Easy to Love (B- or 2.5/4 stars)
In 'Easy to Love' (directed by Charles Walters), Esther Williams plays Julie Hallerton, the superstar of a swimming extravaganza at Cypress Gardens, Florida. Her boss is fast-talkin', hard-driving Ray Lloyd (Van Johnson). Ray is allllllll business and has no interest in getting married. In fact, he doesn't even notice that overworked/underpaid Julie is in love with him. So to make Ray jealous, Julie pretends to want to elope with her beefcake co-star in the water show, Hank (John Bromfield), who actually does like her. Unfortunately for Julie, none of this affects Ray just yet.
It does, however, get Ray to take her to NY with him, promising her a good time, but then actually turning it into a business trip (for a magazine lipstick ad). While in NY, Julie then meets & falls for a famous nightclub singer/notorious ladies man, Barry Gordon (Tony Martin), who - in turn - falls in love with her and promises to take good care of her. Will Ray realize that he is in love with Julie to stop the madness? Romantic entanglements abound.
You know, there's nothing about this movie that's bad. It's just ... unoriginal. Familiar. Really, this whole Technicolor production feels like it was created only as a way to have beautiful Esther Williams parade around in a swimsuit again; or a way to see yet another MAGNIFICENT Busby Berkeley-directed water spectacle. That's all fine. The scenery is quite nice. Esther Williams is absolutely lovely. She's not the best actress out there, but she holds her own. The story is straightforward. But again, there's little to the plot. It just kinda sits there up on the screen.
Van Johnson is okay. Again, this film is just another way to pair him up with Esther Williams. Probably the only points of interest are the various songs (Didja Ever, Look Out! I'm Romantic, That What a Rainy Day Is For, Coquette, & Cole Porter's titular song, Easy to Love), as well as the aforementioned aquatic ballets. So yeah, 'Easy to Love' is mildly entertaining. I'm glad I saw it. But I also wanted to be wowed, and wasn't.
It does, however, get Ray to take her to NY with him, promising her a good time, but then actually turning it into a business trip (for a magazine lipstick ad). While in NY, Julie then meets & falls for a famous nightclub singer/notorious ladies man, Barry Gordon (Tony Martin), who - in turn - falls in love with her and promises to take good care of her. Will Ray realize that he is in love with Julie to stop the madness? Romantic entanglements abound.
You know, there's nothing about this movie that's bad. It's just ... unoriginal. Familiar. Really, this whole Technicolor production feels like it was created only as a way to have beautiful Esther Williams parade around in a swimsuit again; or a way to see yet another MAGNIFICENT Busby Berkeley-directed water spectacle. That's all fine. The scenery is quite nice. Esther Williams is absolutely lovely. She's not the best actress out there, but she holds her own. The story is straightforward. But again, there's little to the plot. It just kinda sits there up on the screen.
Van Johnson is okay. Again, this film is just another way to pair him up with Esther Williams. Probably the only points of interest are the various songs (Didja Ever, Look Out! I'm Romantic, That What a Rainy Day Is For, Coquette, & Cole Porter's titular song, Easy to Love), as well as the aforementioned aquatic ballets. So yeah, 'Easy to Love' is mildly entertaining. I'm glad I saw it. But I also wanted to be wowed, and wasn't.