Dangerous When Wet

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 ****

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.

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.

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.

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