La Venus del carnaval

There was some great talent here but not all of it is fully utilised. Texas Carnival has great moments but other ways it was underwhelming as well. Texas Carnival has some lavish Technicolor and colourful sets and costumes, so visually it's pleasing, and the incidental score is lovely. Texas Carnival does have some memorable scenes, standing out in particular were the imaginative dream water sequence, Skelton's hilariously nutty drunk routine, Ann Miller's dance with the xylophone in It's Dynamite and the riotous slapstick finale that has some very impressive stunt-work. Of the performers, the one who comes off best is Red Skelton, who is just fine and very funny while Ann Miller is sassy and dances a dream in It's Dynamite. Esther Williams is beautiful and pert and does wonderfully in the water sequence but for a film that was intended to be a vehicle for her this was not really great use of her talents. On the other side of the coin, Keenan Wynn is annoying and badly underplays the comedy at the same time and Howard Keel is wasted, he sings with such richness and beauty and he is a handsome presence but he deserved more songs and better ones too. The songs were pleasant but forgettable also, the most memorable being Deep in the Heart of Texas. The script was in serious need of sharper wit and the story is tired in concept and rambling in pace. The film is much too short as well and feels incomplete, with a feeling that a lot of the film was left on the cutting room floor. If that was the case that means we would most likely have seen more of Williams and Keel as we ought to have done. The ending is rushed and with little sense of surprise and Charles Walters' direction is sadly lethargic. All in all, has good moments but a very odd film that does waste some of the talent it has. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Debbie Telford (Esther Williams) is the dunk tank girl with partner Cornie Quinell (Red Skelton). Cornie is too honest and helps out wealthy rancher Dan Sabinas with the carnies. Dan takes the taxi while Cornie returns his car to his hotel. Cornie and Debbie are mistaken for Dan and his sister Marilla.

The start is a little funny. I would have liked more carnival. I like Debbie being pursued by Slim Shelby. Then the movie stalls a bit. It was fast becoming a failure before the wagon race. The wagons allow Red Skelton to do some physical comedy and the stunt people to do some good work. It basically woke me up.

Esther Williams set on the MGM lot must have been in repair, maybe the pool needed a chlorine refill because none of the spectacular aquatic scenes associated with her films will be found in Texas Carnival. In fact this is really a Red Skelton film and the powers that be at MGM who always liked to keep their contract players working said do this film while we clean the pool.

It's not the greatest Esther Williams or even Red Skelton film, but it does have an amusing moment or two. Red and Esther are working at a dunk tank in a cheap carnival when an inebriated Keenan Wynn shows up and through a combination of circumstances Williams and Skelton wind up going to a Texas resort being mistaken for Wynn and his sister Paula Raymond.

They both find love and trouble at the resort with Williams taking a real liking to Howard Keel who is the foreman of Wynn's ranch and Red falling for the tap dancing sheriff's daughter in the person of Ann Miller. Red also by playing up to the big Texas cattle baron manages to lose $17,000.00 dollars in what the Texans just call a friendly game among millionaires.

As I said Texas Carnival is clearly more Red's film than Esther's and he dominates with a hilarious chuck wagon race finale and one of his patented drunk scenes. What's interesting is that in this film Skelton had Keenan Wynn to contend with in the inebriation competition. Both of these guys have played incredible imbibing scenes in their respective films.

In his memoirs Howard Keel says that Red Skelton was a comic genius, but so much so that his contemporaries had trouble keeping up with him. In that barroom scene with Keenan Wynn it took half a day to shoot because Wynn couldn't help breaking up at his performance.

Don't look for too much aquatics in this Esther Williams film, but it's a not bad Red Skelton comedy.

This little-known musical might be considered the Texas answer to (the stage musical) "Oklahoma!" And though things in Texas are supposed to be bigger, this film is smaller in many ways. But the four leads get their moments in the sun: Esther swims, Red mimes, Ann dances, and Howard sings.

Cornie the carny (Red Skelton) and his collaborator, Debbie (Esther Williams) run a dunking booth in a carnival, but they are not making ends meet. When Cornie runs into a rich, drunk cattleman Dan Sabinas (Keenan Wynn), who takes a shine to him, Cornie and Debbie leave the midway and head for a posh hotel where Sabinas is supposed to be staying. A case of mistaken identity allows them to reside there indefinitely.

The Sabinas foreman (Howard Keel as the real Slim Shelby) becomes interested in Debbie, and a hoofer named Sunshine Jackson (Ann Miller) sets her sites on Cornie. The rest of the plot is a jumble of unimportant events, including a rough and tumble chuck wagon race that is reminiscent of Ben Hur.

Keel's singing is up to his usual standards, but the songs are not Rodgers and Hammerstein. Ann Miller taps up a storm with choreography by Hermes Pan. Esther Williams swims less than she usually does in her aquafests, but she has a dream sequence that is clever. Red Skelton transforms the entire film, making it more comedy than any other genre.

Credit Helen Rose for the beautiful designs worn by the female leads.

The ending is weak, but the overall production entertains adequately.

How to get ESTHER WILLIAMS wet and still have an entertaining musical must have finally gotten to whomever dreamed up this lackluster, shoddy script for the MGM swimming star. She seldom dips a toe into the water and when she does her swimming scenes are brief.

In fact, the whole story is told in little more than one hour and seventeen minutes--and even then, it's exasperating to watch so little happen. The story is the tired old mistaken identity theme taken to ridiculous heights by RED SKELTON, who's mistaken for an obnoxious and wealthy oil baron (KEENAN WYNN) at a luxury hotel with a deluxe size swimming pool. HOWARD KEEL ambles into the story via horseback singing just one of several unmemorable songs and is soon ogling Esther poolside in a manner designed to get her to take a dip (for the sake of her fans).

ANN MILLER pops up to add some breezy Texas charm to the proceedings, but even her lively dance numbers lack the usual splash MGM gave to its production numbers. Esther is supposed to be a carnival girl who gets dumped into water by any man who can throw a curve ball--and she's hungry, or so we're told, to the point where she faints in the arms of Howard Keel who then chases her until she's caught. Esther has to be one of the healthiest gals ever supposed to be suffering from malnutrition that I've ever seen.

The hazy plot plods along until the predictable ending with the stolen identity cleared up and Esther is ready to melt into Keel's arms--none too soon.

Summing up: At least Esther had MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID in her future--but this is one where she's just killing time. Very unworthy vehicle for the swimming star par excellence.