Texas Carnival ** (1951, Esther Williams, Red Skelton, Howard Keel, Ann Miller, Paula Raymond, Keenan Wynn) – Classic Movie Review 12,793

MGM’s 1951 hit Technicolor musical film Texas Carnival stars Esther Williams, Red Skelton, Howard Keel and Ann Miller. 

Director Charles Walters’s 1951 hit MGM American Technicolor musical film Texas Carnival stars Esther Williams, Red Skelton, Howard Keel, along with Ann Miller, Paula Raymond, and Keenan Wynn.

MGM re-pairs Williams and Keel after Pagan Love Song (1950) to further popular acclaim in this fast-moving musical comedy about a broke carnival man (Skelton) who is confused with a rich cattleman. Nobody expects much of a plot in such fluff – and if they do they’ll be sorely disappointed – but they do expect entertaining support performances, and they get them from Miller, Wynn and Donald MacBride (who could easily have carried a picture on their own).

Skelton and Williams are the show people mistaken for beef baron Dan Sabina (Wynn) and his sister Marilla (Paula Raymond), and romanced by Miller and Keel. Appealing though Williams, Skelton and Keel are, it’s the irrepressibly vivacious Miller who steals the show, and her ‘It’s Dynamite’ is the standout song. There’s the usual handsome MGM production and the lovely Technicolor photography is ideal for the escapist material.

Williams recalled: ‘The movie reunited me with some of the usual suspects and some of the usual plot points as well. My character was named Debbie Telford, Red’s assistant, who is mistaken for his oil baroness assistant.’

Also in the cast are Tom Tully, Glenn Strange, Dick Wessel, Hans Conried, Thurston Hall, Donald MacBride, Marjorie Wood, Duke Johnson, Wilson Wood, Michael Dugan, Doug Carter, Earle Hodgins, Gil Patrick, Rhea Mitchell, Emmett Lynn, Bess Flowers, Jack Daly, Fred Santley, Joe Roach, Manuel Petroff, Robert Fortier, William Lundy, Alex Goudovitch, Foy Willing, and Red Norvo.

Esther Williams, America’s Mermaid, died on 6 June 2013, aged 91. She swam through more than a dozen splashy MGM musicals in the Forties and early Fifties, including On an Island with You (1948), Pagan Love Song (1950), Texas Carnival (1951), Million Dollar Mermaid (1952), Easy to Love (1953) and Dangerous When Wet (1953). She made her debut in an Andy Hardy picture called Andy Hardy’s Double Life (1942) as Sheila Brooks, Mickey Rooney’s love interest.

Esther Williams recalled: ‘All they ever did for me at MGM was change my leading man and the water in my pool.’

The cast are Esther Williams as Debbie Telford, Red Skelton as Cornie Quinell, Howard Keel as Slim Shelby, Ann Miller as Sunshine Jackson, Paula Raymond as Marilla Sabinas, Keenan Wynn as Dan Sabinas, Glenn Strange as Tex Hodgkins, Tom Tully as Sheriff Jackson, Dick Wessel, Hans Conried, Thurston Hall, Donald MacBride, Marjorie Wood, Duke Johnson, Wilson Wood, Michael Dugan, Doug Carter, Earle Hodgins, Gil Patrick, Rhea Mitchell, Emmett Lynn, Bess Flowers, Jack Daly, Fred Santley, Joe Roach, Manuel Petroff, Robert Fortier, William Lundy, Alex Goudovitch, Foy Willing, and Red Norvo.

It runs just 77 minutes, one of MGM’s shortest musicals.

It cost $1,684,000 and earned $3,820,000, resulting in a profit of $681,000.

Williams and Skelton were a hit team. It was their third movie together, following Bathing Beauty and Neptune’s Daughter.

The Red Norvo Quintet back Miller on the song ‘It’s Dynamite’, with Charles Mingus on bass.

Filming was postponed as Williams was pregnant, so shooting started in February 1951. It was released on October 5, 1951.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 12,793

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