This Time for Keeps

Besides her water ballets, Esther always has at least one time in each film where she does one of her dives. She was in the Olympics once, they just cancelled the 1940 Olympics before she had her chance to compete. Then she just went into Hollywood and things took off for her from there.

Her fanatic for her in this film is Dick Johnston. He is first seen by the pool pretending to wear a bandage on his face. What he's actually doing is trying to make Esther feel sorry for him. She and her good friend Jimmy Durante (back again from "On an island with you") find out about Johnston doing that and take an instant disliking to him. But Esther soon will start falling for him and using her wonderful girlish charm of hers with him. Lauritz Melchior is back from " Thrill of a Romance" as Johnston's father, stealing every scene he's in again with his strong, talented opera voice. Esther, of course like in all her films, is the main one that makes things shine. I love old films from the 30s, 40s, and early 50s. Especially Judy Garland and Esther Williams. Hollywood's golden age would not have been the same without them.

Lauritz wants to arrange a marriage for his son, but his son only has eyes for Esther. She does another beautiful swimming number, with some nice underwater images, and Durante going under the water on a sinking platform and Esther pulling him up while wearing Durante's top hat. She looked so cute in that top hat. There's a sort of amusing scene by the pool where one of the swimming girl's three year old son is sitting on Durante's piano bench. Then Durante chases him up the diving board and the toddler dives into the pool. I've never seen such a small baby dive so well before. As Esther and Johnston become more romantically involved, Durante wants to see if Johnston will pass the "grandma" test. So Esther and Johnston take a trip up to wintertime Mackinac island where they need to travel by an icebreaker ship to get there. Grandma and Esther's little 7 year old niece take an instant liking to him. Then there's a very nice scene then with Johnston, Esther, and the niece all singing "Sno wonder we fell in love" on a sleigh. That scene was beautiful. Also beautiful is when we see Mackinac island in the springtime, the blossoms and the sweet 40s music and images of old fashioned Mackinac. Watching this really made it look like I was seeing into another age, a sweeter, more simple and innocent time that is now long gone. I seriously doubt modern day Mackinac has all horses and carriages and very few cars. I'm sure it looks much, much different now, just like almost anywhere else in modern 21st century America with Walmart and McDonalds, etc. I wish I was around back then, especially in the late 40s and early 50s when WW2 and the depression were over but the world was still so nice, simple, and innocent. I also liked a song Durante sang "The lost chord". I just love these films and the music and singing in them. I won't spoil the rest of the film in case there is someone reading this review who hasn't seen this film yet but wants to.

Note: I found out I was wrong when I said that Mackinac island looks very different today and looks just like most of the rest of 21st century America with traffic and Walmarts and etc. I guess I was just seeing how the other 99% of America today is like that. I did some reading up on modern Mackinac and was sorta surprised to find that the island still bans most cars, is still filled with horses, carriages, and bicycles. And that it still looks so beautiful and unspoiled, and still looks very much today like it did in the film. I never actually been there. Also, I read how the pool at the Grand hotel is named after Esther after she starred in the film there.

This film is an enigma because, while it is a properly light-hearted musical (but weren't they all), it also boasts a great many oddities- starting with the strange title (exactly what in the film is "for keeps?"). Esther Williams plays a properly likable, properly beautiful, water ballerina whose relationship with Jimmy Durante (a legend whom I've always enjoyed) should have been that of a father and daughter, but instead is something a tad stranger. Thankfully, this isn't ignored in the film, as her actual love interest (Johnnie Johnston), whom Durante relentlessly 'protects' from Williams, challenges his interference in the film's 11th hour. (While Durante seems to have a bothered conscience about this, it is never confirmed or denied.) Co-starring with Williams and Durante is the very genteel and old-school tenor Lauritz Melchior as Johnston's meddlesome (and somewhat annoying) father. The musical numbers are delightful, if a tad uneven in quality. I wasn't particularly fond of Durante's "Lost Chord" routine, but it appears to be legendary with most listeners. I prefer Johnston's "Easy To Love," the various Xavier Cugat pieces, and most of all, the provocative striptease and swim of "Ten Percent Off."

Williams is lovely as always in this colorful musical, but it lacks the effervescence and spectacle of some of her other, more memorable films. Here she plays the headliner of an aquatic show which also features piano-playing Durante, who has become a father figure to her over the years.

She's all set to settle down with kind, but bland Simmons when ex-GI Johnston spots her and recalls being charmed by her when he was hospitalized for a war injury. He begins wooing her heavily, but his father (opera singer Melchior) wants him to marry society debutante Stuart. Meanwhile, Johnston is busy trying to win over Williams' exacting grandmother Witty and precocious little niece McManus. There's a lot of music in the film and quite a bit of romantic complications and misunderstandings, but not really very much water ballet. At this stage in her career, Williams' acting hadn't quite reached a level of confidence or excellence so, while she is gorgeous and appealing, the film lacks the spark to put the contrived and convoluted story across. It doesn't help that the script is pretty lackluster or that her leading man Johnston is not exactly riveting either. He's an accomplished singer, but with very limited screen appeal. Durante holds things together to a point and Witty is always delightful. It just all seems to get spread a little thin by the time Melchior bellows out several numbers and Cugat (along with his worried little Chihuahua) performs several songs featuring an attractive female singer. One major asset (apart from the sight of Williams in her various drop-dead clothes and tasteful swimsuits) is the location work on Mackinac Island with it's stately buildings and eye-catching scenery. ("Somewhere in Time" enthusiasts will recall this magnificent location as well.) Fans of "Search for Tomorrow" will be delighted to see Stuart in her small role as the young fiancée.

The cast list of this movie reads like a George Carlin joke, but a careful viewer will discover why actors like Jimmy Durante and Esther Williams were hired over and over again.

The movie is a musical, not because the characters sing to advance the plot, but because the music is really what this film is about. The plot, such as it is, is easily spotted five minutes into the film and serves mainly to provide a framework for Esther Williams to do what she was best at. The same is true for Lauritz Melchior and Jimmy Durante. What they were good at is seen in the 21st Century as quaint, but again a careful viewer will find rewards.

As a Michigan resident, I watched the movie for its scenes of the boats that used to ply the waters of the Straits of Makinac. It doesn't matter that when the movie shows the "Chief Wawatam" docking at Mackinac Island, it's actually docking at Mackinaw City. I like seeing the boats that are now all just memories as they once were, an essential part of Michigan life.

So what if the "nightclubs" are so large they can only be Hollywood sound stages? So what if we are essentially seeing a remake of "The Jazz Singer?. Enjoy the music, the water ballet, Jimmy Durante's jokes and Xavier Cugat's teacup chihuahua.

Esther Williams stars in "This Time for Keeps," costarring Johnny Johnston, Dame May Witty, Jimmy Durante, and Lauritz Melchior. I guess the Third Reich was still a little too close for comfort, because the magnificent Heldentenor Melchior only sings Italian repertoire in this film, albeit magnificently. He was, of course, one of the all time great, if not the greatest, Wagnerian tenor in history.

Williams is the beautiful star of aquatic ballet when ex-GI Richard Johnson (Johnston) falls for her, having met her once while he was in the service. His father (Melchior) has other plans for him, and they include singing with an opera company and marrying the girl he left behind.

It's a thin story - after all, there has to be room for lots of swimming and singing. Esther is a goddess both in and out of the water, and Durante is terrific as her protective friend and work partner. Although referred to as a handsome man and a magnificent singer, Johnny Johnston makes a goofy looking leading man with a pleasant voice that only a father could think was suitable for opera, though he had some pretty high notes. Melchior rips up the sound system with "La Donna e Mobile" and "M'appari." Gorgeous. Durante's big number is "The Lost Chord," a real delight.

Entertaining, but a little draggy, with some beautiful location shots of Mackinac Island.