Bathing Beauty (1944)

the audience applauded

Memorable, crazy movie

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

You know this is a comedy that lives in the slapstick category of humor when a bicycle built for four, ridden by three coeds and a guitarist, comes out of a closet. Before that, you might guess that the humor borders on the absurd when you realize the steamy romantic relationship the film revolves around is between Esther Williams and Red Skelton.Once you have dispensed with any notion that the plot of Bathing Beauty bears no resemblance to reality, it is easy to sit back and accept the film as an amorphic assemblage of skits. Like many films of its era, it tries to jam as much entertainment into two hours as possible, utilizing the talent at hand. Bathing Beauty combines singing, dancing, comedy routines, pantomime, an aqua-routine reminiscent of Busby Berkeley including flaming water fountains, trumpet and organ solos, Stoogesque physical comedy, and Skelton's comedic touches that were the staple of his TV show for year to come.Esther Williams is, of course, beautiful. Some of the wardrobe she wears is amazing. Skelton is clever and his brand of physical comedy is sometimes silly, sometimes nearly poetic.The rest of the cast feels like a ensemble. They even put Harry James in a kick line. Jean Porter, a diminutive coed with spunk, plays a part usually given a name like "Jinx". She gives the film a shot of energy and vitality.Bathing Beauty does display a vibrant color palette. It's an attractive distraction from the war that Americans flocked to, and it's still a pleasant diversion today.

Then, the 1944 MGM musical comedy-romance "Bathing Beauty" is for you. This is a great example of the type of musical films made for some two decades – the 30s into the early 50s, that were prized entertainment packages for the public. Some people seem to think this film needed more of a plot. Don't worry – if you know history and/or just plain enjoy great musical entertainment, with some top drawer comedy and all-around talent, you'll love this film. Just enjoy it for how it was intended and for what it remains today – wonderful entertainment. Sure, there is a plot. It's a thin one with a simple romance and a silly premise. Voila! That was the Hollywood formula for most successful films of this genre. And here it's the basis for stringing together a marvelous run of top notch musical and dance numbers, aquatic scenes, and comedic skits. That's all these great showcases of entertainment had to have – or even should have had – in their day. And today, as well, for those of us who enjoy seeing such showcases of brilliant musical and film entertainment of the past. They aren't drama. They aren't mysteries. They aren't Westerns. They aren't war stories. They're musical comedies and that's the entertainment they delivered. The end of WW II was more than a year away when this movie came out. The DVD includes the theatrical notice about the movie going to the warfronts for troops to view it behind the lines. For our troops, as well as the people at home, this movie was a chance to see these great musical performers whom the vast majority had only heard on the radio or juke boxes before. I was born just before the U.S. entered the war, and through the 1940s and early 1950s, radios and jukes still played mostly the great swing bands. Rock and Roll came on the scene in the mid-1950s. "Bathing Beauty" is a classic film with some wonderful entertainers. All did fine with their light scripts. But it's in the "show" elements that this film excels. This is one of the finest films for showcasing a couple of top bands of the time. Harry James really wows us with his trumpet playing and some great swing numbers, and Xavier Cugat's orchestra shows why people so loved Latin music in the 20th century. Helen Forrest and others have very good song and dance numbers. And Red Skelton's comedy skits and scenes are classics unto themselves. Esther Williams seems so natural in her first starring role – even before and in between the swimming scenes. MGM gave us this first swimming musical. And was it a lavish spectacle! It remains so today. The brilliant Technicolor production really adds to the spectacular swimming, dance and musical combination. And its choreographed swimming numbers and spectacular finale are reminiscent of the great musical productions of Busby Berkeley from the 1930s heyday of grand scale musicals. "Bathing Beauty" is a fun and highly entertaining film for the whole family – especially those who love great music.

I referred to this film, without naming it, in a review of PARLOR, BEDROOM, AND BATH the other day.Red Skelton is a successful composer, and he is smitten when he meets swimming champ Esther Williams. He intends to marry her, and this puts a crimp in the plans of Skelton's producer "friend" Basil Rathbone. Rathbone manages to sabotage Skelton's wedding, causing a furious Williams to toss him aside and return to her old female college to resume her job as an athletics instructor. Skelton finds he is not allowed (by the rules of the college) to visit Williams, and that she won't meet him outside. So, he signs up as a student. The rest of the plot follows the course as Skelton tries to win back Williams, complicated by her anger at him, the machinations of Rathbone to prevent this reconciliation, and the desires of the college President and Board of Trustees to force Skelton out (hopefully by a violation of the strict rules of the college).Let's face it, like many musical comedies it is a silly plot. It is interesting that in 1944 they would tackle the issue of single sex colleges (like Mount Holyoke or Bryn Mawr) in America - but tackle it with one of the female schools, instead of looking at the issue of the male dominated colleges. However, the plot dictated a female school.Esther Williams has several fine displays of her swimming abilities in the movie, and Skelton is wisely out of these until the clincher shot in the end (when she rescues him, but he finds the water a perfect shield for some last minute privacy). I should add that the Technicolor stock of the film is high grade, and a pleasure to look at.Rathbone had played comedy well before this. Usually he could show a cynical sense of humor (in IF I WERE KING, for example, his King Louis XI of France - the historical "Spider King" - has some nice zingers, courtesy of screenplay writer Preston Sturges). In the Bing Crosby film RHYTHM ON THE RIVER, Rathbone had a very funny role as a self-deluded composer who lost his abilities to compose when he lost his girlfriend (his sidekick Oscar Levant keeps undercutting this self-pity by reminding Rathbone the girlfriend he mourns married a Pasta manufacturer and got fat!). Unfortunately here Basil has only one or two brief funny moments of dialog with Skelton, and he is fleeing an angry Skelton at the conclusion, but it is not enough. He was better served as Danny Kaye's partner in THE COURT JESTER.Skelton does nicely in his role, and I recall that one scene that is in this film that reminded me of the scene in PARLOR, BEDROOM, AND BATH. The powers that be at the university (and Rathbone) realize that they can expel Skelton if he violates curfew. He has been trapped inside someone's home, and there is a dog watching the outside that won't let Skelton out. So he stands a good chance of violating curfew.Buster Keaton, aside from an occasional film part, was mostly a gag writer at this time, and he used a variant of the BEDROOM, PARLOR, AND BATH, gag regarding the door of the closet that briefly conceals Charlotte Greenwood in that film. Here, Skelton notices the hinges of the front door can be lifted out. He removes the hinges and then lifts the door so that an opening on one side allows the dog to come in, while an opening on the other side allows Skelton to go out. Then he slides the door back so the dog can't follow him. The scene ends with the confused dog barking at the closed door, while a happy Skelton heads back to his dormitory.I'm not sure if this was the first time Keaton was assigned to work with Skelton, but they would have a very fruitful and successful collaboration into the early 1950s (far better than Keaton's nightmare with Groucho Marx on GO WEST), with such films as A SOUTHERN YANKEE and WATCH THE BIRDIE (a remake of Keaton's last great film THE CAMERAMAN) to their joint credits.

I was fourteen-years-old when this film was released and naturally eager to see the fabulous Esther Williams. However, I was totally mesmerized by Harry James, premier trumpeter of his day. His playing was absolutely dynamite. I had never heard anything like it. I made up my mind then and there that I wanted to do that. I went on to a successful trumpet-playing career largely due to the initial influence of the great James. In those days (Mid 1940's) everyone wanted to be a trumpet player (unlike the deluge of guitars today)mainly due to the influence of Harry James. I am impressed to this day whenever the film is shown on TV. For those of you unfamiliar with the film or of Harry James, I strongly recommend it, especially for young budding trumpet players.