1h 16min | Musical, Romance | 25 December 1950 | Color
Director: Robert Alton
Stars: Esther Williams, Howard Keel, Minna Gombell, Charles Mauu, Rita Moreno.
Alex Romero ... assistant choreographer (uncredited)
2nd and final directing credit for Alton; he continues as DD for 5 more years. Did he also choreograph here? We get a big native dance number which looks pretty authentic; perhaps we have missing credits, or that dance troupe brought their own choreography.
A few films ago, My Blue Heaven (9'50, Fox) had a tropical South Pacific-referencing musical number, and a joke about the B'way play. This entire film appears to be riding the wave of South Pacific (both films ignore the racism theme of that play), and when you have EW in your stable, you're foolish to ignore the opportunity.
The songs are derivative: pleasant but I've even forgotten the most-sung tune after only an hour.
IMDb lists a Hawaiian shooting location, and the scenery is gorgeous. Many faces look like they could be Pacific Islanders, as do some of the FEW names in the credits.
The swim scenes are ok; HK doesn't look to comfortable in his swim duo with EW. She does have a surface ballet, and swims among colorful underwater scenery. HK has a fantasy where she swims in the sky.
This is ok, but not quite recommendable.
MGM, dir. Alton; 6+
