OVP: Neptune's Daughter (1949)

Film: Neptune's Daughter (1949)
Stars: Esther Williams, Ricardo Montalban, Red Skelton, Betty Garrett, Keenan Wynn, Mel Blanc
Director: Edward Buzzell
Oscar History: 1 nomination/1 win (Best Original Song-"Baby It's Cold Outside"*)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

Each month, as part of our 2019 Saturdays with the Stars series, we highlight a different actress of Hollywood's Golden Age.  This month, our focus is on Esther Williams-click here to learn more about Ms. Williams (and why I picked her), and click here for other Saturdays with the Stars articles.

One of the more striking aspects of Esther Williams' career is that her films, while formulaic, never really feel repetitive.  We're on our third musical (while Williams would make other genres, such as the bull-fighting epic Fiesta and the film noir The Unguarded Moment, these were outliers and we unfortunately won't have time to get to one of these pictures this go-around with Williams), and once again the focus is on getting our Star of the Month into a swimsuit at all costs, but it still doesn't feel like a drag to see so many similarly-styled films.  This is perhaps because the movies that made Esther Williams a star were so frothy & light it's hard to complain about something so shallow, but also because no one else ever made movies like this.  While musicals were the highlight of MGM at this time, no one before or since has quite made aquacade musicals in such a fashion, and so even a few dips in the pool with Esther Williams don't get tired.

(Spoilers Ahead) Neptune's Daughter has Williams playing Eve Barrett, a former champion swimmer who goes into business with Joe (Wynn) to design chic bathing suits for women (much like Williams herself would do in real-life).  They gain huge success, but Joe continues to want more, and when a South American polo team is in-town, Joe insists that Eve put on a swimming spectacular to gain publicity for their company.  Eve reluctantly agrees, and her man-crazed sister Betty (Garrett) figures this is her opportunity to score a husband.  Unfortunately, she doesn't fall for one of the players, but instead a masseuse impersonating one of the players Jack Spratt (yes, that's really the name they give Skelton's character, who is definitely second fiddle here despite being our leading man just two weeks ago in Bathing Beauty) tricks Betty into thinking he's a South American polo player named Jose O'Rourke.  Madcap trouble ensues when the real O'Rourke (Montalban) shows up and tries to woo Eve, who thinks he's just a player trying to pit sister-against-sister.  The film unfolds with a lot of love triangles (Wynn even gets in on the business by claiming he loves Eve too), but has the good sense to have Jose & Eve and Jack & Betty all end up together, with a water ballet to send us out with our happy ending.

The film is most famous today for being the first place most people heard the classic "Baby, It's Cold Outside," which has become a (controversial) Christmas staple in the years since.  The song wasn't written for the movie (Oscar is occasionally picky about this, but apparently wasn't in 1949 when they gave the film their Best Original Song statue), and was instead something composer Frank Loesser used to sing with his wife, but it fits well into the film.  The song has come under intense scrutiny in modern times for its "date rape-y" attitudes toward a woman saying "no" and a man insisting that she stay with him instead of leaving, but it plays better in the film than it does in future radio edits.  This is because while the duet starts between Williams & Montalban, it eventually translates to Garrett & Skelton, with Garrett taking the lines typically sung by the male performer.  As a result it feels a bit more innocent & sweet, and is the highlight of the film.

The film has less aquatic ballets than some of the other movies we'll profile from Williams, and as a result it isn't quite as joyous as Bathing Beauty (spoiler alert-our first outing is my favorite movie we'll profile for Williams this month, though next week's will have the best musical sequences).  Williams teamed with Montalban quite often, but I don't get a lot of chemistry between the two.  His acting is so stylized and focused on seduction, and her characters are spunky-and-innocent, so their personas don't feel in sync.  As a result, this might be my least favorite of the movies we'll see from Williams, but there's still a pleasantness that makes this an easy one to watch if you ever see it on at Christmas due to the award-winning ballad.  It's just that Esther Williams could do better.