Bathing Beauty (1944)

A contrived misunderstanding leads to the breakup of a songwriter and his fiancée. She returns to work as a gym teacher at an all-girls school, but a legal loophole allows the man to enroll as one of her students.

Director:

George Sidney

Writers:

Kenneth Earl (story), M.M. Musselman (story)

Stars:

Red Skelton, Esther Williams, Basil Rathbone

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Red Skelton	...	Steve Elliot
Esther Williams	...	Caroline Brooks
Basil Rathbone	...	George Adams
Bill Goodwin	...	Professor Willis Evans
Jean Porter	...	Jean Allenwood
Nana Bryant	...	Dean Clinton
Carlos Ramírez	...	Carlos Ramirez
Ethel Smith	...	Ethel Smith - Music Teacher
Xavier Cugat and His Orchestra	...	Xavier Cugat and His Orchestra
Lina Romay	...	Lina Romay
Harry James and His Orchestra	...	Harry James and His Orchestra (as Harry James and His Music Makers)
Helen Forrest	...	Helen Forrest
Donald Meek	...	Chester Klazenfrantz
Jacqueline Dalya	...	Maria Dorango
Francis Pierlot	...	Professor Hendricks

Storyline

Songwriter Steve Elliott is about to marry Caroline Brooks. A strange woman who's been paid by Steve's agent to say she's his wife interrupts the ceremony. An angry Caroline gets her old job back teaching at a girl's college. Determined to win her back, Steve enrolls in the school to become its only male student.

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Plot Keywords:

women's college | water ballet | water musical | large dog | latin lover | 

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Taglines:

M.G.M's Mammoth Technicolor Musical Spectacle!

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Genres:

Comedy | Musical

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Certificate:

Passed

Did You Know?

Trivia

The song "Tico-Tico" performed by Ethel Smith was written by Zequinha de Abreu.

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Quotes

Professor Hendricks: Are we keeping you awake, Mr. Elliot?
Steve Elliot: Barely.

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Connections

Referenced in Barbaric Years (1998)

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Soundtracks

Bim, Bam, Bum
(1935)
Music and Lyrics by Johnnie Camacho, Noro Morales and Harold Adamson
Sung by Lina Romay with Xavier Cugat and His Orchestra

User Reviews

An Apt Title for Esther Williams's starring debut

The swimming routines of Esther Williams and the comedy of Red Skelton are timeless which is why Esther's debut as a star can be seen hundreds of years from now and not lose any entertainment value. Of course an appreciation of swing music and Latin music does help.

Bathing Beauty which is certainly an appropriate title for Esther's first starring role has Red and Esther as newly minted newlyweds when some woman objects to the wedding saying she's already Red's wife.

Red's a writer of swing music and his publisher Basil Rathbone deliberately arranged that incident to break up the marriage so Red can deliver some special material. However the minister beat out the objection with his 'I now pronounce you man and wife' so they are married, but Esther will get that annulled. But not if Red can help it.

She goes back to her old job teaching at an all girl's college which Red enrolls at as a student to be near her to plead his case. At this point the rather thin plot is just a frame for the various routines and numbers done by the stars and with guest performers like Harry James and his Orchestra, Xavier Cugat and his Orchestra and the famous Tico Tico girl Ethel Smith doing, what else Tico Tico on the organ. Also orchestra vocalists Helen Forrest with James and Lina Romay with Cugat have some good numbers.

Basil Rathbone taking time off from playing Sherlock Holmes hams it up to beat both those featured bands in his role as the comic villain of the piece. Red does his usual clowning and is an adept musical performer in a swing version of Loch Lomond.

But this film is strictly Esther and her final water ballet sequence was the first of many making use of that special tank MGM built for this very special star.

You could remake this film today, but where would you ever come up with another Esther Williams or Red Skelton?

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish French

Release Date:

July 1944 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Co-Ed

Filming Locations:

Lakeside Golf Club - 4500 Lakeside Drive, Burbank, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,361,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1