This Time for Keeps (1947)

Director:

Richard Thorpe

Writers:

Gladys Lehman (screenplay)
Erwin S. Gelsey (story) ...
(more)

Release Date:

17 October 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Musical

Tagline:

A Show to Dream About!

Plot:

Expected to follow his opera star father into the business, but discontent with his life; a young man pursues a career in popular music and romances the aquatic-ballet dancer he met during his time in the service.

Cast

Esther Williams	...	Leonora 'Nora' Cambaretti
Jimmy Durante	...	Ferdi Farro
Lauritz Melchior	...	Richard Herald
Johnny Johnston	...	Dick Johnson (as Johnnie Johnston)
Xavier Cugat and His Orchestra	...	Cugat Orchestra
Dame May Whitty	...	Grandmother Cambaretti
Sharon McManus	...	Deborah Cambaretti
Dick Simmons	...	Gordon
Mary Stuart	...	Frances Allenbury
Ludwig Stössel	...	Peter
Dorothy Porter	...	Merle
Tommy Wonder	...	Tommy Wonder
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Xavier Cugat	...	Orchestra Leader
Nan Bennett	...	Luci LeRoy (uncredited)
Leonard Carey	...	Butler (uncredited)
Jack Chefe	...	Waiter (uncredited)
Redmond Doms	...	Soldier (uncredited)
Chris Drake	...	Soldier at Pool (uncredited)
Anne Francis	...	Bobby-Soxer (uncredited)
Arno Frey	...	Headwaiter (uncredited)
Don Garner	...	Soldier (uncredited)
Jack George	...	Audition Orchestra Leader (uncredited)
Helen Giere	...	Maid (uncredited)
Jesse Graves	...	Headwaiter (uncredited)
Holmes Herbert	...	Norman Randall (uncredited)
Herbert Heywood	...	Riley (uncredited)
Arbelia Jones	...	Black Maid (uncredited)
Mickey Martin	...	Page Boy (uncredited)
Thomas Murray	...	Sleigh Driver (uncredited)
Dick Paxton	...	Rollerskating Attendant (uncredited)
Duncan Richardson	...	Duncan (uncredited)
Lina Romay	...	Singer with Cugat's Orchestra (uncredited)
Robert E. Strickland	...	Soldier (uncredited)
Elyse Sutter	...	Water Dancer (uncredited)
William Tannen	...	Soldier (uncredited)
Richard Terry	...	Bobby-Soxer (uncredited)
Kenneth Tobey	...	Redheaded Soldier at Pool (uncredited)
Harry Tyler	...	Bartender (uncredited)
Nella Walker	...	Harriet Allenbury (uncredited)

Directed by
Richard Thorpe

Writing credits
Gladys Lehman		(screenplay)
Erwin S. Gelsey		(story) (as Erwin Gelsey) and
Lorraine Fielding		(story)
Hans Wilhelm		uncredited

Produced by
Joe Pasternak	....	producer

Original Music by
Calvin Jackson		(uncredited)
George Stoll		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Karl Freund

Film Editing by
John D. Dunning		(as John Dunning)

Art Direction by
Randall Duell
Cedric Gibbons

Set Decoration by
Henry Grace		(as Henry W. Grace)

Production Management
Jack Gertsman	....	unit manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Al Jennings	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Douglas Shearer	....	sound

Special Effects by
A. Arnold Gillespie	....	special effects

Stunts
Ruth Jump	....	diving double: Esther Williams (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Eugene Joseff	....	costume jeweller (uncredited)

Music Department
George Stoll	....	musical director (as Georgie Stoll)
Harold Byrns	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Ted Duncan	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Wally Heglin	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Calvin Jackson	....	musical director (uncredited)

Other crew
Stanley Donen	....	choreographer
Henri Jaffa	....	associate technicolor color director
Natalie Kalmus	....	technicolor color director
Herbert Graf	....	assistant to director: operatic sequence (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1947) (USA) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1954) (Austria) (theatrical)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | Australia:G | West Germany:12 (nf)

Filming Locations:

Mackinac Island, Michigan, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Esther Williams was pregnant during the filming of this movie, unfortunately a couple months later she suffered a miscarriage.

Movie Connections:

Featured in That's Entertainment! III (1994)

Soundtrack:

Ora è per sempre addio

Williams, water ballet & Durante

What better entertainment. Once again, Esther Williams proves she's the queen of the MGM swimming spectacles. In glorious technicolor and looking like the dish she is, Miss Williams gives a delightful frothy performance. Her water scenes are very glamorous with underwater swimming scenes that take your breath away [kidding aside]. Add to this the comedic and charming Jimmy Durante who's a sort of fatherly type looking out for his swimming star. He too does some swimming, if you can believe it. The love interest in this flick is not one of the MGM stable studs you usually see [Van Johnson, Howard Keel or Fernando Lamas] but a pop singer of the times, Johnny Johnston, who has little film to his credit. He sings well, looks like a decent enough guy, but just doesn't have the stuff leading men are made of. A pleasant performance but not strong enough to allure the mermaid out of the water tank. Then there's Dame May Whitty, one of England's and MGM's stronger character women [remember her in Hitchcock's THE LADY VANISHES?] playing Esther's grandmother who once was a famous bareback rider in the circus, if you can believe it. And Lauritz Melchoir, the opera singer, who MGM was trying to make their newest singing star, playing the boy's papa. Not likely. More like grandpapa. But listen, for pure entertainment, silly plot and oh, those glorious swimming scenes and Esther Williams in gold lame bathing suits, who cares? Look for Richard Simmons in the rejected suitor scenes. He is always turning up in this type of role in most of the MGM musicals as boy friend, producer or whatever. Same type of role in ON AN ISLAND WITH YOU, another Williams musical, this time with Peter Lawford and Ricardo Montalban as her suitors. And round and round we go. But don't stop, Esther, you are a living doll, wet or dry.