MovieChat Forums > That's Entertainment! III Discussion > A good film but. . .

A good film but. . .

posted 16 years ago by pnkerner
3 replies | jump to latest

While TE III is a great film about someone at MGM compiling TE IV with no Arthur Freed pics. It is well that we remember the Freed unit was not the only musical unit at MGM and I am tired of Freed being held up as the god of the movie musical. There were other musical producers at Metro: Jack Cummings and Joe Pasternack, to name two, and their films are are numerous and sometimes much better to watch than some of the stinkers produced by Freed: Belle of New York, Les Girls, The Pirate, and Always Fair Weather.

[–] cclowell 16 years ago

Agreed. Soprano stars like those starred in Joe Pasternak's films (Jeanette MacDonald, Kathryn Grayson, Jane Powell) really got the cinematic shaft from the entire TE series.

Jane Powell said it was because Jack Haley, Jr. didn't like sopranos. I don't think Arthur Freed liked them much either. At least, they don't appear in the Freed Unit films very often.

[–] blondee661 11 years ago

I couldn't agree more! Don't get me wrong Freed made some wonderful movies but Pasternak and Cummings made some wonderful musicals as well. I think Ann Miller once said that Cummings had a knack for making movies and knew a good idea when he saw it or something along the lines of it. He was responsible for films like Seven Brides, Kiss Me Kate, some of Esther Williams films, and Broadway Melody of 1940 which I think contains the best musical number on film, "Begin the Beguine." It's a shame that none of the films highlighted these producers as well.

[–] gbennett5 9 years ago

Disagree. There are TONS of other clips by other producers. The reason
Freed's pictures are shown most is because his films ARE the best, and
the best should be celebrated in a film like this. And by the way, both
"It's Always Fair Weather" and "The Pirate" are fine musicals. They didn't
sit well with the public at the time of release, but they are far from
"stinkers." Such nonsense.