That's Entertainment!

Our next Rialto Recommends is MGM's omnibus film celebrating it's 50th Anniversary and its legacy of magical movie musicals THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT! The last major film to be shot at MGM's world famous Hollywood backlot, THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT! is a star-studded traipse down memory lane. The film boasts more than 100 classic segments compiled from dozens of MGM's most popular song-and-dance numbers and features newly recorded footage hosted by a variety of familiar faces, including MGM favorites Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Peter Lawford, Frank Sinatra, Clark Gable and Liza Minnelli. Roger Ebert raved "The movie's fun from beginning to end. It's not camp, and it's not nostalgia: It's a celebration of a time and place in American movie history when everything came together to make a new art form." It's worth noting the following comment from IMDB about the time of the film's release in 1974 long before the advent of TCM and AMC: "The film was a revelation at the time of its release. The majority of the pre-1936 MGM film library had rarely been released to television, so clips from films such as Free and Easy (1930) and The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (1929) were shown for the first time since their original theatrical releases. For years, films such as Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) and An American in Paris (1951) had only been show via worn, badly spliced prints late at night on independent TV stations. For this film, the vintage footage was meticulously restored and remastered for 70mm projection, making it look better than the original release." THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT! is streaming on TCM or available to rent for a modest fee from Apple, Amazon, GooglePlay, YouTube and others. Check out this celebration of movie musicals. It's the perfect spirit lifting prescription. And if you enjoy THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT its 1976 sequel That's Entertainment 2 is also worth seeking out.