams all giving us a guided tour of some of their best MGM moments. The late Gene Kelly is included among the hosts. Especially fascinating is the dance sequence showing how the crew worked hard to keep up with Eleanor Powell's dance routine in "Lady Be Good"; Esther in an underwater number for 'Jupiter's Darling'; and outtakes of Judy Garland's attempt at 'Annie Get Your Gun'. Elvis fans will get a chance to see his 'Jailhouse Rock' routine. Also intriguing is an early glimpse of the first Hollywood musicals, with Joan Crawford, Jack Benny, Marion Davies and others doing an awkward version of 'Singin' in the Rain', complete with overweight chorus girls and early color. Film nostalgia of the highest kind--a treasure for fans of MGM musicals. Those were the days!!

Part 3 of the Ted Turner compilation of MGM footage and in celebration of the studio's 70th anniversary (thus the Overture, one gathers), this documentary written and directed by Bud Friedgen and Michael J Sheridan, and hosted by various surviving contract players is notable mostly for the out-takes and alternate takes of musical comedy numbers. That MGM was required to release one film a year and that they had no competition from television at their height, is still no excuse for the mediocrity that blights a lot of the historical footage here. It's hard to ridicule vaudeville and novelty acts like the athletic Ross Sisters, who tumble erotically as one joined mass, when the alternative are people as limited as Eleanor Powell, Esther Williams, and June Allyson. One questions the reason given for the unfinished March of Time, begun in 1930, as audience interest in technicolor musicals had fallen, though the editors goof when they supply a montage of black and white "Hollywood Parties" of the period and include Garbo in Two Faced Woman. The use of split screen to show alternate takes works best with Fred Astaire using identical choreography for Dancin' Man from Belle of New York. The footage of stage hands taking the set apart to allow the camera to move and follow Eleanor Powell dancing Fascinatin' Rhythm from Lady Be Good is done in too long a shot for us to make a comparison with Powell's closer shot. The choices between Cyd Charisse in The Band Wagon and Joan Crawford in Torch Song both dubbed to India Adams singing Two Faced Woman, and the alternate takes of Debbie Reynolds doing A Lady Loves from I Love Melvin, both reveal awful numbers, though Crawford's "tropical" makeup and disposal of her wig a la Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria has camp appeal. Ava Gardner's own vocal of Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man from Showboat is preferable to the generic dubbed Annette Warren vocal, even if Lena Horne sours the idea of Gardner's casting by telling us the Production Code of the time banned interracial romances. Horne had performed the number in Till the Clouds Go By, but had been passed over for the film. She scores some unintentional laughs by not be able to match her younger vocal of Where or When from Words and Music, and practically falling over the musicians chairs in the recording stage, though her Aint it the Truth cut from Cabin in the Sky sees her naked (supposedly) in a bathtub, which the Production Code also objected to as being too riske. The credits are removed from the opening of The Barkleys of Broadway so we can see the Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing The Swing Trot, even if Rogers looks uncomfortable and looking at her feet. Remember Barkleys had been planned to re-match Astaire and Judy Garland after Easter Parade, but Garland was too exhausted and subsequently replaced. However we see her Mr Monotony number cut from Easter Parade, which pre-figures the same outfit she would wear for Get Happy in Summer Stock, with Mr Monotony featuring an extreme close-up of Garland, surprising when MGM musicals never went for this kind of intimacy. We also get Garland's cut March of the Doagies from The Harvey Girls, and an edited version with cut-aways of her I'm an Indian Too from her aborted Annie Get Your Gun.

As others have commented, the strength of TE3 is the special, never-before-seen footage, which is very, very interesting. However, the standard MGM excerpts are often less than remarkable, and occasionally downright boring. It makes sense: The original TE used much of the very best numbers available. TE2 used what didn't fit into the original. By the time they got to TE3, they had to settle for some "also-rans." BARELY A SPOILER ***Fred Astaire had a nice way with a song, but when you see an entire number with him singing and *not* dancing, that's a sign that the pickings were slim.*** END OF "SPOILER" Still, there's enough good stuff in here for a very enjoyable viewing. And since you're not watching it in the theater, you can fast-forward to the next number if you're feeling a bit bored. By the way, if you're a "That's Entertainment" fan, you *must* check out "That's Dancin'," which rises to the standard of the original TE.

Have just now rewatched That's Entertainment! III on HD DVD and I declare that while the first two compilations had the best musical numbers from the various M-G-M classics, I consider this one the best simply because of the many outtakes/alternate scenes that-for the most part-were revealed here for the first time. Also, the tributes for the studio and the various performers that resided there were much better written then the occasionally stilted one from the original That's Entertainment! Many of those outtakes were quite fascinating to watch like Debbie Reynolds' number called "A Lady Loves" from I Love Melvin where she's a farmgirl as opposed to a more sophisticated figure in the final version. Or Judy Garland's two scenes-"Doin' What Comes Natur'lly" and "I'm an Indian, Too"-from the aborted version of Annie Get Your Gun though Betty Hutton's final versions are more preferable. Speaking of whom, her duet with Howard Keel on "Anything You Can Do" was one of the most hilarious numbers here. And, unlike the previous series entries, TE3 acknowledged the other studios players like Fred Astaire and Ann Miller worked for before coming to the one with Leo the Lion as the trademark. And that one of the movie's hosts-Lena Horne-admitted the limitations of opportunity she had compared to the others because of the Production Code of the time. Great editing on the "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" numbers from Ava Gardner with dubbed voice of Annette Warren to her own good voice to Lena Horne's rendition from 'Till the Clouds Roll By. Oh, and nice unearthed outtake of "Ain't It the Truth" from Cabin in the Sky though I've seen this before on a short called Studio Visit which appeared as an extra on the movie's DVD disc. The other excised Garland numbers-like "Mr. Monotony" from Easter Parade or "March of the Doagies" from The Harvey Girls are also excellent, so much so that one wonders why they were cut. I also liked some of the more obscure performers showcased like Joan McCraken dancing to "Pass that Peace Pipe" from Good News or Delores Gray in the "Thanks a Lot, But No Thanks" number from It's Always Fair Weather. And how about Carmen Miranda-who was once a Fox player-doing the "Baiao (Ca-Room' Pa Pa)" number in Nancy Goes to Rio. All the hosts-Gene Kelly, Esther Williams, June Allyson, Cyd Charisse, Ms. Horne, Ms. Reynolds, Mickey Rooney, and Ms. Miller provided some interesting tidbits during their segments. But the last host, Mr. Keel, delivered the great coda to the M-G-M musical when he talked about the competition with television by mentioning the wide screen furor which segues to the "Stereophonic Sound" number with Mr. Astaire and Janis Page and then mentions the Rock 'n Roll trend as the famous clip from Elvis Presley's Jailhouse Rock is shown before we go to the last classic M-G-M musical-Gigi. All in all, this was a great enterprise for producers/directors/writers and editors Bud Friedgen (also head cutter on the first two TE films) and Michael J. Sheridan (his associate on both). Oh, and how nice to see Mr. Kelly-in his final feature film appearance-sum the experience like so: "M-G-M's dream factory created a rich, romantic, compelling world of illusion. And although we may not see anything like it again, we're blessed with memories and miles and miles of film. In the words of Irving Berlin, 'The song has ended, but the melody lingers on.'" Truer words have not been spoken. So if you're reading this under my username that you clicked, I may review for the next few days something associated with Mr. Berlin or maybe with any of the contract players like maybe director Vincente Minnelli...

I figured that, after the wonderful first two films in the "That's Entertainment" series, the stock of magic in MGM's musical vaults would be starting to run dry. However, directors Bud Friedgen and Michael J. Sheridan have managed to keep the series as fresh as it ever was, by striking on a singularly brilliant idea: show 'em something they've never seen before! The series' first two entries, aside from their modern-day interludes, had been comprised almost exclusively of clips that any well-bred musical cinema buff would already have seen on numerous occasions. However, by presenting "never-before-seen footage" of deleted scenes, abandoned films, undubbed songs and behind-the-scenes action, the documentary manages to enthrall the audience with something new {of course, pretty much everything was new to me, anyway}. The style of the film's presentation is closest to Part I, with a succession of MGM stars - Gene Kelly, June Allyson, Cyd Charisse, Lena Horne, Howard Keel, Ann Miller, Debbie Reynolds and Esther Williams – providing the commentary. The films starts too much like a television special for my liking, with Generic Narrator #1 introducing the material, and thankfully throwing promptly to Gene Kelly, who has considerably more interesting things to say. A lot had taken place since Part I and II of 'That's Entertainment!' found their way into theatres; the advent of home video ensured that no household was without an assortment of family entertainment, including countless classic MGM musicals, and, among others, Fred Astaire was no longer with us, having passed away in 1987. Gene Kelly is almost unrecognisable from the Gene Kelly of decades past, and certainly didn't look as though he was going to start tappin' away any time soon; however, it's just good to hear his contribution. The other hosts, most of them "second-tier" performers (I don't intend this negatively) who wouldn't usually get such an opportunity, provide some useful information on the clips that we are seeing. There's also the usual tributes to Fred Astaire and Judy Garland, and the obligatory selection from Esther Williams. While 'Part II' had been somewhat haphazardly edited, 'Part III' has a solid structure and good progression. Some of the archival wells do, indeed, seem to be running dry – we get the "Fit as a Fiddle" number from 'Singin' in the Rain (1952)' – but, otherwise, the footage is fascinating. Fred Astaire taps away in two alternative versions of "I Wanna Be a Dancin' Man" from 'The Belle of New York (1952),' showing such perfect rhythm and timing that, side-by-side, both Astaires are faultlessly synchronised; Eleanor Powell dances to "Fascinating Rhythm" from Lady Be Good (1941),' as a behind-the-scenes camera captures the frantic crew members shifting pieces of the stage back and forth; in an unfinished early musical 'The March of Time (1930),' an elaborate musical sequence calls to mind Elvis Presley's 'Jailhouse Rock (1957).' If you pressed me to make a decision, I'd probably rank 'That's Entertainment! III' as the third-finest entry into the series, which has been remarkably consistent in quality. I think I'll always love 'Part II' best of all – how can anybody pass up Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire dancing together?

While anything would be a bit of a letdown after the first two "That's Entertainment's," this one still has plenty of terrific things to recommend it. Among others, there's the aforementioned Eleanor Powell dance routine, the original performance of "Singin' in the Rain" from "Hollywood Review of 1929," "Lock Step" from the uncompleted "March of Time" (and has anyone ever heard of the Dodge Twins, the two shapely young ladies who performed it?), and Lena Horne's unbeatable "Can't Help Lovin' That Man," from "Til' the Clouds Roll By." Also memorable, but for all the wrong reasons, is Judy Garland's "I'm an Indian, Too" from "Annie Get Your Gun." Even though I'm a long-time fan, it's easy to see why she was dropped in favor of Betty Hutton: She seems uncomfortable with the song itself, and, if you look into those eyes, it's very clear that somebody, or something, else is doing the driving, as it were. As I say, not as good as the first two, but good.

This is the best of the That's Entertainment movies and that's because of all the extras they packed into this film. My favorite extra was seeing Fred Astaire dance the same number in split screen, but in different costumes and different stages. This one clip alone shows what a true professional he was: he was perfectly in synch with himself throughout the whole dance and it was delightful. The oddest extra was the split screen showing of Cyd Charisse and Joan Crawford "singing" and dancing to the same vocal of the same song. Inexplicably, Charisse's was the one cut by the studio and Crawford's was used. Crawford's version was as horrible (she's in blackface, for starters) as Charisse's was elegant. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed seeing footage of the Vaudeville acts. While I can understand why they never 'made it big', I'm happy they were included in this film. As some other reviewers have mentioned, it was a bit bittersweet seeing the aging MGM stars who hosted this show (especially those who are no longer with us). This hit home for me while watching Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse dance. Gene, of course, has been gone for 12 years, but we just lost Cyd in the past few months. Seeing them together again made me very grateful that we have all of their lovely dances preserved forever on film. As always, I don't agree with some of the choices the powers-to-be made in terms of the clips they chose. For example, they chose the Gene Kelly/Donald O'Connor Fit As A Fiddle dance from Singin' In The Rain. The Moses Supposes dance from that movie is far superior to Fit As A Fiddle. I would also have liked to see more of Donald O'Connor. We only got one other brief glimpse of him during someone else's segment. As with all of the other That's Entertainment movies, this is definitely worth watching. If you have to chose just one TE film, I would chose this one and that's because of all the extras.

I was rather dubious about watching "That's Entertainment! III". After all, there were two previous films in the series and you wonder how much more is worth seeing. After all, the best singing and dancing scenes MGM made were in the first two films--so why watch this one too?! Well, there IS a good reason! Instead of showing just having old stars introducing the typical clips of old musicals, the Turner Entertainment folks did some REAL digging and brought out many, many clips that you never could have seen! They found alternate versions of dance numbers, film showing the sets being moved while Eleanor Powell danced and many numbers that never made the final cut--but were still very good song and dance numbers. Because it's a treasure chest of hidden material, it is a must-see for lovers of the genre. Others might not be so impressed...especially if they are the sorts who are unfamiliar with classic Hollywood films and have the mistaken belief that the only good films are newer ones. By the way, of all the clips I saw, the one I enjoyed the most was by some of the most obscure folks. The Ross Sisters did the most amazing dance number--and when you see it, you'll understand what I mean!