It’s Showtime (1976)

(On Cable TV, January 2020) I suppose that It’s Showtime had to be made at some point in Hollywood history—a clip-show documentary of selected animal performances. Yup, that’s it—That’s Entertainment for your pets, mining Classic Hollywood for amusing bits. It’s all made of mostly short black-and-white film clips, interspaced with coloured intertitles. Don’t expect an explanation of how animals are made to perform on screen—the film is sparsely narrated to its detriment (some context would have been helpful), with the intent being strictly to amuse. If you’re not already amused, then the overbearing sound effects added to the clips will tell you when to laugh. It’s not all bad—the opening is a cute parody of Singin’ in the Rain (which makes the kinship with That’s Entertainment even more apparent) and some of the clips do remain impressive and/or cute enough to watch. But your appreciation will hinge at least partly on your tolerance for dressed-up dogs. The 1970s were a decade where many of these clip-show films were made as the declining studios looked at their vaults and riffled for the best bits. That’s Entertainment showed that there was some money there, but not all of its imitators were equally successful—such as It’s Showtime demonstrates.