''Dangerous When Wet'' is a 1953 American live-action/animated

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

starring

Esther Williams Esther Jane Williams (August 8, 1921 – June 6, 2013) was an American competitive swimmer and actress. She set regional and national records in her late teens on the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team. Unable to compete in the 1940 Summer Ol ...

Fernando Lamas Fernando Álvaro Lamas y de Santos (January 9, 1915 – October 8, 1982) was an Argentine-American actor and director of the Golden Age of Argentine cinema. He is the father of actor Lorenzo Lamas. Biography Argentina Fernando Álvaro Lamas y ...

and Jack Carson, directed by

Charles Walters Charles Powell Walters (November 17, 1911 – August 13, 1982) was an American Cinema of the United States, Hollywood director and choreographer most noted for his work in MGM musicals and comedies from the 1940s to the 1960s. Early years Char ...

and featuring an animated swimming sequence starring Williams with the cat-and-mouse duo

Tom and Jerry ''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series ...

Plot

Katie Higgins is the wholesome daughter of a dairy farmer. The entire family (Pa, Ma, Suzie, Katie, and Junior) start the day with a brisk song and morning swim. One day, Katie meets traveling salesman Windy Weebe, who is instantly smitten. Weebe sells an

elixir An elixir is a sweet liquid used for medical purposes, to be taken orally and intended to cure one's illness. When used as a dosage form, pharmaceutical preparation, an elixir contains at least one active ingredient designed to be taken orall ...

that purports to turn the user into a peppy, fit specimen, and upon noticing the entire family's strength in the water, he suggests that they all attempt to swim the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

. The family and Weebe travel to England and learn that the channel's distance is 20 miles "as the seagull flies," but with the currents, it can be as many as 42 miles. Katie is the only one of the family strong enough to attempt this feat, so she begins training with Weebe as her coach. On a foggy day, Katie is rescued from the water by handsome Frenchman Andre Lanet, who falls for Katie and tries to woo her. Katie tries to stay focused on her swim, but she is pulled in different directions by Lanet and Weebe. In a dream sequence, Katie performs an underwater ballet with cartoon characters

as well as with animated depictions of the people in her life. The film ends happily with Katie's attempt to cross the channel and the resolution of her love-life issues.

Cast

Live-action cast

as Katie Higgins *

as André Lanet * Jack Carson as Windy Weebe * Charlotte Greenwood as Ma Higgins * Denise Darcel as Gigi Mignon *

William Demarest Carl William Demarest (February 27, 1892 – December 28, 1983) was an American actor, known especially for his supporting roles in screwball comedies by Preston Sturges and as Uncle Charley in the sitcom ''My Three Sons'' from 1965-72. Demares ...

as Pa Higgins * Donna Corcoran as Junior Higgins * Barbara Whiting as Suzie Higgins * Bunny Waters as Greta * Henri Letondal as Joubert *

Paul Bryar Paul Bryar (born Gabriel Paul Barrere; February 21, 1910 – August 30, 1985) was an American actor. In a career spanning nearly half a century, he appeared in numerous films and television series. Career Bryar appeared in nearly 220 fil ...

as Pierre * Jack Raine as Stuart Frye * Richard Alexander as

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

ian Channel swimmer * Tudor Owen as Old Salt * Ann Codee as Mrs. Lanet * Darrell Wesley Clow as the Norwegian Swimmer

Voice cast

William Hanna William Denby Hanna (July 14, 1910 – March 22, 2001) was an American animator, voice actor, and musician who is best known for co-creating ''Tom and Jerry'' and providing the vocal effects for the series' title characters. Alongside Joseph B ...

as Tom and Jerry (uncredited)

Production

The film was based on a story by Dorothy Kingsley. MGM liked the story, bought it and hired Kingsley to develop it into a screenplay. It was originally titled ''Everybody Swims'' and was intended as a vehicle for Esther Williams and

Debbie Reynolds Mary Frances "Debbie" Reynolds (April 1, 1932 – December 28, 2016) was an American actress, singer and entrepreneur. Her acting career spanned almost 70 years. Reynolds performed on stage and television and in films into her 80s. She was nom ...

. In the underwater sequences in which Williams speaks to Tom and Jerry,

Joseph Barbera Joseph Roland Barbera ( ; ; March 24, 1911 – December 18, 2006) was an American animator and cartoonist, best known as the co-founder of the animation studio Hanna-Barbera. Born to Italian Americans, Italian immigrants in New York City, Bar ...

animated pink bubbles coming from her mouth, an effect that cost $50,000. The film's ending was rewritten after an incident during the filming when Johnny Weissmuller (Esther's former Aquacade partner) dove into the water to swim alongside Florence Chadwick, whom he was coaching.

Casting

Reynolds was originally slated for the role of Williams's little sister Suzie. Though Williams knew of Lamas before he was cast as her love interest, the two had never been formally introduced. They married in 1969, and remained so until Lamas's death in 1982. When asked whether she had known Lamas when the studio suggested his name as her costar, Williams mentioned that "he starred in movies with

Jane Powell Jane Powell (born Suzanne Lorraine Burce; April 1, 1929 – September 16, 2021) was an American actress, singer, and dancer who appeared in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals in the 1940s and 50s. With her soprano voice and girl-next-door image, Powel ...

Greer Garson Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson (29 September 1904 – 6 April 1996) was a British-American actress and singer. She was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer who became popular during the Second World War for her portrayal of strong women on the homef ...

, and

Lana Turner Julia Jean "Lana" Turner ( ; February 8, 1921June 29, 1995) was an American actress. Over a career spanning nearly five decades, she achieved fame as both a pin-up model and a film actress, as well as for her highly publicized personal life. ...

, and heknew he was romantically linked to Lana Turner. And heheard he could swim. Yes, Fernando Lamas sounded like good casting." At first, Lamas declined the role, stating that he came to MGM to be a star, and only wanted to act in "important pictures." Williams convinced him that his part would be rewritten to be larger.The Million Dollar Mermaid: An Autobiography, By Esther Williams, Digby Diehl, Published by Harcourt Trade, 2000, ,

Release

According to MGM records, the film earned $2,230,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $1,025,000 elsewhere, recording a profit of $386,000.

Critical reception

In a contemporary review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', critic

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though some ...

wrote: " is frolicsome item not only dumps you quite often in the drink, but also gives you some rather pleasant company to clown around with while on dry ground. ... ere is nothing very special or spectacular about ''Dangerous When Wet'', but it comes as relaxing entertainment at this torpid time of the year." Crowther also called the Tom and Jerry sequence "outstanding." A review from ''Variety'' called the film "a light mixture of tunes, comedy, water ballet and Esther Williams in a bathing suit."

Home media

On July 17, 2007,

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, Inc. (doing business as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment; formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the American home video distribution ...

and

Turner Entertainment Turner Entertainment Co. is an American multimedia company founded by Ted Turner on August 2, 1986. Purchased by Time Warner Entertainment on October 10, 1996, as part of its acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), the company was lar ...

released ''Dangerous When Wet'' on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

as part of the Esther Williams Spotlight Collection, Volume 1. The five-disc set contained digitally remastered versions of several of Williams's films including ''

Bathing Beauty ''Bathing Beauty'' is a 1944 American Musical film, musical romantic comedy film directed by George Sidney, and starring Red Skelton and Esther Williams. Although this was not Williams' screen debut, it was her first Technicolor musical. The f ...

'' (1944), '' Easy to Wed'' (1946), '' On an Island with You'' (1948) and '' Neptune's Daughter'' (1949)
The Tom and Jerry sequence is also featured in several

DVD and Blu-ray releases issued by Warner Home Video, including the '' Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection'', Volume 1 (in the bonus features) and '' Tom and Jerry: The Deluxe Anniversary Collection'' (Disc 2, as a special short). On June 27, 2023,

Warner Archive Collection The Warner Archive Collection is a home video division for releasing classic and cult films from Warner Bros.' library. It started as a manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD series by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on March 23, 2009, with the inte ...

is set to release a 1080p HD master from the 4K scan of original

Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...

camera negatives.

References

External links

* * * {{Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer theatrical animated features 1953 films 1953 musical comedy films American musical comedy films American romantic comedy films American films with live action and animation American romantic musical films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animated films Films directed by Charles Walters Films scored by Georgie Stoll Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Swimming films Animated films about mice Tom and Jerry films Animated musical films 1950s American animated films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer cartoon studio films 1950s English-language films English-language action comedy films English-language musical comedy films