This movie is a waste of talent and time - yours if you watch it. The script often makes no sense - nor does the title, as one reviewer pointed out - and it sinks the whole enterprise. Esther Williams' swim numbers aren't at all interesting, nothing like those in movies like Jupiter's Daughter. Melchior gets to sing a lot, but he doesn't sing very well - it's often just loud, as in M'appari. He is much better in Thrill of Romance. The best performance in the movie is, to my mind, Durante's - though it's not one of his better movie appearances. The best number is his The Lost Chord, and that's not a great number.
All of these performers have given much better performances elsewhere. Go watch those, and leave this unfortunate mistake to rest in peace.
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I gave this movie another viewing tonight, and I confess my opinion of it isn't any better. It is a lot of talent put to no good use.
Melchior, who showed himself to be a really good comedian a year later in Luxury Liner, is almost completely wasted here. He was still a great tenor in 1947, but he just bellows his numbers here, especially La Donna è mobile from Rigoletto, where he doesn't even try to do the concluding runs in one breath. That was not a role he ever sang on the opera stage, and it was wrong for his voice. Why did they give it to him here? In Luxury Liner, he gets a few pop numbers and shows he could do a good job with them. (He also bellows *You'd be so easy to love* here.)
Johnny Johnston, the young romantic lead, is a non-entity. His voice is pleasant enough - though it sounds pretty thin when he sings *M'apparì* right after Melchior - but he has no screen charisma at all.
Most of the music here is either forgettable or not well performed.
Esther Williams is also wasted in this movie, with uninteresting swim numbers. But when she comes out of the water and we get a close up, we get to see that she was really, in addition to her talents, one very beautiful woman.
Again, for me Durante is the best thing in this movie, despite the fact that his role is basically unappealing and that he had been much better in other pictures. There are several totally extraneous numbers in this picture. (There are a LOT of musical numbers.) They should have been cut, and we should have been given several scenes with Melchior and Durante playing off each other.
All of these performers have given much better performances elsewhere. Go watch those, and leave this unfortunate mistake to rest in peace.
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I gave this movie another viewing tonight, and I confess my opinion of it isn't any better. It is a lot of talent put to no good use.
Melchior, who showed himself to be a really good comedian a year later in Luxury Liner, is almost completely wasted here. He was still a great tenor in 1947, but he just bellows his numbers here, especially La Donna è mobile from Rigoletto, where he doesn't even try to do the concluding runs in one breath. That was not a role he ever sang on the opera stage, and it was wrong for his voice. Why did they give it to him here? In Luxury Liner, he gets a few pop numbers and shows he could do a good job with them. (He also bellows *You'd be so easy to love* here.)
Johnny Johnston, the young romantic lead, is a non-entity. His voice is pleasant enough - though it sounds pretty thin when he sings *M'apparì* right after Melchior - but he has no screen charisma at all.
Most of the music here is either forgettable or not well performed.
Esther Williams is also wasted in this movie, with uninteresting swim numbers. But when she comes out of the water and we get a close up, we get to see that she was really, in addition to her talents, one very beautiful woman.
Again, for me Durante is the best thing in this movie, despite the fact that his role is basically unappealing and that he had been much better in other pictures. There are several totally extraneous numbers in this picture. (There are a LOT of musical numbers.) They should have been cut, and we should have been given several scenes with Melchior and Durante playing off each other.