We're going to follow up yesterday's romantic comedy with another one, this one a musical from 1948 called On An Island With You.
Esther Williams, swimming sensation turned actress, plays the part of Rosalind Reynolds, swimming sensation turned actress.
Rosalind is making a movie set on a Hawaiian tropical island.
U.S. Navy Lt. Lawrence "Larry" Y. Kingslee has arranged to be a technical advisor on the picture on account of he loves Rosalind.
He luuuuuuuuuuvs her.
Rosalind performed on a USO tour a few years earlier during the war and Larry was called on a stage for a bit where she kissed him for more than 2 Mississippis and of course, no one can fake that so it must be love, right?
He luuuuuuuuuuvs her.
She doesn't remember Larry which upsets him since she kissed him that one time years ago for more than 2 Mississippis and did that not mean anything at all?
Larry flies Rosalind to a remote island where his old base used to be where Rosalind performed her USO show to jog her memory.
Rosalind did not agree to this excursion and still does not remember this guy and...
But...
But...
He luuuuuuuuuuvs her.
Yeah, if this sounds like stalker behavior, well, it is. Andrea who is such an innocent about these things and gets caught up in the movie magic and stuff wondered aloud, "He's acting like a stalker!"
Meanwhile, island natives steal the wheels off the plane so they are stuck there unless they can recover the stolen tires or they are rescued.
Long story made short: Rosalind and Larry get off the island.
Larry gets court martialed for his unauthorized flight and unauthorized kidnapping of a swimming sensation turned actress. The Navy has rules about that sort of thing.
Rosalind tries to help Larry not get drummed out of the Navy because (let me check my notes on this) she's in love with him now and what the hell is wrong with this movie?
Well, it's too short for one thing. The film is padded with not one but count 'em two (TWO!) musical comedy performances by Jimmy Durante and extended musical sequences with band leader Xavier Cugat and his orchestra.
I've commented before about American musicals from the 1940's and 50's where the two leads will fall in love, damn it, even if there is no in-story reason for them to do so and there's only 2 minutes of film left in the camera.
On An Island With You hangs it's romance on the most flimsy hook I've ever seen. Larry is a mentally disturbed stalker and Rosalind falls in love with him? C'mon!
Larry even tells Rosalind, "It's about time you quit being an actress and start being a woman!" Jesus Christ, this movie!
This was not a happy film to make for Esther Williams. There's a scene where Rosalind falls into a camouflaged hole in the jungle floor but there was no padding at the bottom of the hole. Esther broker her ankle and spent any moments not on camera hobbling around on crutches.
Van Johnson was supposed to play Larry but had to drop out so the very British Peter Lawford was cast as the lovestruck American naval officer. Lawford just broke up with Lana Turner and was in a funk about that. He also hated the script and found Esther Williams to be "tiresome".
Like all of Esther Williams' other films, On An Island With You was a moneymaker and did well at the box office as one of the most popular films of 1948.
But critics were less kind, seeing the film as a shallow rote recitation of a standard Esther Williams movie.
There are any number of movies I might recommend to experience the beauty and wonder that is Esther Williams.
On An Island With You is not one of them.
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