You would think that after two "That's Entertainment!" films (not to mention the more obscure "That's Dancing!"), all the major singing and dancing numbers from the best MGM musicals must have been shown already, but this third attempt comes up with enough material to make it an enjoyable compilation. My absolute favorite part is without a doubt the witty, funny "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better" from "Annie, Get Your Gun". I also noticed - once again - what absolute knockouts Esther Williams and Doris Day were in their heyday, despite their "chaste" filmic reputations. I loved the pre-code "Clean As A Whistle" number, and almost started singing (not out loud, thankfully for others) alongside Elvis Presley in "Jailhouse Rock". The film also shows that even MGM at its peak could make some blinding errors of judgment: would you believe they kept Joan Crawford's version of "Two Faced Woman" and dropped Cyd Charisse's??? Or that they dubbed over the beautiful singing voice of Ava Gardner in "Showboat"? Or that they cut Judy Garland's leggy "Mr. Monotony" out of "Easter Parade"? Anyway, it's probably for the best they haven't made another one of these compilations - in this one the recipe still works, but a fourth time would be really pushing it. *** out of 4.

I enjoyed the first That's Entertainment! a lot. The second was OK but a huge step down from the first. The third doesn't match the first but it does surpass part 2. The most interesting aspect of this compilation was the inclusion of outtakes and deleted scenes. So classic film fans get to see a lot of hidden treasures. A few of my favorites were the Lena Horne bubble bath number from Cabin in the Sky, Ava Gardner's unused vocals from Showboat, and the opening dance of Fred & Ginger in The Barkleys of Broadway without the annoying title credits. Also some interesting behind-the-scenes footage of Eleanor Powell's "Fascinating Rhythm" number from Lady Be Good and a side-by-side comparison of Joan Crawford and Cyd Charisse performances of the same song. But the true highlight of the film would be the Judy Garland numbers she filmed from Annie Get Your Gun before being fired and the "Mr. Monotony" number cut from Easter Parade. It's a great compilation that will please most fans of classic musicals.

The original That's Entertainment was released in 1974 at a time when MGM were celebrating their 50th anniversary. The film was introduced by many MGM Stars of Yesteryear and it's aim was to highlight the quill of MGM musical magic from the 1930's - 1950's.Two years later That's Entertainment II appeared with Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire wonderfully singing and dancing their way through another nostalgic compilation that once again displayed the best MGM musical clips from the same era, that due to time constraints could not be included in TE1.That's Entertainment III, released in 1994, looks at the MGM musical from a different perspective. Here we concentrate on scene's that never quite made it into the finished film, scenes that in all probability WOULD have made it into the finished film, had the film actually been finished. and Scene's that did make it into a finished film but because of time's indiffence have long been forgotten.The highlight for me was watching Fred Astaire AND Fred Astaire in split screen format dancing to the song "I Wanna Be A Dancing Man" from the otherwise poor movie "The Belle Of New York". Although it was the same song and the same routine, (albeit in different costume), he is in perfect unison with his previously recorded counterpart, which perfectly shows the lengths Astaire went to achieve his perfection.The film opens with Gene Kelly explaining about the birth of the musical back when Hollywood first started talking. Apart from MGM's Hollywood Revue of 1929, (widely believed to be the first all talking, all singing and all dancing movie ever made), it was in fact Warner Brothers that streaked ahead in the development of the movie musical with the Busby Berkeley choreographed Dick Powell & Ruby Keeler musicals of the early 1930's. However, a few of MGM's early efforts are shown here which if I were to be blunt and honest, seem nothing more than pale ghosts of a Warner Brothers big production number especially the risqué 'girls in the shower' sequence which Berkeley would sort of make his pre-code trademark.RKO were the next studio to become the musical 'big boys' with the success of the Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers musical comedies. While Fred & Ginger were taking the depression out of the depression, MGM were getting serious with high brow operettas starring Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. Not surprisingly, Astaire & Rogers were shooing away 'nearly' all of their rivals with their light-hearted plot lines. I say 'nearly', because MGM had their own version of Astaire about to hit the big time, albeit female, in the form of Ms Eleanor Powell, the undisputed Queen of tap. Here we see her performing a couple of great numbers from the 1930's. Her brilliant routine to George & Ira Gershwin's "Fascinating Rhythm", had already been included in the original That's Entertainment, but it's here again in part three,with another split screen effect that shows us how much effort and off screen technicians we used to perfect the scene, such as men with trucks removing superfluous portions of the stage allowing the camera to move in closer to Ms Powell as her routine progresses.It was the advent of Eleanor Powell, the birth of the Mickey Rooney & Judy Garland partnership in the Andy Hardy movies and the acquisition of Fred Astaire and the discovery of Gene Kelly two years later, that paved the way for MGM to dominate the movie musical for the next 20 years.TEIII however, does have a heartbreaking side to it. Fred Astaire, who was so involved in the first two installments, had passed away only seven years earlier and needless to say, his absence from a presenting role is just as noticeable as his presence in his archived footage.Another thing that made me quite emotional was to see such an obviously ailing Gene Kelly, this movie was made about 18 months before his death, and it's actually painful to watch Gene as the frail shadow of his former athletic self with even his speech at times sounding powerless and laboured.Of the nine stars that donated their time and talent for a presenting role as of today's date only 3 of them remain.So, given my last three paragraphs, it was very difficult to watch That's Entertainment III without having some degree of mixed emotions, as I ended up putting too much emphasis on Man's Mortality and maybe not enough emphasis on how the movies are both timeless and lasting, and a moving snapshot of a different time. MGM Musicals are certainly timeless, lasting and above all, seriously enjoyable.I have, in fact, only given TEIII a 9 out of 10 rating as it includes a scene from Gigi that DIDN'T include Maurice Chevalier or Hermione Gingold. Pretty shallow huh?.

The third installment of musical clips from the MGM vaults. I'm a sucker for musicals and "That's Entertainment! III" was a huge surprise. I thoroughly liked the first part ("That's Entertainment!"); the second installment ("That's Entertainment, Part II") was decent but not that memorable, but this third compilation towers over its predecessors. One of the riches of the "That's Entertainment!III" is that the filmmakers are very critical and passionate about the subject. As much as they are paying homage to the glory of the MGM dream factory, they are also depicting the skill and the hard work that go along with it. This is perhaps the reason serious film critics seem to rhapsodize about it. Lots of pleasant & glorious moments, featuring many musical numbers, most of them cut from the original releases. Particularly revealing are: Eleanor Powell's tap dancing in "Lady Be Good" (in split-screen while the camera moving along with her); Lena Horne speaks about the prejudiced policies at MGM, introducing a nice censored bath scene from "A Cabin the Sky"; and Debbie Reynolds' rare number "You're My Lucky Star", cut from "Singin' in the Rain".