On an Island with You (1948)

I love this movie so much

I'll tell you why so serious

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Some great talent in 'On an Island With You', and while there are many pleasures one just can't shake off the feeling that it could have been much better.The main attractions of 'On an Island With You' (Technicolor, Esther Williams and her water ballet, songs, Ricardo Montalban and Cyd Charisse) don't disappoint, while the elements where there was a great uncertainty as to whether they would work (story, Peter Lawford, chemistry between him and Williams) don't work.Williams is captivating, she handles the comedy with robustness, has a fetching sensuality that makes one unable to take their eyes off her and she is as ever a superb swimming athlete. Ricardo Montalban is handsome, suave and charming, Cyd Charisse shows off incredible dancing (unsurprising, she was one of the greatest dancers in classic film) and Jimmy Durante's comic timing sparkles.In terms of memorable scenes, the standouts are Williams' "aqua spectacular" water ballet, Montalban and Charisse's smoking hot dance number and Charisse's routine on the staircase. As to be expected, 'On an Island With You' looks fabulous, beautifully photographed and designed and the Technicolor is bold, rich and exquisitely colourful. The songs are pleasant and have an infectious energy, even if they are not quite classics. Xavier Cugat and his Orchestra make a strong contribution. Richard Thorpe directs competently, and energy and charm comes through enough.However, the story is barely there and what there is is contrived and credibility is constantly strained to breaking point. There are some nice moments in the script, like with Durante, Montalban and Charisse but too many places elsewhere fall as flat as a pancake, Lawford's dialogue can be cringe-worthy sometimes here.Lawford is 'On an Island With You's' biggest problem. He looks incredibly out of place, looking hopelessly wooden and miserable, with a lot of his non-existent chemistry with Williams bringing an unintentional creepiness, that would be more at home in another (darker) film entirely and he would even most likely be just as bad then.Overall, 60% of 'On an Island With You' delights but anybody expecting to be thrilled by the romance will not just be deeply disappointed but also disturbed. 6/10 Bethany Cox

A pretty swimmer does not a thespian make! This Esther Williams vehicle is seriously dragged down by weak acting and annoying characters. Peter Lawford was a wonderful talent. Guess he really needed a paycheck back in 1948. And maybe the country needed something like this to raise its spirits after the war...I'd never suffered through a movie with Jimmy Durante before. Aged 55 here but looking and behaving far more crochety, his tedious antics get old really fast.Even Cyd Charisse isn't used to advantage here. A skilled dancer, her amazing legs are hidden under sarongs in this misguided production!This film has a few good lines about love. Its happy ending may give unrequited lovers a little hope. But is it worth a couple hours of anyone's life? Probably not.

Thin and fairly dull Esther Williams vehicle, with Peter Lawford as her love interest. Williams and Lawford are both boring, and have no chemistry together. They are upstaged by just about every single other person in the cast, Cyd Charisse, Ricardo Montalban, Xavier Cugat, Jimmy Durante (whom you'd think was the star of the movie as much as he's in it), Kathryn Beaumont and even a chihuahua. Williams does have a good swimming number near the end, and she wears some fantastic costumes. I can't say anything good about Lawford. Recently departed dancer Cyd Charisse has the two best sequences in the movie, an erotic dance with Montalban and, the best scene in the movie, her dance on the stairs, aided by a group of masked natives. The Technicolor cinematography is beautiful throughout the movie, but it's downright dazzling in that number. At first I thought this was going to be a poor choice in honoring Charisse, but it turned out to be perfect. Child star Kathryn Beaumont went on to provide the voices for Disney's Alice in Wonderland and Wendy Darling. The DVD for this was stunning.

Musical-comedy vehicle for swimming star Esther Williams set in Hawaii. Peter Lawford has a rather hopeless role as a moony-eyed Lieutenant who becomes obsessed with Esther, playing a movie actress; she's already involved with her co-star (Ricardo Montalban) and is also busy sparring with her unloved movie-rival (Cyd Charisse, in a demeaning part as a girl nobody seems to want). In its day, probably a very acceptable piece of fluff, but in this age of celebrity stalkers, Lawford's intrusive, seemingly off-balanced fan is unintentionally creepy (at one point he even kidnaps Williams, but she stops him from being arrested). Only for die-hard MGM musical buffs, although Esther's swimming sequences are not on their usual grand scale here. *1/2 from ****