For every great scene...
...there's about 5 scenes of mediocre material. Example: That whole section about musicals with people like Clark Gable or Jimmy Stewart trying (and failing) to sing a song.
Part 1 of this series is not as good as the later parts.
This documentary is about the musical and the musical era. This obviously includes a great deal and not just the stuff on the top of all of our lists. It gives us a history of all things.
The bits about Jimmy Stewart and Clark Gable simply show examples of the importance of the musical era and how popular musicals were and the attempt of the studios to make everyone a singing or dancing star -- even already great talents.
The mix of all the different styles and talents (great and less than great) make this an interesting documentary. The progression of musicals included all types of talent and this is what made in a documentary style as opposed to
a showcase of MGM's greatest talent.
I think those scenes make the movie even more interesting. It goes to show even though some of the big stars do not have great voices they weren't that bad. I have heard a lot worse on radios and videos today which is suppose to pass as good sining. Clark Gable sounds like Sinatra compared to some of these so called singers today.
shareAre you kidding? The clip of Joan Crawford heavily pounding out a tap number is one of the funniedt bits ever.Think about this when you're watching Mildred Pierce next time and you'lll be forever grateful that MGM saw its mistake and pplaced her in dramas. (Even though Pierce was WBs.)
share^Well that was Crawford's signature dance in the 20s. She got her start as a dancer. May be funny today but it was very popular and 'in' at the time.
Professional Jayne Mansfield fanatic/lover™ since 1980.
Crawfords signature dance was the Charleston not tap-dancing.
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The greater loss is the musical numbers that are cut up...such as make 'em laugh and get happy and old man river...and cutting away from "over the rainbow" for pity's sake.
It is not our abilities that make us who we are...it is our choices