Thrill of a Romance

This movie had a huge impact on my life. In 1945 when I was nine years old, my grandfather offered to pay for boxing lessons for me. The problem was that I was not interested in having boxing lessons, however my parents and I had recently seen the Thrill of a Romance movie; and needless to say I developed a huge crush on Ester Williams. I asked my mother if she thought that my grandfather would pay for swimming lessons, and he did! As a result of seeing this movie, I learned to swim and then swam competitively from age ten through high school and then played four years water polo at UCLA. During the summers, while in college and continuing until age 62, I worked as a lifeguard and pool manager. Both daughters also swam competitively and had summer lifeguard jobs....... Thank You Ester Williams :-)

Thrill of a Romance is such a VERY nice film. I watched it last night and totally enjoyed this cute and entertaining film. Nice swimming scenes with both Esther and Van together. Wonderful diving from Esther in this film and the music was wonderful.

This film is a wonderful way to end any romantic evening. MonaK

Van Johnson and Esther Williams at their loveliest. Wonderful music throughout. A delightful picture for anyone who has ever been or hopes to be in love.

We have beautiful Esther Williams swimming and diving. We have Van Johnson sincere and radiant. We have Melchior in fine classical voice, Tommy Dorsey playing Grieg on the trombone (!) along with other classic Dorsey hits. And a couple of new songs. The movie mostly takes place in a resort with Olympic swimming pool and a sound-stage with a view over Yosemite Valley.

It's all very light, but let yourself be carried away, and it will steal your heart.

While this was the first time both Esther Williams and Van Johnson were the leads in a motion picture, this wasn't the first time they were in a scene together onscreen: that was in A Guy Named Joe a few years before when Ms. Williams had a brief dancing sequence with him. He's not the only man in her life here, another one played by Carleton G. Young also figures but watch the movie if you want to know what I'm talking about. There's also amusing supporting turns by Spring Byington and Henry Travers as Esther's relatives. By the way, I always think of Mr. Travers first as Clarence Oddbody, Angel 2nd Class from my favorite movie It's a Wonderful Life. While I'm not an opera fan, I did enjoy the singing of Lauritz Melchior especially when he performed with Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra. Incidentally, Tommy introes a teen named Helene Stanley-who does a fine piano and singing-as his daughter Susan but he wouldn't have such an offspring with that name until four years after this movie's release. There's also a nice singing performance by African-American teen Jerry Scott who plays a bellhop, which emphasizes the limitation of roles for his race in Hollywood at the time. Also, a fine drum solo from Dorsey's drummer Buddy Rich. In summary, I enjoyed this fluff Thrill of a Romance represented during this time of war all over the world that must have pleased many patrons looking for some distraction...

Fun and easy flowing movie. Good old film but would LOVE to know the name of the girl playing piano with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in the movie. This is not considered a "heavy" movie but light weight and one the kids could watch with mom and dad in today's society. Some typical water scenes of Esther Williams that all of us can enjoy and of course dream we could do the same in our pool. Costuming is tastefully done and this brings back some great music and actually there are several genres covered. Not for Head Bangers or Hip Hoppers but for those that want to hear what the good old stuff really was meant to sound like. Abit more actual acting in this movie than a lot of those that Esther was in. Watch and enjoy!