That's Entertainment, Part II

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That's Entertainment, Part II
2004 DVD release
Directed by	Gene Kelly
Produced by	Saul Chaplin Daniel Melnick
Written by	Leonard Gershe
Starring	Fred Astaire Gene Kelly
Music by	Nelson Riddle
Distributed by	MGM
Release date(s)	May 16, 1976 (U.S. release)
Running time	126 min.
Language	English
Preceded by	That's Entertainment!
Followed by	That's Dancing!
IMDb profile

That's Entertainment, Part II was a 1976 motion picture by MGM, and a sequel to the 1974 documentary, That's Entertainment!. Like the previous film, That's Entertainment, Part II was a retrospective of famous films released by MGM from the 1930s to the 1950s. (Some posters for the film use Part 2 rather than Part II in the title.)

For this second documentary, archivists featured more obscure musical numbers from MGM's vaults, and also featured tributes to some of the studio's best known comedy teams such as the Marx Brothers and Laurel and Hardy, romantic teams such as Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, and a montage of iconic stars such as Clark Gable, Mickey Rooney, John Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Joan Crawford, Jean Harlow, James Stewart, Lana Turner, and Greta Garbo.

Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire hosted the film and Kelly directed the introductory segments featuring him and Astaire, which included Kelly returning to the city of Paris which was featured in two of MGM's most famous productions, An American in Paris and Gigi. This was the last film he directed.

The film was highlighted by several newly-filmed musical numbers featuring Astaire and Kelly, including a couple of routines in which they danced together for the first time since the 1946 film Ziegfeld Follies, and for only the second time in their careers. (It was the last time 76-year-old Astaire danced on film.) According to film historian Robert Osborne, in specially-filmed introductions produced for Turner Classic Movies, it was Astaire who suggested to Kelly that the two take advantage of this potentially last-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform together, something Kelly had actually wished for out loud during his narration of the first That's Entertainment! film.

The sequel received more critical acclaim, but was not as successful at the box-office as the first film. Some 18 years later it was followed by That's Entertainment! III