Neptune's Daughter

MGM, 1949
Starring Esther Williams, Ricardo Montalban, Betty Garrett, and Red Skelton
Directed by Edward Buzzell
Music and Lyrics by Frank Loesser

The controversy over the song "Baby It's Cold Outside" during the recent holiday season and the advent of colder weather in my part of the US has inspired me pull out this one. The song and the movie were major hits in 1949. "Cold Outside" actually won the Oscar for Best Song that year. Does this movie flow along swimmingly, or does it unravel like an old bathing suit? Let's float along to Southern California to see for ourselves...

The Story: Joe Backett (Keenan Wynn), a partner in a swimsuit-designing firm, convinces champion swimmer Eve Barrett (Williams) to give up her amateur status and join the company. She becomes one of their top models and even designs her own line of popular bathing suits. Her sister Betty (Garrett) is more interested in the arrival of a South American polo team and their handsome star, Jose O'Rourke (Montalban). Betty meets what she thinks is O'Rourke, but is really Jack Sprat (Skelton), the team's clumsy masseur, who is pretending to be O'Rourke - and South American - in order to be more magnetic to women.

Sprat's attempts to woo Betty work too well. Eve thinks the real Jose is after her sister, and tells him as much when she sees him at the swimsuit factory. He's more interested in wooing her. Joe, who has a crush on her, would prefer she didn't woo anybody and focused on work. Eve agrees to date Jose only to keep him from dating her sister, but she ends up falling for him.

Meanwhile, gangster Lukie Luzette (Ted de Costa) has bet big money on the polo game and orders his men to kidnap Jose and keep the South American team from winning. They initially kidnap the wrong Jose, grabbing Jack instead. After they do find the real Jose, Betty has to get Jack on a horse and lead the team to victory and pair her sister up with the right man at her swimming ballet show.

The Song and Dance: A great cast works out nicely in this tropical-themed romp. Montalban is one of Esther Williams' few leading men who seems just as relaxed in the water as she does and looks fetching in a polo uniform. Garrett and Skelton have a great time together as the man-crazy sister and the masseur who just wants a girl, any girl, to like him. This is also one of the rare times we get to see a live-action Mel Blanc as Skelton's buddy Pancho. The Technicolor cinematography is gorgeous - check out the swimsuit fashion show halfway through or the big water ballet in the finale.

The sudden gangster plot seems a bit out of left-field, but it does add some needed excitement to the second half. It gives the movie a lift beyond the usual romantic comedy plots of most of Williams' other films and allows Skelton to have fun on horseback.

Favorite Number: "Baby It's Cold Outside" was the hit of the film and is probably it's most famous number, and it doesn't disappoint. We actually get the innuendo from both genders - first Jose performs it for a reluctant Eve, then Betty uses it to try to get Jack to hang around.

This movie's two best numbers don't need any words to astonish. Xaviar Cugat and His Orchestra provide the music for "Jungle Rhumba," an amazing tropical dance routine for the chorus, while Williams and Montalban perform the unnamed water ballet in the finale that involves colored lights under the surface and fabric rolling across the water.

Trivia: "Baby It's Cold Outside" was a last-minute addition. The song originally intended for that number was "Slow Boat to China," but the censors didn't like some of the lyrics. Ironically, it went on to become a pop hit on it's own.

What I Don't Like: I feel sorry for poor Joe. He really loved Eve, and not only did her relationship with Jose seem kind of sudden, he did act kind of smarmy with her, especially in the first half. I almost wish she'd let Betty have Jack, sent Jose back to South America, and kept Joe and the business. In fact, most people will likely be less offended by "Cold Outside" (at least it lets both genders in on the innuendo) and more by Blanc's stereotypical Mexican. (And I can't be the only one who sees Speedy Gonzolez every time Blanc opens his mouth.)

While the plot isn't quite as thin as some of Williams' other vehicles, it does lose steam mid-way through. The whole mistaken identity thing becomes wearisome and a bit boring by the end of the movie, and the gangsters suddenly turn up in the last act for no reason other than to give Skelton a reason to goof around on the polo court.

The Big Finale: If you're a fan of the cast, Loesser, or Williams' other vehicles, or want to know where "Baby It's Cold Outside" came from, this is worth seeing for the two dance routines and "Cold Outside" alone.

Home Media: At press time, this one is only available as part of two Esther Williams/TCM DVD collections and on several streaming platforms.

DVD - TCM Spotlight: Esther Williams, Volume One 
DVD - TCM Greatest Classic Films: Legends - Esther Williams Vol. 2
Google Play