Writing in The New York Times, film critic Caryn James called the film "a lively and funny compilation of curiosities suggesting what might have been." James wrote that the "one real problem" with the film was that many of the clips were very short. "Because these excerpts are so much weaker than the glorious musical numbers, excerpted at greater length in the first "That's Entertainment!," it makes some sense to cut them drastically. But over the course of a two-hour film, the effect is jarring, like stop-and-go driving in heavy traffic."[1]
Critic Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half stars. He praised its focus on musical numbers that did not appear on screen due to any number of factors, including "commerce, taste, race, sex and running time." He called it "a genuinely fascinating film, one that may tell more about MGM musicals, and aspects of American society, than a film devoted to still more highlights from musical numbers that did make their way into films."[2]
DVD release
All three films were released to DVD in 2004. The box set collection of the films included a bonus DVD that included additional musical numbers that had been cut from MGM films as well as the first release of the complete performance of "Mr. Monotony" by Judy Garland (the version used in That's Entertainment! III is truncated). The home video version of That's Entertainment! III also contains several musical numbers not seen in the theatrical release. The film was later remastered for high-definition release on Blu-ray and HD DVD.[citation needed]
