07.09.09 | Irv Slifkin | Coming Attractions, DVD BeatPrint this Post
All Swimming! All Dancing!: Fans of swimmer/song-and-dance specialist Esther Williams, the MGM player who made a big splash in movies for the studio in the 1940s and 1950s, can now stop “wading” for more of her films to be issued on DVD. This extras-loaded set, entitled TCM Spotlight: Esther Williams, Vol. 2, includes:
Thrill of a Romance (1945): Esther is a swimming instructor at a Sierra Nevada mountain resort who falls for handsome soldier Van Johnson, even though she recently got married. Among the songs are “Please Don’t Say No, Say Maybe,” “I Should Care," “Lonely Night” and the title tune.
Fiesta (1947): Esther shifts her interests from musical comedy and romance to drama and bullfighting. The daughter of a celebrated matador, she disguises herself as a man to take the place of her disinterested brother (Ricardo Montalban) in the ring. Cyd Charisse, Mary Astor and Fortunio Bonanova also star.
This Time For Keeps (1947): A mirthful musical set on Michigan’s Mackinac Island, where the son of a famous opera singer attempts to woo swimming star Williams while her bodyguard and grandfather watch over her. Johnnie Johnston, Lauritz Melchior andXavier Cugat co-star Songs include "You Are So Easy To Love," "Chiquita Banana," "A Little Bit of This" and "A Little Bit of That," plus Jimmy Durante sings his trademark “Inka Dinka Doo.”
Pagan Love Song (1950): While on vacation in Tahiti, Ms. Williams is mistaken for a native girl by schoolteacher Howard Keel who decides to court her in line with area traditions. Esther swims; Howard sings; and the scenery is beautiful. Keep ‘em peeled for a young Rita Moreno.
Million Dollar Mermaid (1952): Esther plays real-life, turn-of-the-century Australian swimming sensation Annette Kellerman, who tries to become a dancing and swimming star in London thanks to the efforts of promoter Victor Mature. Busby Berkeley staged the over-the-top musical swim sequences in this one.
Easy to Love (1953) once again casts Williams as a swim star, caught between three men: singer Tony Martin, swim instructor John Bromfield, and “aquacade” manager Van Johnson. This tuner boasts the famous Busby Berkeley-staged motor boat/hang glider sequence staged at Cypress Gardens in Florida. Look for Cyd Charisse in a cameo and Carroll Baker in an early role.
The Horror, The Horror: When you think of the all-time icons of horror, the first names that probably come into your noggin are those of Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. So we’re delighted to report that Warner has gone to their catalog to produce a dandy set of shockers called Karloff & Lugosi Horror Classics starring the two masters of sinister cinema. The Walking Dead (1936), helmed by the great Michael Curtiz, offers Karloff as a man who goes to the electric chair after being framed by mobsters for killing a judge. He is resurrected thanks to the efforts of scientist Edmund Gwenn, and looks to get even with the creeps who set him up. Karloff, Lugosi and Peter Lorre team with Kay Kyser and his Kollege of Musical Knowledge for 1940’s You’ll Find Out, a wild romp where a creepy mansion is the setting for scares and mayhem when heiress Helen Parrish arrives there. Zombies on Broadway, meanwhile, is a truly odd duck from 1945, in which comics Wally Brown and Alan Carney head to a Caribbean island to find zombies for their nightclub act and run into weird scientist Lugosi during their travels. Lastly, Karloff plays a relative of Dr. Baron Von Frankenstein with hopes of resurrecting the scientist's creature, but first he must raise much-needed cash by allowing TV crews into the family house in Frankenstein—1970 (1958).
prefer personally movies with a more serious bent to them more often than not, especially when found off of this type of a site, in black & White per se and such. Makes it a whole lot more interesting whenever those past day's values are so sincerely kept alive through this medium, okay?