Hollywood Singing & Dancing: Series 1920s-2000s

I thought I had a pretty good exposure to the clips they show in these histories. I have big collections of old sound musical shorts, for instance and have seen all three That's Entertainment(s) many times. And sure, this set is repeating clips for me, maybe 1/3 or so of the total. But they've dug up great stuff I hadn't seen. (I've only seen the first two hours so far, the 20s & 30s.) The script and the voice-overs are A+, especially the way everything gets contexualized within the history of stage and film entertainment. It moves briskly but not too quickly, all the while teasing you with terrific brief clips. It's all here, including singing cowboys and "race" musicals. Even a Busby Berkley clip I've never seen (Fashions of 1934). Most of the transfers look really great, and those that don't are such ancient artifacts that you're thrilled to see them in any condition. Plus there are great photos and clips outside the studio. If you've read this far, you know you want it, just buy it already.

This really is a must for fans of the Hollywood musical (particularly in its heyday).Series covers virtually every major musical made over ninety decades, If there is a quibble, its that there's a shortage of substantial clips from many of the key musicals of the 30s thru the 50s - relying heavily instead on brief footage from fuzzy trailers. Obviously a copyright-clearance problem with some of the major studios (and involving big bucks) - but this was inevitable.Though the series was produced in 2008, you could argue that it is bang up to date, since - to my mind - there's been nothing notable in the way of big musicals since CHICAGO (2002)!

Don't buy this expecting a "That's Entertainment"-style collection of full musical numbers from wonderful old films. What you get here is brief clips of inferior picture quality, many taken from public domain trailers, padded out with talking heads of dubious expertise making obvious and uninteresting observations. Shirley Jones narrates from an uninspired script and adds nothing original to the proceedings. Shoddy. Get "That's Entertainment", "That's Entertainment II" or "That's Dancing" instead.

A Wonderful Collection of clips and comments covering the history of musicals from 1920s to 2000. Many of the clips have been collected before but this is very comprehensive.

Not as comprehensive as I had hoped, but some great clips not seen elsewhere. I would recommend it for anyone interested in the history and evolution of American Theatre and social dance.

If you're a fan of musical theatre - this one's for you.Caught this series on Sky arts channel and bought it for my mom as a birthday gift. It has given her hours of pleasure. Top notch production.

as a dancer I pretty appreciate the select of great dancing and singing scenes. I can recommend to everybody. Hollywood Singing & Dancing: Series 1920s-2000s

excellent product at good price