Besides her water ballets, Esther always has at least one time in each film where she does one of her dives. She was in the Olympics once, they just cancelled the 1940 Olympics before she had her chance to compete. Then she just went into Hollywood and things took off for her from there.
Her fanatic for her in this film is Dick Johnston. He is first seen by the pool pretending to wear a bandage on his face. What he's actually doing is trying to make Esther feel sorry for him. She and her good friend Jimmy Durante (back again from "On an island with you") find out about Johnston doing that and take an instant disliking to him. But Esther soon will start falling for him and using her wonderful girlish charm of hers with him. Lauritz Melchior is back from " Thrill of a Romance" as Johnston's father, stealing every scene he's in again with his strong, talented opera voice. Esther, of course like in all her films, is the main one that makes things shine. I love old films from the 30s, 40s, and early 50s. Especially Judy Garland and Esther Williams. Hollywood's golden age would not have been the same without them.
Lauritz wants to arrange a marriage for his son, but his son only has eyes for Esther. She does another beautiful swimming number, with some nice underwater images, and Durante going under the water on a sinking platform and Esther pulling him up while wearing Durante's top hat. She looked so cute in that top hat. There's a sort of amusing scene by the pool where one of the swimming girl's three year old son is sitting on Durante's piano bench. Then Durante chases him up the diving board and the toddler dives into the pool. I've never seen such a small baby dive so well before. As Esther and Johnston become more romantically involved, Durante wants to see if Johnston will pass the "grandma" test. So Esther and Johnston take a trip up to wintertime Mackinac island where they need to travel by an icebreaker ship to get there. Grandma and Esther's little 7 year old niece take an instant liking to him. Then there's a very nice scene then with Johnston, Esther, and the niece all singing "Sno wonder we fell in love" on a sleigh. That scene was beautiful. Also beautiful is when we see Mackinac island in the springtime, the blossoms and the sweet 40s music and images of old fashioned Mackinac. Watching this really made it look like I was seeing into another age, a sweeter, more simple and innocent time that is now long gone. I seriously doubt modern day Mackinac has all horses and carriages and very few cars. I'm sure it looks much, much different now, just like almost anywhere else in modern 21st century America with Walmart and McDonalds, etc. I wish I was around back then, especially in the late 40s and early 50s when WW2 and the depression were over but the world was still so nice, simple, and innocent. I also liked a song Durante sang "The lost chord". I just love these films and the music and singing in them. I won't spoil the rest of the film in case there is someone reading this review who hasn't seen this film yet but wants to.
Note: I found out I was wrong when I said that Mackinac island looks very different today and looks just like most of the rest of 21st century America with traffic and Walmarts and etc. I guess I was just seeing how the other 99% of America today is like that. I did some reading up on modern Mackinac and was sorta surprised to find that the island still bans most cars, is still filled with horses, carriages, and bicycles. And that it still looks so beautiful and unspoiled, and still looks very much today like it did in the film. I never actually been there. Also, I read how the pool at the Grand hotel is named after Esther after she starred in the film there.
Her fanatic for her in this film is Dick Johnston. He is first seen by the pool pretending to wear a bandage on his face. What he's actually doing is trying to make Esther feel sorry for him. She and her good friend Jimmy Durante (back again from "On an island with you") find out about Johnston doing that and take an instant disliking to him. But Esther soon will start falling for him and using her wonderful girlish charm of hers with him. Lauritz Melchior is back from " Thrill of a Romance" as Johnston's father, stealing every scene he's in again with his strong, talented opera voice. Esther, of course like in all her films, is the main one that makes things shine. I love old films from the 30s, 40s, and early 50s. Especially Judy Garland and Esther Williams. Hollywood's golden age would not have been the same without them.
Lauritz wants to arrange a marriage for his son, but his son only has eyes for Esther. She does another beautiful swimming number, with some nice underwater images, and Durante going under the water on a sinking platform and Esther pulling him up while wearing Durante's top hat. She looked so cute in that top hat. There's a sort of amusing scene by the pool where one of the swimming girl's three year old son is sitting on Durante's piano bench. Then Durante chases him up the diving board and the toddler dives into the pool. I've never seen such a small baby dive so well before. As Esther and Johnston become more romantically involved, Durante wants to see if Johnston will pass the "grandma" test. So Esther and Johnston take a trip up to wintertime Mackinac island where they need to travel by an icebreaker ship to get there. Grandma and Esther's little 7 year old niece take an instant liking to him. Then there's a very nice scene then with Johnston, Esther, and the niece all singing "Sno wonder we fell in love" on a sleigh. That scene was beautiful. Also beautiful is when we see Mackinac island in the springtime, the blossoms and the sweet 40s music and images of old fashioned Mackinac. Watching this really made it look like I was seeing into another age, a sweeter, more simple and innocent time that is now long gone. I seriously doubt modern day Mackinac has all horses and carriages and very few cars. I'm sure it looks much, much different now, just like almost anywhere else in modern 21st century America with Walmart and McDonalds, etc. I wish I was around back then, especially in the late 40s and early 50s when WW2 and the depression were over but the world was still so nice, simple, and innocent. I also liked a song Durante sang "The lost chord". I just love these films and the music and singing in them. I won't spoil the rest of the film in case there is someone reading this review who hasn't seen this film yet but wants to.
Note: I found out I was wrong when I said that Mackinac island looks very different today and looks just like most of the rest of 21st century America with traffic and Walmarts and etc. I guess I was just seeing how the other 99% of America today is like that. I did some reading up on modern Mackinac and was sorta surprised to find that the island still bans most cars, is still filled with horses, carriages, and bicycles. And that it still looks so beautiful and unspoiled, and still looks very much today like it did in the film. I never actually been there. Also, I read how the pool at the Grand hotel is named after Esther after she starred in the film there.