mark.waltz A terrific foursome lead the way in this screwball musical about mistaken identity of the most absurd kind. It all concerns a handsome polo player Ricardo Montalban who romances bathing suit manufacturer Esther Williams while silly Red Skelton is pursued by her flirtatious sister Betty Garrett who mistakes Skelton, ridiculously so, for the Latin Lothario.While the entire cast is excellent, it is the effervescent Garrett who stands out. Many of MGM's featured players or second leads stole the show from the star, and Garrett is up there with Virginia O'Brien, Ann Miller and Janis Paige as the sassy flirty gal who may not land the hero but takes off with the best material. Garrett shines in the Latin themed I Love Those Men, and even in an outtake cut from the film shows her metal. The Oscar Winning Baby, It's Cold Outside features all four leads and is winningly staged. Of course, Esther swims, and the finale is lavishly staged.Montalban, the most likable Hispanic actor of his time, has an easy-going charm that never seems cocky or smug. He sings and dances with ease and looks great in tight clothing. Skelton deliberately speaks with the worst Spanish accent on film but is over-shadowed by Mel Blanc who is extremely funny using his Speedy Gonzalez voice. While Keenan Wynn opens and closes the film as a sort of narrator, he is rather wasted. That is really a demotion considering three years before he was one of the leads in Easy to Wed. Mike Mazurki adds his typical dumb mug performance as a gangster trying to fix the final polo match which has some very funny slapstick sight gags.

MartinHafer Like so many of Esther Williams' movies, this one is enjoyable but also complete nonsense. After all, a movie which features a lengthy underwater ballet at the end can't be taken very seriously! The film begins with a South American polo team coming to the States. Its star is José O'Rourke (Ricardo Montalban) and an idiot, Jack (Red Skelton), decides to pretend to be him in order to win Betty's heart (Betty Garrett). However, O'Rourke has no idea that Jack is posing as him--nor does Betty's sister, Eve (Williams). Instead, Even thinks that O'Rourke is a gigolo--with VERY bad intentions. When she confronts the real O'Rourke, he has no idea what's going on but goes along with it, as he's smitten with Eve. What's next? See this silly film for yourself.If you cannot let yourself just sit back and enjoy all the silliness, then you'll probably have a very hard time watching. After all, NO SANE PERSON would think Red Skelton looked or sounded Hispanic!! And, some of the music is silly (especially the water ballet). But, if you can forget about this, the film actually is pretty cute, funny and features the wonderful Oscar-winning song "Baby It's Cold Outside" for the first time in a movie. Well worth seeing...but silly and inconsequential.

dougdoepke The movie features a marvelous cast, each doing his or her specialty. But I especially like the unheralded Betty Garret as the ditzy sister who manages to steal several scenes. Williams has a few abbreviated swim scenes, but does more acting than paddling. Then too, making her a swimsuit designer gives us guys an eyeful of the modeling scenes. Frankly, though, I was disappointed with the big aqua number, which has legions of girls diving into the pool but little more. It's far from any kind of ballet that Williams is so good at. Of course, Skelton is made for movies like this where his slapstick comedy can blend into the overall shenanigans. However, a couple of his skits (mounting the horse & piling it on muscle- man Mazurki) went past their peak of hilarity. Good to see voice wizard Mel Blanc get a movie break after so many years of funny dialects on radio, TV, and cartoons. All in all, the movie's an entertaining and certainly colorful 90-minutes, but unfortunately not Williams' best.

dm032 ho-hum bit of nonsense as tough-minded businesswoman Esther Williams falls bit by bit for South American polo playboy Ricardo Montalban. Their courtship is paralleled by the romance between dorky masseur Skelton and William's man-hungry sister, Garrett. Best scene is the double version of "Baby it's Cold Outside" with Williams and Skelton as the coy maidens.