Million Dollar Mermaid (1952)

Loosely based on the true story of Australian Annette Kellerman, this starts with her as a young girl under the care of her doting dad (Walter Pidgeon). He is on permanent watch around her as he is terrified that her disabling polio might endanger this determined young girl - especially when she takes to swimming in the lake. It appears, though, that this exercise is doing her the power of good and soon she (now Esther Williams) is winning local trophies. Meantime, her music teaching father is facing some financial hardships so they decide to relocate to London where he has an offer of a job. On board the ship they encounter the enigmatic “Jimmy” (Victor Mature), his pal “Doc” (Jesse White) and their boxing kangaroo. That proved quite lucky as there is no job when they arrive and so it falls to her to make a living doing the odd thing in the water. Next stop the USA and then success beckons as the public appear fascinated with her underwater ballet and acrobatics. There is one such scene in this film where I dare you to try and hold your breath for as long as she is supposed be able to. I got nowhere near! From what I know of the accomplished Miss Kellerman, there is a certain degree of cinematic licence taken here as the gently engaging plot gives way to sentiment making quite heavy going of this biopic - especially the romantic elements. Williams is charismatic, Pidgeon his usual reliable self and some of the set-piece routines are nicely staged and scored, but Mature is frequently upstaged by the roo and it all ends a little abruptly. It’d be interesting nowadays to see whether anyone would pay to sit poolside and watch anyone demonstrating the crawl, or the backstroke, or exhibition diving from a high board - but clearly, our forebears did.