I have no clue when I first saw Bathing Beauty (1944). It had to have been after Albert Lamorisse’s The Red Balloon but around the same time as Robert Siodmak’s The Crimson Pirate. Though I probably enjoyed The Crimson Pirate more as a kid, Bathing Beauty has managed to endure more potently in my mind. I directly credit this film and a slew of other Esther Williams’ films for instilling in me a love for swimming.
Bathing Beauty is concerned, as so many old Hollywood comedy-musicals are, with the battle of the sexes. Yet Red Skelton isn’t exactly the manifestation of macho idealism. And Esther Williams comes across as tough, assertive, intellectual. Psychologically it is a role reversal, with a focus on the physical of the sexes in Skelton’s comedy sketches. This odd pastiche is probably why the film, intentionally or not, remains fresh even today for me.
But back when I was four years old and first becoming acquainted with Red and Esther what really got me was the music. The songs still play my emotions today as effectively as they did then, to give you an idea of how much this film has endeared itself to me. The Harry James numbers are especially enthralling, sometimes ironic, sometimes playful, but always shot with that trademark MGM dreaminess.
