January 23, 2021
That’s Entertainment, Part II (1976) ****
TCM
Free
Wildcard
It took 23 days, but I’m finally watching a second film in a day! Now, this does NOT mean that I don’t have to watch a film tomorrow, as each day is a clean slate. Especially since, if the rain holds off, there is a good chance I’ll be watching three films tomorrow!
I wonder, since they didn’t use the actual song, That’s Entertainment for the first film, was it an oversight, or were they saving it for the sequel? I have a feeling that nobody really expected the original That’s Entertainment to be the smash hit that it turned out to be, so who knows why, but they were able to have it be the first number in the sequel. I love how pained Oscar Levant looks whenever he is forced to sing and dance in these films. Cheerful hoofing was not his forte by a long shot.
The opening credits are fun and clever, each set of names appearing in a different fashion, but my favourite one is a bottle washed up on a beach with a note in it, on which is written the names Esther Williams, Johnny Weissmuller, Ethel Waters, and W.C. Fields. The swimming star, the Olympic swimming star, the woman whose name had the word “water” in it, and the comic alcoholic. Someone got a raise for that one.
Instead of having multiple hosts wandering around a crumbling backlot, this one has just two, Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire, which is certainly all you need. They sing and dance on a non-crumbing set, and introduce the various clips and numbers, which include comedies and dramas in addition to musicals, because there are kind of a finite number of musicals and they used an awful lot in the first film.
I did notice that there was no choreographer credited for Astaire and Kelly’s dances, which means that they did it themselves. Boy, I would have loved to be a fly on the wall for that, did they argue? Did they struggle for who was the top dog, or, Kelly being the director, did he automatically have the last word? Or, more likely, at 77 and 64 years old respectively, did they just go, “Let’s see what we can do without breaking a hip?”
I’m not sure if I prefer TE II to the TE I, or if I’ve just seen it more often. It definitely has my two favourite moments from all of the films, one being Bobby Van’s jumping dance, which is the reason I know I’ve seen this film so incredibly often, because I just remember rewinding the video over and over again to watch that dance! I had a huge crush on Bobby Van as a child and was so sad I was never able to watch this movie, Small Town Girl. Here’s the thing with living in the future, though, it’s available on streaming! I am finally going to get to watch this movie I’ve wanted to see since 1976!
The other favorite bit is from Jumbo, with Jimmy Durante trying to sneak off with the elephant. I see no reason to describe it when you can just watch it! I also loved, in this viewing, a clip of Durante as Schnarzan, from Hollywood Party, see my review from the beginning of the month. It’s almost as though I suddenly discovered the ability to embed links in Word Press.
Anyway, That’s Entertainment II, entirely enjoyable! Next: That’s Dancing.
365 Films in 365 Days 