Search - That's Entertainment, Pt. 2 on DVD

MPAA Rating: G Content Advisory: Suitable for Children Movie Release: 1976 DVD Release: 10/12/2004 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV,Pan and Scan - Closed Captioned Edition: Dual Layered,Restored/Remastered Audio Tracks: English, French Subtitles: English, French, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 2 hrs 6 mins Studio: Warner Home Video Members Wishing: 2 Genres: Dance, Film, TV & Radio, Biography, Film & Television History See Also: That's Entertainment, Part 2 [HD DVD], That's Entertainment, Pt. 2 [Blu-Ray]

This represents MGM's 1976 sequel to its enormously successful compilation film That's Entertainment (1974). In lieu of the multi-narrator device of the first film, director Gene Kelly chooses to limit the hosting chores to two people: himself, and his friendly rival Fred Astaire. Another departure from the first film was the decision to include comedy and dramatic highlights from MGM's past, with such stars as Greta Garbo (seen in a montage of "I want to be alone"s), Greer Garson, Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery, Marie Dressler, Red Skelton, the Marx Brothers, and Laurel and Hardy (though the last-named team's vignettes are culled from Hal Roach productions which were merely released by MGM). Be sure and catch That's Entertainment from the beginning for Saul Bass' opening credits, incorporating a variety of title-sequence styles: waves crashing on the shore, pages turning in a book, and a J. Arthur Rank-style gong. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fred Astaire - Co-narrator
Gene Kelly - Host
Spencer Tracy
Katharine Hepburn

That's Entertainment Part II (1976) took its time to get to DVD and achieve the level of visual excellence in evidence in this release -- one should savor it, because there are a few public-domain titles represented, such as Till the Clouds Roll By, that viewers may never see in complete, authorized editions, mastered from proper, restored sources on DVD, and other, more marginal musical titles such as Words and Music and Small Town Girl, not to mention some of the black-and-white material from the early '30s, that will likely take a long, long time to make it to the digital video format. The movie went through nearly as many incarnations on VHS and laserdisc as its predecessor, but it was always more satisfying on video than That's Entertainment!, mostly because there was less difference in tone and texture between the new bridge sequences featuring Gene Kelly (who also directed) and Fred Astaire, and the film excerpts being shown, than there was between the old and new sequences in the original film. That's Entertainment Part II flowed better visually even if it wasn't as well-organized as the original That's Entertainment. The final laserdisc incarnation got everything right, with a variable aspect ratio -- anywhere from window-boxing the oldest clips from the dawn of sound, through 1.85:1 all the way out to 2.55:1 for some of the mid-'50s clips, in keeping with whatever was correct for the scene at hand -- and a serious restoration job on all of the excerpts utilized.

The Warner DVD follows this pattern and, like the earlier That's Entertainment, is presented on two sides of the platter, one full screen (1.33:1) and the other variable widescreen. The widescreen side is preferable on just about any level, and both sides contain the same chapter markers -- for each major section and excerpt -- and supplements, in this case only the trailer and a short introduction by Turner Movie Classics host Robert Osborne. This time out, he does have some interesting observations to make, concerning the critical reassessment of certain careers and movies that took place because of their representation in this documentary. The menu is simple and easy enough to use, and the disc is fine as far as it goes. But, as with its predecessor, Warner Home Video missed an opportunity with this disc; with as much material as was excerpted here across 126 minutes, this movie begs for a commentary track by some top-flight movie and musical historians, who could have a field day with the visual material at hand. The absence of any true in-depth supplement is the glaring fault in this disc, for all of the care that was taken with its preparation and production. The pairing of Astaire and Kelly alone could make for a lively hour's worth of discussion and debate. So the DVD is enjoyable -- it is, indeed, entertainment, and second to none -- but it could have been a lot more than that. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide