RETRO-ACTIVE: THE BEST FROM THE CINEMA RETRO ARCHIVES
By Lee Pfeiffer
If you're stumped about what to get dad for the holidays and were thinking of picking up some Charles Bronson DVDs, stop reading right now! However, if you're in market to reward someone who appreciates movies that epitomize the cliche "they don't make 'em like that anymore" then you'll be happy to know that Warner Brothers and Turner Classic Movies have teamed for a boxed set titled TCM Spotlight: Esther Williams. The set contains five films starring the legendary actress/swimming champ. I confess to not having seen any Esther Williams films until receiving this set - with the exception of the 1961 circus movie The Big Show - ironically one of the few in which our legendary leading lady didn't get any closer to water than passing the pool of trained seals. In watching these films today you are reminded that the grand old musical is a genre that has been virtually abandoned by Hollywood even though it was once one of the most popular staples of the motion picture business. Nothing illustrates this bygone era better than this collection. For the uninitiated, these films would appear to be artifacts from some ancient civilization - but that is precisely what gives them a sense of charm and innocence.
We have to give credit to WB for giving deluxe treatment to titles that ordinarily would have remained in a studio vault. The Esther Williams set illustrates a perfect example of this. Individually, the films are definitely an acquired taste. They're steeped in corn and the sugar content is strong enough that it should be listed as a main ingredient on each slipcase. Yet, these types of musicals were once important elements of our popular culture and evoke memories of a time when people would be enthralled to see Williams in films with razor-thin plot lines that were used as an excuse to get this championship swimmer near a body of water. The films will not be everyone's cup of tea but, as usual, WB has loaded the discs with fascinating extras from the era - and these alone are worth the price of the set. Most interesting is TCM host Robert Osborne's interview with Ms. Williams, who still epitomizes class and style. There are also some priceless musical numbers that were cut from the original films and are seen here as bonus extras. For full details about the set and its contents see WB's press info below.- Lee Pfeiffer
TCM SPOTLIGHT: ESTHER WILLIAMS
Bathing Beauty ~ Easy To Wed ~ On an Islandwith You ~
Neptune’s Daughter ~ Dangerous When Wet
Due July 17, First Ever
Collection from America’s Favorite Mermaid Features Co-stars Fernando
Lamas, Red Skelton, Jimmy Durante, Ricardo Montalban, Van Johnson,
Lucille Ball, Cyd Charisse
The ravishing
bathing beauty who pioneered a new genre of moviemaking -- “Aqua
Musicals†-- will be seen in some of her splashiest roles when Warner
Home Video and Turner Classic Movies showcase TCM Spotlight: Esther Williams on July 17. The Collection includes the DVD debuts of five Technicolor films from ‘America’s Favorite Mermaid’ – Bathing Beauty, On an Island with You, Easy to Wed, Neptune’s Daughter andDangerous When Wet.
Also included are special features such as TCM
host Robert Osborne’s recent “Private Screenings†interview with Esther
(featured on the Bathing Beauty DVD), Academy
Award®-winning vintage shorts, musical number outtakes, and classic
cartoons. The films will be available only as a collection in a
collectible digi-pak gift and will sell for $49.92 SRP. Order due date
is June 12.
About Esther Williams
Born in Los Angeles in 1921, Esther was the
youngest of five children. As a teenager, she was determined to become
a world champion swimmer, and by the age of 15 had already set records
at such events as the Women's Outdoor Nationals and the Pacific Coast
Championships. She was slated to participate in the 1940 Olympics, but
when they were cancelled due to World War II, Williams went to work for
Billy Rose's San Francisco Aquacade. After being spotted by an MGM
talent scout, she made her screen debut in 1942 as Mickey Rooney’s love
interest in Andy Hardy’s Double Life.
Hoping that a swimming star could surpass a
skating queen (Fox’s Sonja Henie), MGM began grooming Miss Williams for
the future by completely restructuring her third film. Filming began in
1943 under the title Mr. Co-Ed, starring Red Skelton as the
title character. Early into production, producer Jack Cummings soon
realized that the leading lady was stealing the picture. The budget
increased, and the picture was re-titled, becoming the Technicolor
super-spectacular Bathing Beauty. The film was an
international smash, and even though Skelton got top billing, it was
Esther Williams who walked away with the movie.
Williams immediately clicked with the public and
went on to become one of the biggest movie stars of the era. Over the
next decade, she captivated audiences in nearly 20 films. Notably, she
co-starred with Van Johnson and Lucille Ball in Easy To Wed
(1946); played a movie star on a tropical island frolicking with
co-stars Peter Lawford, Ricardo Montalban and Jimmy Durante in On an Island with You (1948); sang one of many Frank Loesser tunes, including the Oscar-winning "Baby It's Cold Outside" in Neptune's Daughter
(1949); and swam the English Channel, danced with Tom and Jerry and
found romance with real-life future husband Fernando Lamas in Dangerous When Wet (1953). All of these films are in this collection.
As Williams’ popularity soared -- she was among
the top ten box office stars in 1949 and 1950 – MGM created a special
group of movies called “Aqua Musicals,†making her swimming sequences
more complex and elaborate with each new picture, and freshening up the
act with additions such as trapezes, hang-gliders and fiery hoops.
Other hits included Million Dollar Mermaid and Take Me Out to the Ball Game (also available on DVD from WHV) after which Ms. Williams tried her hand at drama with good performances in films like The Unguarded Moment, Raw Wind in Eden and The Big Show.
But she ultimately went back to the water, starring in several TV
aquacade spectaculars and acting as spokeswoman for her own
swimming-pool company. She retired in 1961 to devote her time to
husband Fernando Lamas, her children (including stepson Lorenzo Lamas)
and her many business activities. She was rarely seen in public during
those years, and was conspicuously absent from the reunion of MGM stars
in 1974 participating in the release of That’s Entertainment!,
the box-office blockbuster that featured a whole sequence around
Esther’s films. Interest in Esther remained high, but she remained out
of the public eye until Lamas’ death in 1982. She finally came back to
the entertainment world in 1984, when ABC asked her to help provide
commentary for the aquatic events at the Los Angeles Olympics, much to
the delight of her many fans. The success of her classic films on home
video and cable television introduced Esther to a whole new audience,
and in 1994, she returned to MGM to serve as one of the hosts in the
critically-acclaimed That’s Entertainment! III.
About the Films
Bathing Beauty (1944)
Rambunctious funnyman Red Skelton joins Esther
Williams in this buoyant (literally) comedy about a lovesick songwriter
who enrolls in a women’s college to woo his estranged swimming-teacher
wife. Highlights include music from both Harry James and his Music
Makers and Xavier Cugat and his Orchestra, Skelton in a pink tutu doing
unforgivable things to Tchaikovsky and a spectacular, trendsetting
‘chlorine-and-chorine’ finale.
Special Features:
- Robert Osborne hosts TCM’s Private Screenings with Esther Williams
- OscarÃ’-nominated Short Main StreetToday
- Academy AwardÃ’-winning Cartoon Mouse Trouble
- Theatrical trailer
- Subtitles: English (feature film only)
On an Islandwith You (1948)
Moonlight swims, swaying palms, Technicolor® sunsets and…cannibals?!
Esther Williams, Peter Lawford, Ricardo Montalban and Cyd Charisse get
the swimming, swaying and sunsets and Jimmy Durante gets the cannibals
in this tune-filled paradise for fans of musical comedy. The frothy
plot follows a swimming movie star (Williams, who else?) pursued by two
handsome suitors on the set of her latest film, but the main point is
mostly the songs, romance and Esther in a sizzling series of swimsuits
and sarongs.
Special Features:
- Vintage Romance of Celluloid series short Personalities
- Classic cartoon The Bear and the Hare
- Theatrical trailer
- Subtitles: English (feature film only)
Easy To Wed (1946)
In this fast-paced, romantic comedy – a remake of the screwball 1930’s classic Libeled Lady
– the comic bits are legion, with two standouts: Van Johnson afloat
with a baleful spaniel who knows a lot more about duck hunting than he
does, and a laugh-out-loud drunk scene that uncorks the incomparable
lunacy of Lucille Ball. When the local paper runs an untrue story
claiming an heiress (Esther Williams) is a husband stealer, she
prepares to sue for libel. So a newspaper honcho (Keenan Wynn) devises
a counter scheme to compromise her image: He’ll arrange a sham wedding
between his fiancée (Lucille Ball) and a newsroom Romeo (Van Johnson),
send the Romeo to woo the heiress, and make the phony story come true!
Special Features:
- OscarÃ’-nominated Pete Smith Specialty comedy short Sure Cures
- Classic cartoon The Unwelcome Guest
- Theatrical trailers of This Movie and Libeled Lady
- Subtitles: English (feature film only)
Neptune’s Daughter (1949)
Longing for a Latin lover, boy-crazy Betty Barrett
(Betty Garrett) mistakes girl-shy Jack Spratt (Red Skelton) for the
South American polo team captain José O’Rourke (Ricardo Montalban).
Meanwhile, the real O’Rourke pursues Betty’s elegant sister Eve (Esther
Williams). Soon mistaken identities and romantic complications spin
into a dizzy mix of slapstick and flirtatious fun. All is set to
terrific Frank Loesser songs, including Baby, It’s Cold Outside,
winner of the 1949 Best Song Oscar®. The film ends not only
happily-ever-after but with (would a Williams fan expect anything
less?) a stupendous water ballet.
Special Features:
- Outtake musical number I Want My Money Back
- Esther Williams cameo sequence from 1951’s Callaway Went Thataway
- OscarÃ’-Nominated Pete Smith Specialty comedy short Water Trix
- OscarÃ’-nominated cartoon Hatch Up Your Troubles
- Theatrical trailers of this movie and Take Me Out to the Ball Game
- Subtitles: English (feature film only)
Dangerous When Wet (1953)
The “just add water†formula works again in this lighthearted mix of romance, music and comedy directed by Charles Walters (Easter Parade).
Williams plays Katy, a farm girl who finds romance (with Williams’
future real-life husband Fernando Lamas) while training for a swim
across the English Channel. In the film’s key sequence, Williams swims,
swirls and swoops with cartoon stars Tom and Jerry in a concoction
“brimful of attractive people and attractive performances†(Clive
Hirschhorn, The HollywoodMusical).
Special Features:
- Outtake musical number C’est La Guerre
- Pete Smith Specialty comedy short This Is a Living?
- Classic cartoon Name to Come
- Esther Williams musicals trailer gallery
- Subtitles: English (feature film only)
BUY THE ESTHER WILLIAMS COLLECTION FROM AMAZON AND SAVE!