The third in the series, the original film, That's Entertainment was a movie made up of clips from MGM's peak musical period. The old time stars who had appeared in these musicals were brought in to provide some commentary, praising the genius of MGM's musical department.
That's Entertainment, Part II had Gene Kelly directing the introductions of yet more clips from MGM's musicals. This time Kelly and Fred Astaire did the introductions and commentaries. It was already apparent that most of the good stuff had been used in the first film. That's Entertainment, Part II did have Astaire and Kelly performing in a couple of numbers. The two legendary hoofers actually did pretty well considering their ages.
That's Entertainment! Part III had a few new twists to it besides the usual hodge podge of musical numbers. Outtakes from numbers that didn't make it into any film were featured. A bizzare number featuring some sisters who were contortionists didn't make the cut. A number with Lena Horne cut from the all black musical Cabin In The Sky probably removed for censorship reasons when it played down south. In addition, many numbers that were re-staged with different sets and costumes, apparently the filmmakers didn't feel the numbers were effective as originally performed.
This was all interesting stuff especially for film buffs. Unfortunately the film finally settles down into it's familiar format with the veteran performers introducing numbers which lets face it were about the bottom of the barrel since the filmmakers had already picked over the good stuff for the previous films.
I guess if That's Entetainment! III proves anything it's that MGM which did had some of the finest technicians on staff did tend to cater to a very middle class audience. A lot of the numbers in this film are extremely bland.
The film was written by Bud Friedgen and Michael J. Sheridan who were the editors on all three of these films and the directors on this one. The running time is 113 minutes.
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