THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT
US, 1974, 134 minutes, Colour.
Narrators and hosts: Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Gene Kelly, Peter Lawford, Liza Minnelli, Donald O’ Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Mickey Rooney, Frank Sinatra, James Stewart, Elizabeth Taylor.
Directed by Jack Haley Jr.
That’s Entertainment was the last film made on the MGM lot in the 1970s before it was sold off for residential development. It is a tribute to the MGM musicals with generous clips from many films from The Wizard of Oz, An American in Paris, Singin’ in the Rain, Gigi, Showboat, The Toast of New Orleans. There is a star-studded gallery who serve as co-hosts and narrators and many of the stars are seen in significant clips.
The film was immensely popular in the 70s and led to two sequels and a film called That’s Dancing. It is an opportunity to have a look at some of the key sequences in the MGM musicals from the golden years of Hollywood.
1. How entertaining a film was this? What was the film's definition of entertainment? Did it entertain and did it show entertainment in the past? what is entertainment in itself, especially in this musical achievement? How does it respond to people's expectations of entertainment?
2. How impressive was this presentation of the musical? Did it pay good tribute to this achievement? In what did the achievement consist? were the excerpts well chosen and presented?
3. Comment on the sense of history in the film, the span from 1929 to 1957? what changes were evident in the styles of the musical over the decades? The relationship to the social backgrounds of the times? To the budgets? To popularity? To change in techniques? How impressive an achievement was this?
4. How well did the film trace the technical changes in these decades? what were the major changes? Comment on the technical achievement within this film: the use of small screen, cinemascope, seventy millimetre? The use of black and white and colour? The choosing of excerpts and the blending with commentary by the stars?
5. How impressive were the comments by the stars? Comment on their age and the comparisons with their screen appearances.
6. How attractive was the dancing in the film? How did the film emphasize the dance musical? What were the major achievements here? Why?
7. Did the film pay adequate tribute to the singing musical? Who were the most impressive singers? How were the songs incorporated into musicals?
8. Comment on the spectacular side of the musicals, the use of the Ziegfeld style sets, Esther Williams musicals, Gene Kelly musicals, Fred Astaire simple styles etc? How important is the spectacle for musicals?
9. Comment on the impact on the stars? In their own time, over the decades. Was the star system a valuable thing? Why?
10. What insight was given into the life and the careers of the stars by the collages: for Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney etc? How interesting and attractive were these?
11. What was the impact of the tributes e.g. Gene Kelly's tribute to Fred Astaire and vica versa?
12. Did the film offer a valid presentation of nostalgia? Why were 70s audiences so interested and entertained by old musicals? The sense of history, the music, the colour, the joy, the songs, of innocence and the role of cinema in people's lives in those days? Is that what is meant by entertainment?
