Esther Williams - MGM DVD Box set out in July

[Paulyd]

Posted: 4/13/07 at 6:14pm

Any Esther Williams fans here?

I've enjoyed a couple of her films, but cant quite buy into the swimming concept.

Nothing really to do with the broadway stage i know, but i'm sure there are a few people out there who are into MGM musicals.

Information courtesy of DVD Times

Warner Home Video have announced the Region 1 DVD release of TCM Spotlight: Esther Williams on 17th July 2007. The ravishing bathing beauty who pioneered a new genre of moviemaking -- “Aqua Musicals” -- will be seen in some of her splashiest roles with this collection from Warner Home Video and Turner Classic Movies. The Collection includes the DVD debuts of five Technicolor films from ‘America’s Favorite Mermaid’ – Bathing Beauty, On an Island with You, Easy to Wed, Neptune’s Daughter and Dangerous When Wet.

Also included are special features such as TCM host Robert Osborne’s recent “Private Screenings” interview with Esther (featured on the Bathing Beauty DVD), Academy Award-winning vintage shorts, musical number outtakes, and classic cartoons. The films will be available only as a collection in a collectible digi-pak gift and will sell for $49.92 SRP.

Bathing Beauty (1944)
Rambunctious funnyman Red Skelton joins Esther Williams in this buoyant (literally) comedy about a lovesick songwriter who enrolls in a women’s college to woo his estranged swimming-teacher wife. Highlights include music from both Harry James and his Music Makers and Xavier Cugat and his Orchestra, Skelton in a pink tutu doing unforgivable things to Tchaikovsky and a spectacular, trendsetting ‘chlorine-and-chorine’ finale.

Special Features:
Robert Osborne hosts TCM’s Private Screenings with Esther Williams
Oscar-nominated Short Main Street Today
Academy Award-winning Cartoon Mouse Trouble
Theatrical trailer
Subtitles: English (feature film only)

On an Island with You (194
Moonlight swims, swaying palms, Technicolor® sunsets and…cannibals?! Esther Williams, Peter Lawford, Ricardo Montalban and Cyd Charisse get the swimming, swaying and sunsets and Jimmy Durante gets the cannibals in this tune-filled paradise for fans of musical comedy. The frothy plot follows a swimming movie star (Williams, who else?) pursued by two handsome suitors on the set of her latest film, but the main point is mostly the songs, romance and Esther in a sizzling series of swimsuits and sarongs.

Special Features:
Vintage Romance of Celluloid series short Personalities
Classic cartoon The Bear and the Hare
Theatrical trailer
Subtitles: English (feature film only)

Easy To Wed (1946)
In this fast-paced, romantic comedy – a remake of the screwball 1930’s classic Libeled Lady – the comic bits are legion, with two standouts: Van Johnson afloat with a baleful spaniel who knows a lot more about duck hunting than he does, and a laugh-out-loud drunk scene that uncorks the incomparable lunacy of Lucille Ball. When the local paper runs an untrue story claiming an heiress (Esther Williams) is a husband stealer, she prepares to sue for libel. So a newspaper honcho (Keenan Wynn) devises a counter scheme to compromise her image: He’ll arrange a sham wedding between his fiancée (Lucille Ball) and a newsroom Romeo (Van Johnson), send the Romeo to woo the heiress, and make the phony story come true!

Special Features:
Oscar-nominated Pete Smith Specialty comedy short Sure Cures
Classic cartoon The Unwelcome Guest
Theatrical trailers of Easy to Wed and Libeled Lady
Subtitles: English (feature film only)

Neptune’s Daughter (1949)
Longing for a Latin lover, boy-crazy Betty Barrett (Betty Garrett) mistakes girl-shy Jack Spratt (Red Skelton) for the South American polo team captain José O’Rourke (Ricardo Montalban). Meanwhile, the real O’Rourke pursues Betty’s elegant sister Eve (Esther Williams). Soon mistaken identities and romantic complications spin into a dizzy mix of slapstick and flirtatious fun. All is set to terrific Frank Loesser songs, including Baby, It’s Cold Outside, winner of the 1949 Best Song Oscar®. The film ends not only happily-ever-after but with (would a Williams fan expect anything less?) a stupendous water ballet.

Special Features:
Outtake musical number I Want My Money Back
Esther Williams cameo sequence from 1951’s Callaway Went Thataway
Oscar-Nominated Pete Smith Specialty comedy short Water Trix
Oscar-nominated cartoon Hatch Up Your Troubles
Theatrical trailers of this movie and Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Subtitles: English (feature film only)

Dangerous When Wet (1953)
The “just add water” formula works again in this lighthearted mix of romance, music and comedy directed by Charles Walters (Easter Parade). Williams plays Katy, a farm girl who finds romance (with Williams’ future real-life husband Fernando Lamas) while training for a swim across the English Channel. In the film’s key sequence, Williams swims, swirls and swoops with cartoon stars Tom and Jerry in a concoction “brimful of attractive people and attractive performances” (Clive Hirschhorn, The Hollywood Musical).

Special Features:
Outtake musical number C’est La Guerre
Pete Smith Specialty comedy short This Is a Living?
Classic cartoon Name to Come
Esther Williams musicals trailer gallery
Subtitles: English (feature film only)


Updated On: 4/13/07 at 06:14 PM

[Miss.Vanessi]

Posted: 4/13/07 at 10:01pm

You have made me a very happy little swimming musical fan, haha. I love her movies, can't stand her as a person, though.

[tazber]

Posted: 4/13/07 at 10:06pm

Thanks for sharing Paulyd! I'm never seen any of her movies and am really excited to finally have the chance!

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/13/07 at 10:58pm

Yay! I will definitely buy this.

Esther's best is Neptune's Daughter... featuring the Oscar-winning song she introduced with Richardo Montalban, Betty Garrett and Red Skelton... "Baby, It's Cold Outside"... with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser!

Esther was WAY more talented that she gives herself credit for... she could sing, dance AND act.

...and... you know... SWIM.

[ashleybrownfan]

Posted: 4/13/07 at 11:59pm

Is esther mean in real life or somthing?

[Miss.Vanessi]

Posted: 4/14/07 at 1:30am

I didn't particularly care for the lies she told in her book.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/14/07 at 1:49am

When I was in LA last week I was at Sony studios and saw the actual stage that she used to film on. It was really fascinating.

(They're filming some Pitt/Blanchett movie there now. Where WIlliams' pool used to be, it's now used to hold the tug boat for a certain scene.)

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 4/14/07 at 7:20am

Couple of pieces of Esther Williams related trivia:

(1) In (I think) NEPTUNE'S DAUGHTER, the climactic moment of one of the big swim scenes is Williams emerging from underwater, wearing a crown of sparklers that burn as she comes from under the waves. The scene was actually shot in reverse time, but you'd never know it: it's that seamless.

(2) When the MGM Grand was under construction in Vegas in the 70s, they planned on opening with a Salute to Hollywood musicals that included an Esther Williams style number. To that end, they built this huge plexiglass tank that was to roll out onstage. They filled it with water, rolled it out, and the weight of the thing crashed through the floor and took out the hotel's elevators, postponing the hotel's opening by six months.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 4/14/07 at 10:56am

Love her! I'm soooo getting this.