Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

That's Entertainment Blu-ray Movie Review

More than just a clip show.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III February 9, 2025

Released to theaters in 1974 to commemorate MGM's 50th anniversary, Jack Haley Jr.'s That's Entertainment was a surprise smash hit for the struggling studio who had recently outsourced film distribution to United Artists. Essentially it's a celebration of their extensive musical back catalog, much of which had yet to be discovered by younger audiences who weren't as familiar with Golden Age entertainment and the big studio system. Editors Bud Friedgen and Michael J. Sheridan were apparently a driving creative force behind That's Entertainment's simple but successful formula, which saw a number of well-known performers introduce dozens of classic clips -- many of them somewhat obscure -- while touring a few recently-sold portions of the MGM backlot. The sharp and slightly somber juxtaposition of these historical periods lends a lot of weight to the production, which quite simply has a little something for everyone.

For a full synopsis of the main feature, which itself spawned two sequels in 1976 and 1994 (the former directed by Gene Kelly, the latter by Friedgen and Sheridan), please see our 2007 review of That's Entertainment!: The Complete Collection, a three-disc set containing the whole trilogy. Warner Archive, who re-released that old set in 2020, recently reconstructed the 1974 original for its own 50th anniversary; as we'll soon learn, this wasn't as simple as "scan the camera negative and clean it up", but rather a painstaking process that took roughly a year to complete.

That's Entertainment Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

For starters, it should be noted that That's Entertainment was originally created in 1.85:1 for theatrical exhibition and uses a varying aspect ratio that changes depending on the featured film. Many from the pre-widescreen days maintain their original 1.37:1 aspect ratio (window-boxed inside the 1.85:1 frame, naturally), a few are cropped to fill the frame tastefully, others are native 1.85:1, and a handful of later CinemaScope films are wider still at 2.35:1. The shifting aspect ratio is maintained for this reconstructed Blu-ray, just as it was for the original HD release.

So what exactly does "reconstructed" mean in this case? That's Entertainment's original theatrical presentation was from a Color Reversal Internegative and varied wildly from clip to clip: some of the more obscure material was loaded with chunky noise, a few Technicolor films were slightly misaligned, and basically it looked as uneven as you'd expect for a showcase that spanned five full decades. I'm told that WB's original Blu-ray made use of an older restoration of the CRI and, while decent enough for its time, really began to show its age after many of the featured films got proper individual restorations from WB and Warner Archive such as The Broadway Melody, Singin' in the Rain, and of course The Wizard of Oz. (If you've been following our coverage of WB and WAC titles during the past 5-10 years, you'll likely be familiar with many of them.) To put it simply, Warner Archive quite literally "went to the vault" for a total ground-up rebuild which involved the meticulous location and re-scanning of original camera negatives or best-available source elements (largely due to countless negatives lost in the 1978 George Eastman House fire), all of which were manually cleaned up and carefully re-assembled to create a frame-perfect match of the original showcase.

In the event that a pre-existing recent 2K or 4K master was deemed acceptable, those elements were simply re-used. Thankfully, a handful of earlier subpar Blu-ray masters like Anchors Aweigh and On the Town were not.

You could say, then, that this reconstruction fittingly mimics its source material as a "greatest hits" montage of WB and WAC's finest restorations during this recent era of home entertainment and, as an extension of that thought, a potential preview of other titles to come. Even in small doses, this is as great as most of these films have ever looked, and it's my hope that the generous cross-section of direct-from-disc screenshots conveys this labor of love's visual strengths. Trace elements of age-related wear-and-tear remain but, for the most part, each and every featured clip -- as well as the crisply-shot "retrospective" introductions with Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby, Jimmy Stewart, Debbie Reynolds, Elizabeth Taylor, and others -- are about as picture-perfect as fans could hope for.

Has anything been changed? Not that I can tell. In fact, the closest thing to revisionism here is a brand-new rebuild of the closing credits: on the older Blu-ray (which Warner Archive was kind enough to send me for comparison), the text suffered from noticeable telecine judder and, naturally, each featured film background varied as wildly in quality as it did during the main feature. For this new reconstruction, restored clips were used and new text credits were created and overlaid to be as near-perfect a match to the originals as possible. Now that's dedication.

Encoded on a dual-layered disc, That's Entertainment runs at a smooth and supportive bit rate from start to finish with no obvious signs of banding, macro blocking, or posterization. While I doubt a similar reconstruction will occur for its two sequels (at least any time soon), I can say with confidence that this film will never look better on Blu-ray.

That's Entertainment Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The audio is also plenty impressive, presented in its original 5.1 mix and encoded in lossless DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio. This might normally translate to a plain-wrap repurposing of the older Blu-ray's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track, but the recent restoration and reconstruction of all this footage obviously wrings quite a bit more juice out of the sonics as well. That's Entertainment is mostly a front-loaded affair, but many of the native mono clips were "expanded" to stereo and beyond for the theatrical release using original recording elements that were combined manually to present multi-channel audio for the first time. Surrounds are more sparse in direct comparison yet make their presence known at key moments. The end result may not be quite as convincing as a front-row seat on Broadway, yet this is overwhelmingly great work and, like the visuals, probably exceeds original theatrical showings by a decent margin.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included during the main feature only, not the extras listed below.

That's Entertainment Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a keepcase with vintage poster-themed cover art that matches the menu interface. It's also worth mentioning that the main feature is now divided into just over 100 chapters (!), making it pretty easy to skip around and find your favorite musical numbers. A few retrospective bonus features from the earlier collection are recycled, though not all of them. For more details on each included item, please follow the review link.

• Just One More Time (8:46)

• 50 Years of MGM (66:28)

• NEW! Theatrical Trailer (4:12)

That's Entertainment Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Jack Haley Jr.'s That's Entertainment showcases five decades of MGM musicals with special appearances by many of their original stars, resulting in a lively, revealing, and emotional presentation that features a little something for fans of all ages. This somewhat unexpected smash hit spawned two sequels, but Warner Archive proudly presents this fully reconstructed Blu-ray as a 50th anniversary tribute to the original film's enduring appeal. It's a special release that's worth a purchase whether or not you own the earlier edition and comes Highly Recommended.