Hooray for volume 2
Added 11/21/2009
It's been a long time coming, but finally volume 2 has arrived and hope it's a great seller so Warner's will release a third and final volume which would include the underated SKIRTS AHOY. Also included should be TEXAS CARNIVAL; JUPITER'S DARLING and the very good DUCHESS OF IDAHO. Howewver, because Warner's has taken a new stand of releasing their classics in a burned edition and at a ridiculous price of $20.00 each plus shippping a tax, I doubt that they will release this third collection. For shame.
But back to tis volume. Very impressive titles here except for PAGAN LOVE SONG. Good that it has a short run time. FIESTA isn't really a SWIM movie, but good just the same. The others are typical fun comedies with some wonderful water ballets.
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Esther Williams collection Vol. 2 wonderful
Added 11/15/2009
I loved Esther Williams movies when I was growing up, and couldn't wait for this collection to come out because "Thrill of a Romance" is one of my all-time favorites. But I have also enjoyed other movies in the set which I didn't remember. The only thing missing is Robert Osbourne's introductory comments on TCM! It's interesting that I have shared some of these movies with people in their 40s and 50s, and they too have enjoyed them even if they didn't remember the originals.
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Esther Williams Collection Vol. 2
Added 11/14/2009
This is a package of difficult to find and/or previously unavailable movies.
The Thrill of a Romance is a unsavory and unsatisfactory tale wherein Williams character is naive enough to believe the villain of the piece enough to marry him within a month, but when left alone on her honeymoon she quickly switches affections to the war hero played by Van Johnson. Judeo-Christian guilt abounds, and the mediocre acting bring the movie to an ending that will have modern viewers snickering.
Fiesta has been previously unavailable. For some unfathomable reason the movie makers thought that casting Esther Williams as the sister of Ricardo Montalban might be believable. Montalban is convincinag and appealing as the son of a famous mexican bullfighter who is more interested in music. Montalban shines, while Williams is used as a vehicle to advance the plot. In spite of this she manages to make her character appealing.
This Time For Keeps pairs Williams with Johnny Johnson. Johnson is passable as an war hero and potential opera lead who dreams of being a crooner. Throw in Mauritz Melchor (opera sensation) , Xavier Cugat (latin band leader)and Jimmy Durante (vaudville comedian) for an everything but the kitchen sink movie. Watchable, but unispiring.
Pagan Love Song has Williams playing a tahitian beauty willing to do anything to escape the island until Howard Keel arrives. Johnson plays a full-voiced but boyishly charming off-islander who is bent enjoying life as a beach bum. Fun but not always P.C.
The last two movies in this collection are the biopic Million Dollar Mermaid and Easy to Love. In Million Dollar Mermaid Williams plays australian champion swimmer Annette Kellerman. The swimming is stunning and the movie appealing. Easy To Love pair Williams once again with Van Johnson who in this movie plays a bit of a lout. Set at Bush Garden, this is a dare-devil water-skiing extravaganza.
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the thrill of esther
Added 11/13/2009
FINALLY MORE OF ESTHER. WHAT COULD BE BETTER - HAVING 'JUPITER'S DARLING' ON DVD IN WIDESCREEN.
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Colorful, Splashy Escapism
Added 11/11/2009
Esther, Esther, Esther...what a unique joy you brought to the movies. There was never a more spectacular genre than that fashioned around this talented swimstar. She cheerfully lived in a world inhabited by man-hungry younger sisters, opera stars and leading men who'd burst into song at the drop of a cliche, and prestigious family members and friends like Jimmy Durante, Walter Pigeon, Mary Astor, Rita Moreno and Cyd Charisse. By day, she was in the water but always managed to dry off before moving to night clubs where, inevitably, some big-name band conducted by Xavier Cougat or Tommy Dorsey was playing the latest hits. Collection Number Two doesn't let us down. Here, we have her chemistry with Van Johnson demonstrated yet again in "Thrill of a Romance" and "Easy to Love" I lunched with Van on his last visit to Australia, and still boyish at 80, he made it quite clear that the best years of his career were spent at MGM, and some of the most enjoyable movies were with Esther Williams. There are two diversions from the formula. In "Fiesta", Esther gets wet for just a moment, but still has the lush technicolor treatment in a crazy mix of sibling devotion and bull-fighting in Mexico, and - like "Million Dollar Mermaid" - is not strictly a musical. But by "Million Dollar Mermaid" Esther had learned her chops as an actress and as the world's first mermaid, Aussie Annette Kellerman, gives a creditable dramatic performance inbetween the Busby Berkeley aquatic spectaculars. I have to admit "Pagan Love Song" is my favourite.....Esther in Tahiti (shot in Hawaii), sun-drenched, splashing around in the ocean, serenaded by Howard Keel at his handsome best...it's like taking an utterly carefree vacation with people you love. So. Is there to be a Volume Three? One hopes so. We still await "Texas Carnival", "Skirts Ahoy". "Duchess of Idaho" and "Jupiter's Darling"...surely enough reason to complete the trio.
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