Reviews

If you're a Ziegfeld Girl, you're on top of the world. With many luminous shots of Hedy Lamarr and Lana Turner and a few Judy Garland numbers thrown in, this film chronicles the three stars' meteoric rise to fame in the Ziegfeld follies; some handle it better than others. Jimmy Stewart and Eve Arden also appear.

This is a women's musical, and there is a fair amount of talk about what a woman wants and what makes her happy. Although the film takes it for granted that most women will find fulfilment by being someone's wife, there is room for an alternative: of the three aspiring showgirls, one knows that she really only wants a husband's love, and one has to hit bottom before she realizes it; the third has no need for it whatsoever.

Esther Williams has the misfortune to be born to a family of irrepressible morning people. You know the type: always perky and cheerful first thing in the morning and ready to beat it into you if you're not. Esther enters a contest to swim the English Channel, and for some reason the time of the race is set only the night before. Wouldn't you know it, that's the night she's chosen to go out drinking with Fernando Lamas.

All in all, a delightful piece of fluff. This is the one where Esther dances a water ballet with Tom and Jerry.