User Reviews

Following the experimental days of the late 1920s and early 30s, box office poison made the movie musical nearly disappear because of poor technology and a lack of ingenuity in creating films of substance and artistic integrity. Going from point A to point B in this two part continuation of where the early days left off, the viewer gets to see how the depression brought back the movie musical with the help of many new artists and singers and dancers who waited patiently for the movie musical to return from its place as box office poison. That means that we get Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Jeanette MacDonald with both Maurice Chevalier and Nelson Eddy, Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler in the Busby Berkeley spectaculars, Shirley Temple, Alice Faye, Deanna Durbin and ultimately Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney.

You see the threads from part one being pulled to create stronger material in part 2. Gone are the static cameras that didn't move and are the cameras that take song and dance on screen into many new directions. Lavish sets, terrific songs and above all, sensational performers makes for a great decade that started with the depression and ended with a threat of war.

Once again, Shirley Jones elegantly explains 10 years of movie musical history, using footage, interviews of people who were there, and the historical impact of what was going on behind the scenes. Much of this footage has been seen on TCM and of course in the MGM trilogy "That's Entertainment!". but, this is not just MGM. This is 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers, RKO Radio, Paramount, Universal, and even the lowly poverty row studios that put out the cowboy westerns. A section of it also focuses on the films made for black audiences by black filmmakers since a good majority of the great entertainers from the black community were disincluded from the Hollywood A studios. But it also focuses on the brave producers and directors who were willing to take a chance by insisting that performers like Bill Robinson, the Nicholas brothers and later Lena Horne would be included in these classic films.

Each tribute to the various elements of the decade takes between 10 to 20 minutes depending on the impact that each of those elements had. That gives more footage to the Busby Berkeley musicals, Astaire and Rogers and later a view of the child stars from Shirley Temple through Jane Withers and Judy Garland and forgotten child performers like Bobby Breen. You can tell by the formatting of the documentary from the time it starts that there is no worry that your favorite legend will not be included. I particularly liked the segments on Alice Faye and Jane Withers whose films for years were unavailable but are now being released for modern audiences to enjoy. It's bittersweet as it gets to the conclusion as we go from the glory of "The Wizard of Oz" and "Babes in Arms" to a brief shot of what was happening in Europe at the time. Leslie Caron, a musical star of a later decade, comments that the Busby Berkeley musicals reminded her of Nazi marches and thus are not her cup of tea. It is that type of commentary that makes this very personal and takes you past just the fabulous songs and terrific performers and gives a psychological look into the time, the place, the culture, the world.