Easy to Love (1953)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Charles Walters

Writers:

William Roberts (writer)
László Vadnay (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 December 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

Tagline:

MGM's spectacular Technicolor musical excitingly filmed in Florida's beautiful Cypress Gardens!

Plot:

An Aquatic performer tries to attract the man she loves.

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman

Cast

Esther Williams	...	Julie Hallerton
Van Johnson	...	Ray Lloyd
Tony Martin	...	Barry Gordon
John Bromfield	...	Hank
Edna Skinner	...	Nancy Parmel
King Donovan	...	Ben
Paul Bryar	...	Mr. Barnes
Carroll Baker	...	Clarice
Ed Oliver	...	Bandleader

Runtime:

USA:96 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 | USA:Approved (PCA #16543)

Filming Locations:

Cypress Gardens - 2600 S. Lake Summit Drive, Winter Haven, Florida, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Carroll Baker's debut.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: At the very end of Esther Williams's water-skiing extravaganza, the camera shoots a long pullback shot of her on a platform with flags hoisting into view on either side; the shot then makes a stationary jump (albeit on cue with the music) to the same shot with jet fountains coming in from both sides like a curtain closing. You can see it's two different shots because Williams's right hand is up in the first one, then suddenly down in the second.

Movie Connections:

Featured in That's Entertainment, Part II (1976)

Soundtrack:

What Good Is a Gal? (Without a Guy)

"For You Can See Your Future With Me"

Easy to Love may yet when the definitive history of film is written to be Busby Berkeley's ultimate triumph. No longer confined by a motion picture sound studio, Berkeley stages a water ballet finale that is probably his ultimate fantasy number.

I have no doubt that somebody at MGM got together with someone at Florida's Cypress Gardens and decided to make a film promotion of the place. In essence that's what you have here. MGM shot the whole thing down there in Florida and the technicolor photography is spectacular.

When MGM did its compilation film That's Entertainment it was also mentioned that for one and one star alone did that studio construct a sound stage just for her. That would be Esther Williams, swimming star and movie star.

Esther's place at MGM was something akin to Sonja Henie's at 20th Century Fox. A sports star who was already a celebrity before becoming an actress, Esther because the Olympics of 1940 was canceled did not quite have the clout Henie did when dickering with the MGM brass. Yet Esther was as good a businesswoman as Henie and MGM did quite all right by her in marketing her to the public. She does some numbers in the tank, but that finale is something else.

For those of you who have only seen the finale because of That's Entertainment, the story is three guys and Esther and who she will choose. Her choice is her boss at Cypress Gardens Van Johnson, nightclub singer Tony Martin, and her swimming partner John Bromfield.

Tony Martin sings the Cole Porter classic title tune and several other numbers, the best of which is one sung with a chorus of senior citizens and Esther, That's What a Rainy Day is For. I particularly like that one it's perfectly suited to Martin's style. Besides the finale Esther a very cute number dressed in a clown get up with a seal and chimpanzee and a mechanical alligator. According to her memoirs they were among her most memorable co-stars.

I think it's unfortunate that Easy to Love did not utilize the musical talents of Van Johnson. He was signed by MGM in fact after he was spotted in the cast of Broadway's Too Many Girls. Of course he was no match for Tony Martin as a singer, but in films like Till the Clouds Roll By and Brigadoon he more than held his own. In fact MGM should have used him more in musicals generally than they did.

And for we who appreciate these things there's the sight of John Bromfield who spends most of the film in a bathing suit.

Easy to Love is quite the spectacle and real easy to take.