Watch That's Entertainment, Part II For Free

The Age of Commercialism

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

The DVD version of "That's Entertainment, Part II" includes an introduction by TCM host Robert Osborne, who says that this compilation takes a different, "stream-of-consciousness" approach to the material compared to its more organized predecessor. He's right: this film's randomness - you never know who or what is going to pop up next (Abbott and Costello? Greta Garbo? Tarzan?) - gives it a trippy, occasionally surreal quality. It has more variety and more scope than the first film, and contains more obscure gems (like Gene Kelly's "cartoon" dance from "Invitation To The Dance"), but there is nothing here to top Kelly's title number from "Singin' In The Rain" or Fred Astaire's dance on the ceiling from "Royal Wedding". Astaire and Kelly also do some "new" dancing, showing that despite their age they hadn't missed a step. But I have one complaint about their hosting: they sometimes don't mention the name of the movie a clip is from (for example, one of the most powerful moments comes from "A Tale Of Two Cities" - but I only found that out later when I searched for those lines of dialogue online). As a director (he supervised the new sequences), Kelly has a lot of crazy and creative ideas. And Saul Bass designed a truly magnificent title sequence - a work of art. *** out of 4.

Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly were still very busy in the world of entertainment in 1976, two years after the release of "That's Entertainment!". They had been two of the narrators in the original, so for the sequel, wise producers got them to dance for the first time on screen since "Ziegfeld Follies" thirty years before. That clip is shown here, and when the two break into a dance, it is as delightful as their first teaming was, and the two aging stars seem as if time has stopped for them. In fact, the excitement of them still hoofing after all this time may have been so great that I wouldn't be surprised if film audiences burst into applause after their first number in the film.More musical numbers are included, so there's more opportunities to see what Mickey and Judy, Nelson and Jeanette, Howard and Kathryn, to name the teams of MGM, had done together. Then, there's the non-musicals in there as well, so you get some Spencer and Kate and some William and Myrna. You don't even need to hear their last names to know who these people are, and it is still amazing that these clips still hold up together so well more than 80 years after they were first shown to the public.There's also a beautiful credit sequence which cleverly re-creates the type of credits done in many of the MGM films of this era. Of course, most of the MGM films had the same backdrop, but on occasion, there were more artistic credits, particularly those done once MGM began filming more of their musicals and epics in color. The film works almost as well as "That's Entertainment!" does, but there is also a bit of a sadness because of what had happened to the Hollywood studios and to MGM in general, still in the game, but not quite on top as it had been. But cable T.V. and home video were on their way in, and ultimately Turner Classic Movies where these films are shown to this day, many of them restored to their glorious original prints and beautifully preserved on DVD so future generations can enjoy them to their fullest.

Objectively speaking, it's hard to argue with those who believe that 'That's Entertainment! (1974)' towers over its sequel. Indeed, the first film naturally had all the classics to choose from, and so director Jack Haley Jr. was able to throw all the very best bits into his film. When Gene Kelly arrived on the scene to direct 'That's Entertainment, Part II (1976),' he found no shortage of interesting clips in the MGM archives, but occasionally had to settle for the secondary musical numbers from the most famous musicals, for example, having to settle with "Good Morning" instead of "Singin' in the Rain." Nevertheless, I think I enjoyed the sequel even more than the original, not because of the nostalgic clipshow, but because of the interludes in between. Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire, performing together for the first (and only) time since 'Ziegfeld Follies (1946),' light up the screen with their lighthearted theatrics, proving – at ages 64 and 77, respectively – that time has done little to dim their talent for entertainment.For all its nostalgic spectacle, 'That's Entertainment!' had still been a rather impersonal affair. Plenty of faded stars appeared on screen to briefly recount their experiences, but their monologues were obviously tightly scripted and lacked the intimacy and insight that they might have had. By 1976, Gene Kelly was already an experienced director (most notably in his collaborations with Stanley Donen) and so he decided to dress up his newly-shot interludes, sacrificing wistful recollection for just one more opportunity to see two of cinema's greatest sharing the stage, all to the tune of Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz's "That's Entertainment!" {from the film 'The Band Wagon (1953)'}. Both stars, incredibly, dart across the stage with all of their usual exuberance, and, in his final filmed performance, Fred Astaire apparently still retains the liveliness of a man two decades his junior. Kelly also breaks up the film with a brief vignette on location in Paris, where MGM Oscar-winning blockbusters 'An American in Paris (1951)' and 'Gigi (1958)' were set.The most exciting element of the 'That's Entertainment!' series, I think, is that not only can we relive all those precious classic moments, but we can also learn of the more obscure musicals about which we would otherwise have known nothing. For my part, the film added 'The Band Wagon' and 'Easter Parade (1948)' to my must-see list {yes, I am still a novice!}, and piqued my interest in many others. One hilarious sequence from 'Small Town Girl (1953),' frequently disparaged by reviewers, sees Bobby Van bounding across town like a kangaroo/pogo stick hybrid – where did that man get so much energy? All in all, I found 'That's Entertainment, Part II' to be a supreme piece of musical entertainment, mostly due to the newly-shot footage featuring Kelly and Astaire… I know I'll be humming the title song all weekend. I'm now interested in watching Part III, if only to find out how Bud Friedgen and Michael J. Sheridan, with a dwindling selection of numbers, managed to keep the series fresh.

Part of the joy of watching 'That's Entertainment, Part 2' is seeing the ageing Astaire and Kelly dance together again, with all the skill and the joy they put across in their respective heydays.Part 2 doesn't just rely on clips from MGM musical productions, but also celebrates the dramatic output of this prince of studios - Tracy and Hepburn, Garbo ... - as well as two amusing segments, one on comedy (including the Marx Bros.), and one on films about composers writing songs and melodies.Also of note is the excellent title sequence, where each artiste is represented by some kind of introduction that sums them up (Garbo by a rose, Betty Hutton and Howard Keel branded into wood, Hepburn and Tracy announced by a gong, Nelson and Jeanette as floating petals on a lake). A little peach of a movie, and proof positive that they really don't make 'em like this anymore.