While Esther Williams Is Touted as the Star of ‘Bathing Beauty,’ It’s the Musicians Who Grab the Spotlight

Soon to be available as a 4K Blu-ray, the George Sidney picture’s denouement is among the most renowned scenes put on film.

Via Wikimedia Commons
Esther Williams by Eric Carpenter (1947). Via Wikimedia Commons

Director George Sidney’s “Bathing Beauty” (1944) is a delirious movie musical. It is, in many respects, an exemplar of the genre, and while It’s not the best, it ain’t bad. Sidney’s picture is particularly head-snapping in that it includes a dazzling array of musical talents — all of whom had to be accounted for in one way or another. The film is less a narrative continuum than a catch-as-catch-can variety show.

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