User Reviews

Viewed as a talent showcase this rates high because of the talent of some of the participants. For example, Buddy Rich's drum solo is pure dynamite captured on the screen.

Melchior was a talented singer, but only in opera. He was not an actor, but he has the happiest looking "happyface" you ever saw when he smiles. There is also a young man named Jerry Scott who displays good talent singing "operetta" style, which seems a bit misplaced in the resort setting.

Of course, Esther Williams displays her aquatic talents. In a couple of scenes, you will notice that Van Johnson had some true acting ability (on display here but unexpectedly so in this movie). Johnson and Williams worked well together.

The plot is bland and predictable (I said the word "annullment" about one hour before it was uttered on the screen). This movie could have been too "cutesy" (Spring Byington, a bunch of kids), but is rescued by the individual talent, nice color photography and some good scenery.

A very typical musical of the 1940s. Boy and girl marry quickly, and while on a honeymoon, he has to speed off for business ventures, and she finds love. Esther Williams again proved that she was no actress whatsoever.

Henry Travers, so memorable in Mrs. Miniver, and Spring Byington play the dithering aunt and uncle. The real good job here goes to Lauritz Melchior, the opera tenor, who gives good advice to Williams. He voice was as charming as ever and he proved that he could do some acting, especially in scenes with Ethel Griffies, who spent 37 years in the family of 8 years before in the memorable Oscar winning "How Green Was My Valley."

A routine but enjoyable movie. Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra really liven things up as well.

This was the second film in the expansive Esther Williams series, and she is particularly beautiful and vivacious. You will probably find this to be a letdown from the first film in this series: "Bathing Beauty", which is probably the most popular and enduring of this series. Here, there is no classic comedian, no water shows, and the musical scene is probably less diverse. As the title suggests, there is more emphasis on Esther's conflicted romantic life................ This is the first of 5 Esther films to costar Van Johnson. It features a very frustrating romance between Esther and Van. Esther marries handsome prominent businessman Bob Delbar(Charlton Young), but he is called away to Washington for an important business meeting shortly after the marriage ceremony. Thus, Esther spends a lonely wedding night in her room, weeping, except for a brief conversation on the patio with her hotel neighbor, played by Van, a decorated Naval pilot officer on leave for a week............. When the cat is away, the mice will play! The next day, Esther and Van get better acquainted in the hotel pool and restaurant. Van is a poor swimmer, so Esther gives him some pointers and assistance. By the end of the film, he's almost as good a swimmer as her. ..........Esther gets a call from her husband that he will probably be away for a week. Over the next week, Esther and Van gradually fall in love, but Esther periodically reminds him that she is married, so no hot and heavy stuff. At the end of the week, Esther gets a call from her husband saying he's afraid he will have to stay away for another week. Now, Esther is feeling more like a purely 'trophy wife', such as actress Heddy Lamar experienced in real life in her first marriage. As a result, Van extends his leave for another week. But, at one point, Esther feels her resistance faltering, thus asks Van to leave the hotel, which he reluctantly does, but soon returns, promising he won't pressure her to make love...........One day, a week later, they both decide to take a hike in the woods along the edge of Yosemite Valley. They go deeper into the forest than they had planned, then realize they weren't sure how return to the hotel. It was getting dark, so they decide to spend the night in the woods. Meanwhile, Esther's husband arrives, with Esther nowhere to be found. In the morning, he sees Esther and Van walking toward the hotel. He confronted them, and didn't believe Van's story that nothing sexual happened the prior night. He chewed out Van, who decided to leave the hotel. Later, the husband chewed out Esther and announced that he would file for an annulment. Poor man. Never got to consumate his marriage! Soon, Ether prepares to leave the hotel, Van already having left, not knowing about the husband's intention. I will leave the remainder of the story for you to discover. Of course, you know there will be a happy ending, somehow....................Esther's films almost always had a prominent musical element, and sometimes a professional comedian(think Red Skelton, Jimmy Durante, Lucille Ball). Here, we lack the latter, although Van and the opera singer Lourite Melchior(Nils) could create comedy. Lourite was an elderly internationally known opera singer. I don't know how you feel about having an opera singer as the main singer in an Esther film, but the MGM brass liked him so much, they invited him back for another Esther film. Here, he is larger than life and plays a prominent role in the film, sometimes advising or cheering up the lovers. His singing is scattered through the film. Perhaps his most memorable song is "I Love But Thee, through all Eternity". He also provides a bit of humor relating to his wife's attempt to eliminate his eating high calorie foods, given his excessive girth. ............Also, the Tommy Dorsey orchestra is much in evidence, sometimes backing up Lourite. Also, an African American young man, does an impressive sing of the classic "Because". Buddy Rich does an impressive drums and cymbals solo. And, 15y.o. Helen Stanley does well on the piano...............Before Esther marries, and at film's end, she's living with her aunt and uncle, played by the well recognized Spring Byington, and Henry Travers, respectively. Spring was among a handful of '30s - '50s actresses who were frequent mother, mother-in-law or aunt fixtures in films. She became even more famous in a variety of TV serials.

Pesky waiter Vince Barnett pushes the boiled beef and potatoes like it was ribeye and lobster, and it's his rubbery face that gets the laugh in this colorful but generic romantic musical. Van Johnson and Esther Williams do have their fans, but they're not Fred and Ginger or Judy and Gene. If he wasn't the most popular man in a uniform in the mid 40's and she wasn't the swimming sweetheart of the silver screen, this probably would somewhat bore me, but with Lauritz Melchoir popping in as a singing variation of Lionel Barrymore or Charles Coburn, the result is surprisingly sweet.

Frankly, outside of her swimming fantasies, Esther Williams in the water didn't interest me too much, and you have to wait far too long for that to happen. The chemistry between Johnson and Williams is serviceable, and yet he's certainly far more star material than Carlton Young who plays Williams' husband who goes away on business on their honeymoon. Frances Gifford is

Henry Travers and Spring Byington as Williams' family members are terrific, and Melchoir gets a romantic leading lady in veteran character actress Ethel Griffies, absolutely sensational. There's also Fernando Alvarado as one of Williams' swimming students, proving that kids do steal scenes, and Jerry Scott as the sweet resort page who wants to sing with Melchoir.

Lots of 40's big band and other specialties with Tommy Dorsey, Ethel Smith, Helene Stanley and the King Sisters performing. One of the male singers is a young Jeff Chandler. It's easy to dismiss films like this as being frivolous entertainment but when you see what was utilized to put it together, it ends up joyful at times, such as when Scott sings "Because" and goes from quaking knees to compete confidence.

Esther Williams is a beautiful, sweet old fashioned girl from Hollywood's golden age. Her specialties have been those glamorous, spectacular water ballet numbers, but she doesn't have much of one in this film though.(My very favorite Esther swimming water ballets are in "Million dollar mermaid", " This time for keeps", and "Bathing beauty". But I've enjoyed all of them. I also loved Esther's skiing show in "Easy to love")

This film is more of just a romance, but a good one. Esther has just gotton married, and they take their honeymoon to a resort at Yosemite national park. But Esther's husband leaves her on their first day of the trip to do a business deal. I don't care how good a business deal looks, if it would leave me earning even a little under a million dollars, I would never ditch my newly married wife on our honeymoon. When he leaves, Esther is sobbing on her hotel room balcony and is overheard by Van Johnson in the room next door. They start talking, they hit it off and start spending time together. And Esther, (who was an Olympic swimmer in real life) even teaches Van how to swim. There are some good supporting characters here. Professional opera singer Lauritz Melchior who is singing for the hotel, struggles (humorously) to stay on a diet, willing to do almost anything for a steak, potatoes, and a beer, including singing for it which gets him close, but not quite. Melchior sings a very good song with Esther and others in a bar, "Viva la Compangnie" while drinking. Esther looked so sweet next to him there, you can see that she and Melchior are just wanting to drink and have fun, unlike the "stuffed shirt" husband who leaves their vacation to work after just one phone call. I also kinda liked the scene where Melchior, with that other guy (who was a doctor), gives in from the diet and simply enjoys himself endulging himself with food and beer while singing about it. I agree, let loose and enjoy life, eat and drink what you want if it feels good. Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra provide the background music, and a girl, about 9 or 10 plays Lizts Hungarian Rhapsody on the piano almost as good as Franz Liszt. Then she jazzes it up and Dorsey plays the trombone, and she starts singing. What talent she had in both piano and singing. I wonder what became of her after this film. Then later, she has to start the music up of a song Lauritz sings because the rest of the orchestra doesn't know it. There's a lot of feel good chemistry between Esther and Van and you know **SPOILER** they'll end up together. Well I sure hope so because I would feel sorry for Esther if she was dumb enough to go back to that neglectful jerk husband of hers. Anyway, I'm glad Van gets with Esther. That's what he really deserved.