User reviews

Katie Higgins (Esther Williams) is the eldest daughter of a dairy-farming family of health nuts. Health tonic promoter Windy Weebe (Jack Carson) convinces her to enter a contest to swim the English Channel. After arriving in Europe, Katie finds herself pursued by a dashing Frenchman (Fernando Lamas). This is one of Esther's best movies. She's gorgeous here, as she always was -- the Queen of Technicolor. The cast is great. Highlights include Barbara Whiting's performance of the cheeky song "I Like Men," Esther's famous underwater ballet with Tom & Jerry, and pretty much every scene with William Demarest. It's a very funny and charming musical comedy. A must-see for Esther fans.

In Dangerous When Wet Esther Williams finds herself the oldest daughter of three in the Ozark family of William Demarest and Charlotte Greenwood, her sisters being Donna Corcoran and Barbara Whiting. Medicine show salesman Jack Carson is passing by and all the clichés about the farmer's daughter start occurring.

When Carson comes calling Demarest starts bragging about his family all being physical culturists, Ozark style. When he gets to talking about Esther Williams swimming the Chattahoochee River which is nowhere near the Ozarks, Carson gets interested. He's peddling some kind of snake oil medicine, but he sees Esther swimming the English Channel he sees her as one tasty bit of advertising. Carson's libido ain't totally put on hold.

But he's cooled down a might when Esther meets a romantic Frenchman played by Fernando Lamas. Their real life marriage came much later. Not to worry because a French Channel swimming aspirant Denise Darcel has her eyes on Carson.

Dangerous When Wet is best known for a dream sequence where Esther does a water ballet with Tom and Jerry and some other cartoon characters. In her memoirs Esther says that one of her least favorite experiences was with Gene Kelly who gave her an awful time in the dance numbers in Take Me Out To The Ballgame. The muscles she developed as a swimmer were not conducive to dancing as she explained and Kelly knew this and still gave her a bad time. One of his innovations was a ballet with Tom and Jerry in Anchors Aweigh. I think Esther decided to show him that she could do what he could in her own field. And Esther certainly succeeded.

Jack Carson is his usual braggart type and William Demarest and Charlotte Greenwood show a thing or two with a little soft shoe they do. All and all Dangerous When Wet is a great example of the MGM musical and an Esther Williams water spectacular rolled into one.

Esther Williams has the misfortune to be born to a family of irrepressible morning people. You know the type: always perky and cheerful first thing in the morning and ready to beat it into you if you're not. Esther enters a contest to swim the English Channel, and for some reason the time of the race is set only the night before. Wouldn't you know it, that's the night she's chosen to go out drinking with Fernando Lamas.

All in all, a delightful piece of fluff. This is the one where Esther dances a water ballet with Tom and Jerry.

MGM's resident mermaid Williams gets an ever-so-slightly more challenging part in this musical outing. Often, Williams just did (dazzling) water ballets sprinkled amongst a lot of romantic entanglements and shenanigans. It's much the same here, but at least she gets a chance to do a story that has a few real moments of emotion and even strife. She plays the eldest daughter of an especially healthy farm family who is chosen to swim the English Channel in an international event. Carson plays a relentless promoter while Lamas is a wealthy and charming distraction. The story details Williams and her family undergoing the necessary training and preparation for the big swim, encountering a few hurdles along the way. It culminates in a surprisingly strenuous and moving climax in which a badly exhausted Williams can barely move a muscle in the open sea. Several peppy musical numbers occur throughout the movie including an opening number in which the family begins their daily fitness ritual and an ensemble piece featuring the mother (Greenwood) in a bizarre, wacky, but fun dance routine.

There's also a lengthy dream sequence (a major highlight of the film) in which a luminous Williams swims with the famous cartoon characters Tom and Jerry and other animated sea creatures based on the other actors in the film. (Hilariously, Lamas is depicted as an octopus, which aptly sums up the man's on and off screen persona of an insatiable ladies man.) Parts of the film lag a bit as it meanders to it's fairly predictable end, but Carson brings a lot of energy and humor to his role and other cast members provide nice work as well. Lamas and Williams display clear chemistry together, though she maintains that they did not have an affair during the film (just one racy ride home from the studio in which she had her hand under his robe most of the way!) They married about 15 or so years later once he had cooled his libidinous jets somewhat and she was free of her deadbeat second husband. Cruelly, Lamas' formidable body is kept under wraps much of the time. Their only major swimming sequence together is filmed entirely above the water.

Arkansas farm family is tapped to swim in a race across the English Channel as part of a promotional campaign for a health drink. MGM musical isn't smothered with the usual studio-gloss, and Esther Williams is spunky and likable, but the plot is still pretty thin. Esther's on-screen romance with Fernando Lamas generated sparks off-screen (they were soon married in real-life), yet only a smidgen of this chemistry makes it into the movie. Not bad, overall; it's probably best remembered for the wonderful dream sequence wherein Williams swims with various cartoon characters, including Tom and Jerry. **1/2 from ****

Jack Carson plays a traveling salesman, promoting a potion called Liqua-pep on the county fair circuit. While driving through Arkansas, he meets a family that owns a dairy farm and are dedicated to physical fitness.

When Jack's character, Wendy, realizes the eldest daughter, Katy (that's how it's spelled in the credits)--played by Esther Williams--is a beauty and a tireless swimmer, he wants her to attempt the English Channel as a promotion for his snake oil. Eventually, she agrees.

Along the way, she meets a Frenchman played by Fernando Lamas (who Esther marries sixteen years later) who becomes her love interest.

Esther's films tend to be light fare, intending merely to entertain while allowing her to swim in a pool, a lagoon, or wherever the script might take her. "Dangerous When Wet" includes a few upbeat songs and the usual all-American touchstones. But it is best known for Esther's underwater swimming sequence with Tom and Jerry (Jerry danced nine years earlier with Gene Kelly).

Esther Williams plays Katie Higgins in "Dangerous When Wet". She's a member of a family that is nuts for physical fitness and they come to the attention of a slick salesman (Jack Carson) who decides to market them in an upcoming English Channel swimming race. However, shortly before the race, the sponsor, 'Liquapep', decides that the family (apart from Katie) isn't up to the rigors of such a crossing. So, it's up to Katie to try to win it for her family. In the meantime, a very rich and handsome man, André (Fernando Lamas) falls for her and might prove to be a bit of a distraction. What's to happen? See the film.

"Dangerous When Wet" is different from all the many other Esther Williams films that I have seen because the plot seems to unfold at a much slower pace than her other films. It also is different because, for once, she has a leading man who can keep up with her in the water. Fernando Lamas was a South American swimming champion, and so his swimming scenes with Esther looked awfully good compared to some of other male co-stars. But the important thing is whether it's any good. Overall, I'd have to say yes. The cast is quite good and the finale is awfully well done. Not Williams' best film but one of her better ones.

By the way, this film featured a lengthy cartoon sequence where Esther swam with Tom & Jerry. While charming, I actually found it slowed the film down and wasn't necessary.

Overall, this movie is just really not that interesting. There's some nice jokes and gags, a bit of romance, an extremely small bit of suspense... Sadly none of that can elevate the razor thin story line everything is built on.

Regardless of how weird it would be to just let someone swim 20 miles without proper preparation (let alone letting the underage daughter try the same), it also feels a bit forced; furthermore, in the end it's all just about money and disregard for the actual achievement...

Everything just flows on like a quiet river, but there is just nothing exciting or unpredictable happening.

The dream sequence is nicely done, but it's already very telling that that would be the pinnacle of this movie...

Get ready to be wet and happy all over! William Demarest and Charlotte Greenwood are head of this family that practices healthy habits: eating right and plenty of exercise, which of course includes swimming. Enter Esther Williams who is in her element in this feel-good lightweight comedy musical. Fernando Lamas is an added plus to this story of a family that tries to swim the English Channel. Their chemistry and good looks make for much of this film's appeal. But, it works on so many other levels, too, with enjoyable and peppy songs and great acting by its supporting character actors William Demarest, Charlotte Greenwood (who has a very memorable dance number), and Jack Carson as her agent. Plus, a famous cat-and-mouse team is featured to good use. With that much talent, you can't go wrong. So, jump in and get wet all over. You'll feel better.

Even in films with not-much-to-write-home-about stories (though a good deal of her films are still worth watching), Esther Williams was always watchable and more, with her swimming talent on film second to none. Tom and Jerry are two of my favourite animated characters, as a lifelong fan of animation, and a legendary animated-comic duo. Have always loved musicals too.

Williams is captivating in how fetching she is and she radiates in charm, her swimming talent hardly wasted. She has very clear chemistry with Fernando Lamas (though she has had partners with a little more charisma than he), and wonderfully supported by a peppy Barbara Whiting, an energetic Jack Carson and a perfectly cast William Demarest and Charlotte Greenwood.

'Dangerous When Wet's' highlight is the sequence with Williams and Tom and Jerry, which is simply ingenious in every sense. Very close behind are Whiting's "I Like Men" and the very determined and moving English Channel swim scene.

Furthermore, 'Dangerous When Wet' looks great, being beautifully photographed and designed and the colours are rich and colourful. The songs are not exceptional but they are very pleasant and put one in a good mood, but it's the way they're staged that elevate them to a better level.

The script is lively and perky enough, while Charles Walters directs competently. The story while meandering a little in pace towards the end makes for by far one of the more eventful, more plausible and more atmospherically warm and likable Esther Williams films.

Overall, great fun and charming, anybody who like Williams and Tom and Jerry shouldn't miss it. 8/10 Bethany Cox

A sometimes strange musical film about a swimming farming family who accept a promoter's offer to swim across the canal so he can promote his energy drink.

I didn't know Esther Williams as an actress at all, but she is certainly a sight to see.

However, as a musical it is mediocre, I have to admit that musicals are often not my cup of tea, but this combination of story and songs did not really seem to match.

A romance plot between Williams and a French character is also not very well developed.

The tom and jerry cartoon is ok and original In the end it is still a nice film because of the unusual story.

MGM always released an Esther Williams movie as a bit of relaxing summer entertainment with the Swimming Sweetheart obliging everyone by looking pretty in a bathing suit as she plunges into those big swimming pools.

Here she plunges into the English Channel to compete for top prize. She's from a family of health addicts headed by William Demarest and Charlotte Greenwood (who happen to look foolish during some of their song-and-dance routines) and encouraged by coach Jack Carson. Denise Darcel is her romantic rival--but wait, she has Fernando Lamas, a dashing Frenchman, ready to offer her romance aboard his yacht. It's all quite watchable, if silly, and definitely not one of Esther's finest moments.

A memorable highlight is her underwater fling with Tom & Jerry that is fun to watch and dazzling to contemplate. But the film itself is a light, airy entertainment that is strictly a no-brainer guaranteed to please the masses. And Esther, as usual, looks gorgeous in and out of a bathing suit. Real life hubby, Fernando Lamas, however, comes across as one of her less versatile leading men, no matter how handsome he is.

The musical interludes are few and far between. None of them are remarkable. What the film needed was a lift from a song like "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (as in 'Neptune's Daughter'), but instead there are a few dreary numbers such as "Ain't Nature Grand?" and "In My Wildest Dreams". The channel swimming scenes will have you rooting for Esther as you huff and puff with her! Could have been better, but what the heck.

On an Arkansas farm, Katie Higgins (Esther Williams) and her family are swimming enthusiasts. Traveling tonic salesman Windy Weebe is taken with the beautiful farmer's daughter. He recruits her to swim the English Channel in a special promotion. The whole family comes across the Atlantic. Katie is pursued by Frenchman André Lanet.

This is bright. It's light. It's light-weight wholesome fun. Esther Williams is swimming around in the old style bathing suit. She even rejects the new bikini from Lanet. It has some light comedy which is actually a bit funny. It has Tom & Jerry. I'm a sucker for Tom & Jerry. It's not a classic by any means but it's still worthwhile.

Esther Williams was nicknamed America's Mermaid for a good reason. She made a dozen films over a decade, from 1944 to 1953 in which she swam. Several of those were major productions built around her swimming. Just as Sonja Henie became the star of the ice in many Hollywood films of the golden era, Williams was the star of the water. That was usually a pool, including some lavishly built and designed ones. But, in a couple other films and this one, she tackles bigger waters.

All of these films were musicals, most with comedy and romance. This one includes an animated segment in which MGM's cartoon cat and mouse characters, Tom and Jerry, swim with Williams. That's one of those tricks of filmmakers with the animated segment and a live segment overlaid. Kids might still like it today - including some kids of 92, as the song goes. The cast overall is good, and has some familiar faces from comedies. Jack Carson, William Demarest and Charlotte Greenwood were well known actors of the day. Argentine-born Fernando Lamas was an actor and director. There also are some who had very short careers in film.

The story for this film is a little silly, and disjointed. Carson plays Windy Weebe, a traveling salesman who stumbles across the Higgins family in Arkansas. They are all health nuts of sorts who own a dairy farm but start their day out swimming together for exercise in the nearby lake. In the end, the group travels to Europe to swim the English Channel, under the sponsorship of Weebe's energy drink company. Esther's Katie Higgins is the only one who is qualified to compete eventually, and while training in the channel on a dense foggy day, she and her rowboat escort, Windy, get separated. That's when she meet Lamas, who is Andre Lanet. Well the romance will follow somewhat slowly, as Katie continues training and Andre continues pursuing her.

The family members and Lamas and Carson have some songs, and Charlotte Greenwood does one of her acrobatic dance gyrations. And, a French female swimmer, Gigi Mignon (played by Denise Darcel) has a thing for Carson.

The film seems to drag on a lot, and there are no hit songs. This is an MGM film, but nothing on the level of the big splashes Williams made in "Bathing Beauty" of 1944 and "Million Dollar Mermaid" of 1952.

It's interesting that Williams and Lamas would get married 16 years later. They would be in another film together - her last one. In 1961, Lamas directed a Spanish film, Magic Fountain, in the south of Spain. It has swimming, but wasn't released until 1963, and then never in the U. S. market. Lamas and Williams had both been divorced before that, he from his third wife, and she from her second husband. And, neither one would marry again until they wed each other eight years later on Dec. 31, 1969. That would end with his death in 1982 from pancreatic cancer. Williams's film career ended when she was 40. She had made some dramatic films, but when the musicals began to fade and Hollywood and the public seemed to tire of the swimming films, Esther Williams called it quits.

Among the rest of this cast, Demarest had the only long and enduring career in films. He had many top supporting roles with most of the leading actors for more than four decades. His best roles were in comedies and in his later years he played in TV roles. He was in 215 episodes, as Uncle Charley O'Casey, of the popular family comedy series, "My Three Sons," from 1965 to 1972.

Donna Corcoran, who plays the youngest Higgins family member, didn't go much beyond her childhood years, ending her acting career on TV's Donna Reed Show in 1963. Barbara Whiting, who sings a couple of songs as Suzie Higgins, was in her last of 20 acting credits in a TV movie in 1958. And French actress Denise Darcel, who pursues Carson in this film, was in just two more films and a few TV series before her film and acting career ended. She did work in the entertainment field after that.

Here's the one funny exchange that most people will smile or chuckle over. Katie Higgins (Williams), "How'd it get so dark?" André Lanet (Lamas), "The sun went down."

O.K.; so it's not a classic! So, it's not one of Esther's best, but - considering the over-all movie - it IS very entertaining! When I first saw this movie as as a teenager, I found myself singing "I Got Out of Bed on the Right Side" so much that the family finally said, "For God's sake! Will you SHUT UP?" So, sense of humor! No respect for Esther whom I adored and was in love with as ever other red-blooded American Teenager was at the time! Recently, I was happy to see it play on Turner Classics and the charm of the film has not diminished! I guess the best part of the film was when the whole cast got in on the song "Ain't Love So Grand"! And there's Charolotte Greenwood doing her dancing specialty at the end of the number. I guess this was the second to last that she ever danced in a film with "Oklahoma" being the last in which she played Aunt Eller. Originally, she was the first pick for playing Aunt Eller in Oklahoma on Braodway, but other commitments stopped her from doing it, so Rogers and Hammerstien were thrilled when they finally signed her up for the movie version. Greenwood was known for her eccentric dancing in which she had been a hit in an old move called "The Pip From Pittsburg". It's sad to see many of our characters in the business gone, but it's wonderful that we still have their performances on film to enjoy forever.

It's true that Esther married Fernando in real life, but from what I remember, Lana Tuner was married to Lex Barker, and Arlene Dahl was married to Fernando Lamas, and they were a happy foursome so much that Turner divorced Barker, Dahl divorced Fernando, and then Dahly married Lex Barker and Lana Turner married Fernando Lamas, but before the divorces Arlene Dahl gave birth to Lorenzo Lamas who would go on to a somewhat fame in movies and T.V. but not with the stature and popularity of his father. Then much later, after filming Dangerous When Wet Fernando started dating Esther and Esthers film career was beginning to go downhill, and she was pretty well tired of making movies and when Fernando asked her to marry him, he asked her, "Can you stop being Esther Willimas?" and she gladly said, "Yes!" and she kept her word to the day Fernando died and didn't have anything to do with a career in show-business! Much later, Lorenzo was on, I believe, The Johnny Carson Show, and Carson asked him what is was like having Esther as a mother, and he proudly answered, "How many kids can claim they were taught to swim by Esther Williams?"

Jack Carson 's character is your typical sloped headed backwards facing knuckles dragging across the pavement Neanderthal with the appeal of a skunk and shows that misogyny reigns supreme over on the descendants of European colonizers side of the fence.

What's up with Hollywood and this grabbing women against their will? Esther Williams character was dealing with the cows when this Neanderthal restrained her which constitutes assault. But leave it to old white men to totally ignore the obvious.

I didn't notice this as a child when I first saw this movie, now I am disgusted with this type of character being in the movie.

Otherwise it is semi- entertaining.

Actually I give it a 7.5 but since it won't let us do that, I rounded it off to an 8. This is a good clean early 1950s film. Esther is great in a lot of her things. Many of her films are sweet fictional comedy/romances such as "Bathing beauty" and "This time for keeps" (those two films have her most wonderful water ballets of all). My favorite Esther films are the two I just mentioned, "Thrill of a romance", "Neptune's daughter", and "Easy to love" (which has her great skiing escapade). I also like her couple of competitive events style films such as "Million dollar mermaid" (which also has 2 great water ballets) and "Dangerous when wet". I also enjoyed "On an island with you" and "Pagan love song" with their tropical Pacific island locations.

The film starts with Esther's enthusiastic athletic family led by her pa who's played by William Demearest (who was also great in Twilight zone episode "What's in the box" which he starred with a much older looking Joan Blondell, who was great in her young beauty days in Busby Berkeley's 1930s films). They march out of their country farm home to their backyard swimming hole singing "I got outta bed on the right side" to go swim laps. After their morning routine, Esther sees a small truck driver who is blocked from driving by her family's cows in the road. I liked Esther's couple of witty sarcastic funny remarks she makes at driver Jack Carson (Jack: "you gotta go milk those cows?" Esther: "No, they're very clever, they milk themselves". And then, Jack: "can I meet you?" Esther: "go to the corner of fifth and Main and wait, if you don't see me by next Thursday, you'll know something happened".). Jack's response is "boy, the farm girl's really with it". Jack advertises liquapep (a health tonic) and is hosting a rally in town. The family attends the liquapep rally. Esther's sister Katy goes on stage to sing "I like men". This is the second film where Esther had a very boy crazy sister who seemed way ahead of her time with that assertive boy chasing attitude. The other one was Esther's sister Betty Garrett in "Neptune's daughter". Anyways, Katy's number wins them a ribbon, and the whole family is then chosen to go to England to swim the English channel.

When over there, with Jack in tow, we meet some other characters such as a pretty French woman with an eye for Jack, and Fernando Lamas (Esther's soon real life husband to be) with an eye for Esther. The family soon learns that what was thought to be a 20 mile swim, is actually more 30-40 miles due to the channel currents making you zigzag. Then the fam finds out how everyone except Esther has been disqualified, much to pa's upset. Romance begins to bloom between Esther and Fernando, and the acting between them two I'm sure didn't have to be practiced much due to their real life romance. I think I could tell the naturalness between them. This movie of course contains the famous Esther swimming with Tom and Jerry sequence, which was Esther's dream one night soon before the channel swim. I like how Esther's family is a family of seahorses, the French lady is a charming sea creature, and Fernando is an octopus (who sings "In my wildest dreams" as Fernando while Esther's awake on his yaht, and he sings it in the dream as the octopus). I liked the mixing cartoons with real life, "Anchors aweigh" with Jerry mouse and Gene Kelly was another classic.

The race across the channel with Esther and the following boats keeping an eye on her and the other swimmers was very good and interesting, and there were some similarities there to Esther's river Thames swim in "Million dollar mermaid". Esther having been an almost Olympic swimmer (which didn't happen due to the Olympics being cancelled due to the war) really helped Esther get the opportunity to do something great with her swimming in another way. Becoming a famous swimmer and water ballet girl on films was in a sense just as if not maybe more exciting than competing in the Olympics, since she was trying something entirely new. She also officially started synchronised swimming as an official sport. That and her water ballets in her films. She was America's mermaid.

Among the most charming of swimming star Esther Williams' films, this one features a scene in which she swims with cartoon cat and mouse Tom and Jerry. The score is quite listenable, and it's interesting to note that Williams met her costar, Fernando Lamas, on the set of this film and later married him. ---from Musicals on the Silver Screen, American Library Association, 2013

In my opinion this is is the best of Esther William's ' swimming films ' and she has a great cast with her. Fernando Lamas is her love interest, and Jack Carson is fun to watch as her swimming coach who gets her to swim cross the English Channel. Charlotte Greenwood plays her mother and she is, as always, perfect in her timing and her wit. And to top all this a very original Tom and Jerry Cartoon which almost steals the whole film. There is even an amorous octopus in it. No more spoilers except to say that Esther Williams has great chemistry with Fernando Lamas and the film is sexy with its revealing male and female swimsuits. A film I instantly fell in love with and should be shown on UK television channels and give Esther Williams a season of her films with it. She is a tonic that we sorely need.