Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Movie review - "This Time is for Keeps" (1947) **1/2

A thin plot even by Esther Williams' standards - she's an acquacade star who falls in love with a war hero whose father sings opera but the son wants to sing more modern songs... and also there's some girl he was engaged to before the war who he doesn't tell Esther about. And that's about it. Seriously. It practically floats off the page.

But actually I didn't mind it that much. Better than something more plotty which was dodgy, dumb and/or offensive. And Joe Pasternak makes sure there's always something going on in that grab bag variety show act way of his... there's Jimmy Durante doing some numbers and rather touchingly being in love with Esther. The male lead is some bloke called Johnnie Johnston who I'd never heard of but isn't a bad actor (I'd seen worse - he's better than the block of wood Dick Simmons who plays his rival) and can sing; he's a radio star and was married to Kathryn Grayson but didn't end up making a lot of movies - I wonder why. Maybe temperament?

Esther swims around a bit and her swimming cronies hang out by the piano in swimsuits. There's a few cute kids, bright colours, that fat opera singer Lauritz Melchior singing a few numbers (MGM loved their opera) and some acting, band leader Xavier Cugat doing a few numbers and some acting, Dame May Whitty as Esther's bossy grandma, plus location filming on Mackinak Island, which I'd never heard of but looks lovely. It just wants to entertain and if you're in the mood for this sort of thing it will.

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