New Esther Williams DVD Set Now Out

Volume 2 of the Esther Williams DVD box set is now out! It contains 6 movies; I've seen one, "Thrill of Romance" with Van Johnson, which is lots of fun. THRILL OF A ROMANCE (1945) - Esther plays a newlywed whose business tycoon husband (Carleton Young ) leaves her at a hotel on their honeymoon to head to a business meeting. Also staying at the hotel is a war hero (Van Johnson). The two begin spending time together. Esther has a few swimming scenes here, she plays a swimming instructor after all. But the majority is made up of music. Tommy Dorsey and his band have several numbers. FIESTA (1947) - Esther and Ricardo Montalban play twins in Mexico. Montalban is being pressured to be a part of the family bullfighting team. But, he really wants to be a musician. This is a bit different for an Esther Williams film. She only has one brief swimming scene (swimming across a lake). It is mostly bullfighting. Cyd Charisse has a brief dancing scene. THIS TIME FOR KEEPS (1947) - An ex G.I. (Johnny Johnston) returns home to fall for Esther, a swimming star in a musical troupe. Jimmy Durante is a musician. This is possibly even more Durante’s film than Esther. Xavier Cugat also appears. PAGAN LOVE SONG (1950) - Set in Tahiti, Howard Keel arrives and falls for local girl Esther. This is the shortest film in the set, at only 76 minutes, and also one of the lesser films. MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID (1952) - One of her most famous, Esther and her father (Walter Pidgeon) leave their home in Sydney. Esther goes on to become a swimming star. The film features several big Busby Berkeley choreographed musical numbers. EASY TO LOVE (1953) - This is yet another romantic triangle, also involving Van Johnson. This time, it is all set in Cypress Gardens, just South of Walt Disney World in Florida. There are some great water skiing sequences and other numbers choreographed by Busby Berkeley. Some of my favorite blogs have recent posts related to Ms. Williams that I wanted to direct you to. First, Miss Matilda has shared some great pictures in her latest post. And The Moviezzz Blog has more info on the DVD series.

The Day of the Triffids (1962) and Blindness (2008)

Such a horror classic this is that its part of the lyrics to the opening song in Rocky Horror Picture Show. The film was so terrifying at the time, that posters labeled it "X - Adults Only". Former MGM musical star Howard Keel plays the hero who saves the day.

The film takes place entirely in Europe. (America is not even mentioned) The world is treated to a spectacular meteorite shower which lasts for several hours. All over the world, people gaze into the sky and watch the spectacular light show. Our story begins in London hospital room: poor Howard's eyes are all bandaged up after surgery, and he's PO'd he can't see the lights everyone's talking about. Instead, Keel "lights up" in the hospital room - smokes a cig, that is, and in front of the doctor and nurse even! I knew I would love this movie after this scene.

We also meet a young couple who can care less about the display and don't watch it. The girl is played by Jeannette Scott, who is sung about in the "Rocky Horror" lyric. The next morning, we learn that the lights from the meteorites blinded everyone who watched them. People are frightened, cars are smashed in the streets, planes crash down. It's horrifying. Keel takes off the bandages and realizes he's one of the few people in the world who can see.

He also meets up with a young girl played by Janina Faye, who was alseep inside a passenger train all night. (The train crashes at the station). Keel and Faye travel through London, Paris, and Spain, and find precious few people who have sight. Cars, trains, and planes crash around them, and they travel through destructed towns and villages. Not only that - but they also have to fend off killer plants called Triffids, whose seeds were planted in the earth during the meteor shower.

Meanwhile back in London, Scott and her boyfriend fend off the Triffids while trapped in their house by the sea. And in Spain, Keel and Faye fend off Triffids in a mountaintop home where a woman just gave birth to a baby.

Another film that explores a similar theme is 2008's "Blindness" starring Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo. In that thriller, the same thing happens - most of the world save for a handful of people goes blind. I saw that earlier this year at the Fellini Film Cafe, a cool little coffee/sandwich shop and video store/screening house in El Paso where they show a movie every night. I would highly recommend it if you ever go to El Paso.

I saw "Blindness" before I saw this film, so I was impressed even more with this movie.

Read The Black Hole's recent blog post on the movie.

Check out some cool lobby cards from the movie at the blog Coming Attractions of the Past.

Read Rick's review here.

Read Just a Cineast's review here

The Magnificent 60s (blog)