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.