In one my favorite musical romances : "Sun Valley Serenade", one of the several hit songs in "It Happened in Sun Valley", 'it' being the budding romance between the characters played by John Payne and Sonja Henie Parts of this were filmed in Sun Valley, Idaho, not long after this status ski resort opened. The present film much reminds me of that film, also partly filmed at Sun Valley, with complicated romantic shenanigans, and skiing of the principles contributing to their romantic attraction...............Finally got to see this during TCM's 100th birthday salute to Esther Williams, after having seen most of her other films. I give most of her films high ratings.......... A variety of musical entertainers are featured, in addition to 2 water ballets, and the complex intertwining romantic story involving Paula Raymond, herself, and 2 leading men in the popular Van Johnson, in his 5th Esther movie, and John Lund, who, with his moustache, I think looks rather like Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.. Lund is decidedly the lesser star of the 2, and takes the second lead. Paula was good looking, but had 2 extremely brief marriages, and never became a big star. Here, she plays Ellen: Esther's roommate. She is secretary to Lund's character, and has a secrete crush on him. One evening she goes in a nightclub, and spots Lund, with a carrot-topped tart he would rather get rid of. Ellen comes over, and Lund introduces her as his fiancé, which causes the carrot top to leave. Lund invites Ellen to accompany him on a trip to Sun Valley. She's ecstatic, but later Lund changes his mind. Esther comes up with the hair-brained idea that she will take the same train to SV, try to establish a romantic relationship with Lund, and then somehow bring up the subject of Ellen, and his possible romantic interest in her. Ellen swallows the chancy plan. Esther gets dolled up for her trip, and catches the attention of both Lund and Van, who is the conductor for the train band(?). The 2 men start making moves on her. Esther encourages Lund, but discourages Van. Meanwhile, Van leads the band and cute, petite, vivacious, Big Band singer Connie Haines sings "Choo Choo Choo to Idaho". She is followed by the African American group of porters and singers: The Jabalaires. I should mention that Lena Horne sang at that nightclub in Chicago. Unfortunately, her 2nd song was cut, as the film was getting longer than desired. Presumably, it was the same story for Mel Torme who, surprisingly, doesn't sing, rather acting as a bell boy or other functionary periodically............. Once they get to SV, Esther still discourages Van's attempts to interest her. Van again leads the orchestra at SV. Connie, along with a male backup, sings again, and Van, with top hat and glasses, finishes it off in a comical style. Famous film dancer Eleanor Powell, In her last Hollywood film appearance, then gives a sampling of her distinctive dancing. .............. Lund is called to Chicago, so Van again tries to establish a relationship with Esther. It goes badly at first, but he finally gets his foot in her room door, and they make up. Thus far, we've seen no snow. Now, suddenly, there is plenty of snow, so Esther and Van go skiing, and riding on a dog sled. This is the part that most reminds me of "Sun Valley Serenade". Then, the 2 go to a dance competition. The female of the pair who dance the longest while holding an Idaho potato between their foreheads is named The Duchess of Idaho. Naturally, Esther and Van win............Meanwhile, in Chicago, Lund takes Ellen to dinner, and mentions that he met a girl in SV who intrigues him, thus, he wants to return to SV and follow up on her. Ellen figures out that this girl is Esther, and, on the phone, tells her to return to Chicago, fearing that Esther's scheme has gone amok. Ellen and Lund then separately journey to SV. Things between the 4 get testy. The girls return to Chicago together, while the guys somehow? Beat them to their apartment and somehow? Enter and cook dinner for the girls! Initially, the girl's emotions run wild, before settling down to finish the film in happy formulistic fashion.
Review of Duchess of Idaho
