Why so much hype?

That was an excellent one.

Brilliant and touching

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Esther Williams plays a swimming teacher who marries a rich guy after a whirlwind courtship. But he abandons her on their honeymoon to go tend to business matters, leaving her to fall in love with soldier Van Johnson. Lackluster vehicle for Esther and Van. Esther in Technicolor is radiant, as always. The scenes of her in a bathing suit are among the film's highlights. Van does fine with a role he could sleepwalk through. The nice supporting cast includes Spring Byington, Henry Travers, and Frances Gifford. Carleton G. Young plays the reptilian-looking husband. There was something off-putting about this guy from the first time I saw him. He really crept me out. The romance is tepid and I often found myself waiting for the next musical number, some of which are by Tommy Dorsey's orchestra (which I like) and others are opera (which I didn't like). See it for Esther or the music, if you must, but keep expectations low. It's pretty forgettable and corny.

Thrill of a Romance Esther Williams Van JohnsonI did not see the movie but my father saw it last night and said it was wonderful and he especially liked the song by Lauritz Melchiore. He wants to find a copy of the recording that Lauritz Melchiore sang in this movie---something about "please don't say no, say maybe...come back in the spring but don't say maybe..." I can download to a disc if I know where to go???? I guess I can order the movie also, but one website said not available.Anyone know?Thanks, Lee Ann

A serious issue about the issues of wealth, marriage and happiness are subterfuged in this Joe Pasternak confection. Joe Pasternak for his low ambitions with his movies liked Opera and serious classical composition; or maybe he just liked using it in his movies. Anyway, Melchior provides both comic relief and the opera singing and like Dean Martin in those movies, he slows the movie down and you have to wonder that the movie would be better without him. The movie raises serious issues and refuses to really address them; leaving poor Van and Esther without the opportunity to flex their acting chops. A big hit in the year of 1945, but you have to wonder why the filmakers did not try harder. Anyway, as entertainment, an A but as an enduring movie, a D.

It is difficult to discern the main theme of this film because the script is in itself confusing. Most likely it has to do with the extraordinary number of hasty marriages which took place in America during World War Two. The problems surrounding such marriages seemed insurmountable. For example, need marriages of convenience be honored as Cynthia Glenn (Esther Williams) attempts to do when her husband goes to Washington for a week-long meeting during their Honeymoon? Tens of thousands of real life soldiers did in fact leave their new wives shortly after the ceremony, many times leaving unresolved domestic problems as well. Cynthia, a swimming instructor, falls in love with a Major Milvaine (Van Johnson) the non-swimmer, and the complication begins. The value of this film is that a Homefront problem is addressed within the frame of fairly good acting by both Johnson and Williams. Can Cynthia keep swimming with the Major without sinking her marriage?