bkoganbing Esther Williams playing basically herself in this film, a swimming musical movie star, did like so many in the late war traveled and entertained the troops. One of those troops was navy flier Peter Lawford. She actually kissed him and the naive Mr. Lawford had been carrying a torch for her since V-J Day. He works it out quite carefully for Esther to have some time with him in On An Island With You.This carefully laid out plan of stalking is the basis for this lighthearted musical and of course is a plot device for more serious and frightening work. Why I couldn't quite buy the film even though Esther and the cast perform with their usual good standards.One who doesn't take a kind view of Lawford's crush is her co-star Ricardo Montalban. He's got some nice swimming numbers with Esther and dance numbers with Cyd Charisse. Lucky man. Add to this Xavier Cugat and his orchestra and Jimmy Durante as Esther's agent and you've got a pleasant bit of entertainment.Esther's fans will approve, so will Cyd's.

Robrt Powell (vigihawk) After placing On an Island with You on my list of Tailhook movies, got to watch thanks to TCM. Putting it on list a stretch, but if there was a comedy (Hot Shots) why not a musical? Esther Williams vehicle with several Busby Berkeley on the Briny numbers. Ricardo Montalban a surprisingly good swimmer as well as a dancer. Peter Lawford not so much. Had trouble believing in him as a Navy pilot. Supposedly acting endearing—I thot him a wimp. He plays a movie adviser and corrects an actor's ribbons as upside down (yet as the film rolls on; both characters change between DFCs and Silver Stars) and doesn't like his accent while his own rawther Brit tones are obvious. Jimmy Durante as comic relief and does a couple of numbers. OK if you like that sort of thing. Oh, airplanes. Plot has Lawford taking Williams up in a TBM but instead of flying overhead heads off to an island he was based on during the war. Hmmm, Hawaii to war zone in TBM? Anyway, real Avenger with Williams fetchingly climbing in and out of hatch. Other Navy guys come to rescue in a JRF-6 Goose. Interior shot looks real as it's cramped. Filming was done on Anna Maria Island, FL (Gulf Coast, south of Tampa Bay) TBM BuNo 8394? Both aircraft have 5 with bar above and below. Any idea what unit did the flying?

richspenc Esther Williams is another beautiful golden age girl, like Judy Garland, Ginger Rogers, Ruby Keeler, Eleanor Powell, June Allyson, Myrna Loy, Ingrid Bergman, and others. They're all wonderful. And the music from that era is wonderful too. The music at the very start of the film was heavenly music, beautiful music with the background women's sweet sounding opera voices and/or the sweet violin sounds. It was so common in the 30s, 40s, and early 50s. I also love most swing style music in general from that era with the violins, muted trumpets and trombones, and woodwinds. And of course, I also love the wonderful singers from that era, Judy Garland, Katheryn Grayson, etc. It seemed a better age than today in many ways. "On an island with you" is a very good film. We got another of the water ballets here that Esther is so famous for, which is very good. I also like the "movie within a movie" theme here. A movie crew, which includes Jimmy Durante (the shnoz) as the director, is filming a movie in Hawaii. I sorta found funny when Durante gets off the phone from his superiors in LA who are complaining and seemingly blaming him for the sun setting too soon and they're not getting enough scenes. Durante is filming Esther, Ricardo Montalban, and Cyd Charisse in a tropical musical. One of the musical numbers being filmed is an interesting sort of a tribal dance number with Cyd and men in masks and spears. There's another great erotic dance scene between Cyd and Ricardo (where Durante even says afterwards "they were beautiful together, and I don't think I like it" (Ricardo was engaged to Esther)), and a beautiful sequence at the beginning with the heavenly music with Esther and other beautiful girls swimming around palm trees. During filming, a military air force man, Peter Lawford notices Esther and immediately becomes obsessively infatuated with her. Esther is already romantically linked up with Ricardo but Peter doesn't care, he still wants her. At a nightclub, Durente notices Peter's obsession with Esther and tries to keep him away from her (added is a funny little line when Jimmy sits with him and says "this is a cozy table for two, you and me"). Peter stubbornly refuses to change how unhealthily obsessed he is with her, and this is the big fault of the movie. Peter kidnaps her, and flies them both to an island a hundred miles away. This is not OK. Peter should be arrested for such a move, but after they're both taken back to where they came from. Esther defends Peter. I never could understand why. There's a reason why I took away three points, SPOILER: Peter Lawford ends up with Esther. That is not good, Peter did not deserve her at all. The writers having Peter win the girl makes it look like what he did was not that big a deal, and the film was still treating him as the good guy in spite of what he did. That's what really hurt the film. The other seven points I gave was that I still loved Esther, I still loved her water ballet, I still loved her swimming, I still loved the music, I still loved some of the dialogue between the characters, and I still loved some parts of the story. One funny add in was an older woman with her granddaughter trying to audition for a part and uses her English accent, Durante says "too British, won't do", she then asks her grandma "how can anyone be too British?". Another funny bit later when she shows up again saying a line trying to talk like Durante, and Durante says "better go back to the other way, this way, no one will understand you". I've liked whenever I've seen someone trying to talk or act like Durante, such as Frank Sinatra in "It happened in Brooklyn" when singing "A song must come from the heart". Then come the very good parts at the nightclubs with this girl singing "The dog song" with pretty good Spanish style while holding a tiny chihuahua (which Durante called a mouse). Durante himself sang a couple of good numbers of his, "Mr. Dobbins" and "The struttaway" in his typical Durante style.

jotix100 "On an Island with You" offers, as Neil Doyle has already remarked on this forum, escapist entertainment to warm any fan of this genre with the magnificent colors and the music in the film. MGM was the studio that excelled in this type of movies and this Esther Williams vehicle offers a lot of fun. Although predictable, it offers the viewer a nice time at the movies.Directed by Richard Thorpe, the movie takes us to a movie location where a film is being shot. The gorgeous Rosalind Reynolds is the star that combines acting with water ballet and incidental singing and dancing. Rosalind is attracted to a Navy Lieutenant that is serving as technical adviser to the movie. Larry Kingsley, in turn, seems to have fallen head over heels with the beautiful Rosalind.Esther Williams looks ravishingly beautiful in her water scenes as well as in her scenes with Peter Lawford, who plays Larry. Ricardo Montalban and Cyd Charisse play roles in the film and they become involved with one another with the blessing of her mother in a funny scene at the end of the picture.The great Jimmy Durante almost steals the film from its stars. As Jimmy Doyle, the assistant to the director, he plays a key part in the movie and makes it his own. Xavier Cugat and his orchestra are also seen in the picture."On an Island with You" will not disappoint.