This MGM musical doesn't really have the star power to go over, it feels haphazard in the way some of them did under Dore Schary, but is full of so many song and dance acts it is endearing.
It's also surprisingly feminist - not overly, there's a song 'What Use is a Girl without a Guy'. but it is about three girls who join the army and want to stand on their own feet; Joan Evans gets rid of her patronising fiancee and Esther Williams chases Barry Sullivan.
The actors aren't up to it. Well Esther Williams is likeable - she has a nice presence - and throws herself into singing and dancing. It's a real musical number for her - it feels conceived for someone else and then she's put in it. She does a little bit in the pool but not much.
Joan Evans was groomed for stardom by Sam Goldwyn but she's bland. Vivian Blaine was a hit on Guys and Dolls but is too broad - at least she can sing and dance. Barry Sullivan is dull and I can't recall who the other guys were and I just saw the movie. I wish they'd gotten singer/dancers in the Evans and Sullivan roles. Sullivan plays an over age prat who is smug about women. Esther would have been better off without him.
Debbie Reynolds has a cameo and you wish she played one of the girls. Keenan Wynn had a cameo - he should have played Blaine's love interest.
It has colour and movement and some funny gags. I didn't mind it.
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