Million Dollar Mermaid, MGM 1952. Esther Williams. Victor Mature. Walter Pidgeon.
Out of curiosity, we've been meaning to see an Esther Williams musical ever since seeing her in a brief underwater routine in Ziegfeld Follies earlier this year. This is apparently one of her best so I chose this one not knowing anything else about it. It turns out Busby Berkeley, of all people, staged the swimming spectaculars. And he seems to have reverted to his early days of gigantic psychedelic numbers. Of course they were the highlight of the film.
The rest of the movie is allegedly a bio-pic about Annette Kellerman, who I had never heard of but who is a fascinating character -- an Australian who popularized swimming for women early in the 1900s (amongst other things). Though to find out her real story you'll need to read more about her elsewhere as the film is only very loosely based on her life.
Out of curiosity, we've been meaning to see an Esther Williams musical ever since seeing her in a brief underwater routine in Ziegfeld Follies earlier this year. This is apparently one of her best so I chose this one not knowing anything else about it. It turns out Busby Berkeley, of all people, staged the swimming spectaculars. And he seems to have reverted to his early days of gigantic psychedelic numbers. Of course they were the highlight of the film.
The rest of the movie is allegedly a bio-pic about Annette Kellerman, who I had never heard of but who is a fascinating character -- an Australian who popularized swimming for women early in the 1900s (amongst other things). Though to find out her real story you'll need to read more about her elsewhere as the film is only very loosely based on her life.
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