Diving Into The New Year With Esther Williams: ‘Bathing Beauty’ Reviewed
by Rachel Bellwoar
Warner Archive provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this article. The opinions I share are my own.
The water pageant must go on! That’s what Broadway producer George Burns (Basil Rathbourne, taking a break from sparring with Erroll Flynn) believes in George Sidney’s Bathing Beauty. The first of Esther Williams’ aqua-ballet films, Caroline (Williams) and Steve (Red Skelton) are supposed to be getting married, but have decided to quit their old jobs when they get hitched. For George, who wants Steve to write the songs for his water pageant, this would be a nightmare, so he does the only thing a slimy Broadway producer can do – arrange a stunt with one of his chorus girls (Jacqueline Dalya) where she claims to be Steve’s wife and shows up at the wedding with three red-headed children in sombreros in tow.
Naturally, Caroline falls for the ruse and the wedding is called off. She goes back to her job at an all-girls college, but because Steve happens to run into the lawyer (Donald Meek) who’s working on a loophole in the school’s charter, a plan is hatched for him to enroll at the school, to the faculty’s dismay.
Released during WWII and FDR’s Good Neighbor policy, Bathing Beauty features a number of Latin American acts (like Xavier Cugat and his Orchestra and singer Carlos Ramírez). It also includes one too many songs by trumpeter Harry James and his Merry Makers. Organist Ethel Smith is particularly electric in her numbers, taking an instrument that doesn’t usually get painted as cool and making it as exciting as a guitar.
As befits a film that went through many writers, the script is filled with ridiculous contrivances. That’s what makes it fun, though – the more ridiculous the plot, the better. The extended comedy routines by Skelton are harmless but not altogether funny. A guy wearing a tutu isn’t inherently hilarious, for example, though it is a little amusing when the other girls are pulled into his attempts to dispose of a sticky candy wrapper that won’t get off of his person.
While it makes more sense in context (Williams hadn’t done much acting before this movie and, as the first aqua-ballet film, they were still figuring the subgenre out), her character getting sidelined is a big disappointment. She does get to wear some gorgeous costumes by Irene as a consolation. Basically, the film is bookended by two pool scenes. Skelton gets way more screen time (but is far less obnoxious than his role in another Esther Williams film, Neptune’s Daughter, which is a small mercy).
Warner Archive’s Blu-ray includes a bland Tom and Jerry cartoon (“Mouse Trouble”), in which Tom sends away for a “how to catch a mouse” book. There’s also a WWII propaganda short, “Main Street Today,” about what people should be doing on the homefront to help the war effort. The diamond, though, is an episode of the TCM interview show, Private Screenings, hosted by Robert Osbourne. Williams is completely candid and straight shooting about her time at MGM and how working with Billy Rose and his aqua-cade prepared her to work with anyone, including Louis B. Mayer. She also talks about her Olympic aspirations (which got squashed when the Olympics were cancelled in 1940), and being MGM’s answer to Fox’s skating films with Sonja Henie.
Bathing Beauty is available on Blu-ray from Warner Archive and to purchase from Movie Zyng.
