To celebrate MGM's 50th anniversary in 1974, producer Jack Haley, Jr. (the son of Jack Haley, who played the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz) came up with the idea of cutting together highlights from the great MGM musicals into a compilation film, which would be broadcast on television. Haley and executive producer Daniel Melnick spent months digging through the vast MGM film vaults for clippings from such classics as Singin' in the Rain, An American in Paris, and Meet Me in St. Louis, as well as less familiar gems. MGM executives liked the compilation so much that they decided to expand it into a feature film. Haley brought Gene Kelly on board as a host, and Kelly in turn was able to entice stars like Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra to introduce and provide narration for the clips.
The final result, That's Entertainment!, was a smash hit, adored by critics and a generation of moviegoers whose only access to the great musicals of the past was the occasional art-house revival or mangled television broadcast. That's Entertainment! not only popularized the retrospective compilation genre but tapped into a nostalgia for Old Hollywood that has been a pop culture staple ever since. The film spawned three sequels — That's Entertainment, Part II in 1976, That's Dancing! in 1985, and That's Entertainment III in 1994.
Read more / Download movie Originally published at MovieWorld.ws
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