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Wonderful film exhibiting the talents of Esther Williams portraying swimming Annette Kellerman at the turn of the 20th century.

The water sequences were never lovelier and the story of Kellerman, who overcame adversity as a young child, was remarkable.

Victor Mature is in fine form as her promoter and eventual lover, Frank Sullivan. Jesse White brings his comic relief as Sullivan's side-kick and Walter Pidgeon is endearing as her father.

Coming from Australia to star in the Hippidrome and other features, Kellerman exhibited outstanding talent in her swimming career while at the same time trying to maintain her dream of being a ballerina. Ballet star Maria Tallchief brief appears as the legendary Pavlova in the film.

When professional differences end her romance with Sullivan, Kellerman really makes it on her own thanks to the help of David Brian, as the head of the Hippidrome.

While the tragic accident she had while making "Neptune's Daughter" in Hollywood almost cost her her life, it brings on a wonderful moving ending.

This is a highly entertaining film.

While my comment above is hardly a glowing endorsement, I liked this movie far more than I thought I ever wood. The movie is a biography of Annette Kellerman, who was a champion swimmer at the turn of the century and created quite a scandal when she began swimming in comfortable bathing suits--something "decent" women didn't do back in her day! From swimming champ to long distance swimmer to movie star, the film follows her career. Ms. Williams does a fine job as does co-star Victor Mature. I think the reason I liked this movie so much was because since it was a bio-pic, much of the usual over-the-top swimming choreography was missing or at least subdued. A decent movie with plenty to hold your interest.

This film is very interesting and expensively mounted. I recommend it with a few caveats. For instance, the water ballets could not have looked the way they looked in the film because they simply did not have the electrical devices necessary in the 1910s and 1920s to create these effects. They did in the 1950s, of course.

Secondly, Annette's former flame, Mr. Sullivan, was not the guy who raised and trained Rin-Tin-Tin and got him started in Hollywood. For the life of me, I cannot understand why this was in the film. Lee Duncan, a former Army airman, was Rinty's owner and trainer, and as far as I know he had no connection to Annette. I don't know why 1950s biographical film had the tendency to do this sort of thing, but it is very common.

If any kind of biographical film was to be made about Annette Kellerman, champion swimmer from the turn of the last century, MGM was the only studio to do it. They had the only star qualified and the only studio that gave said star her own set.

If Annette Kellerman hadn't blazed the trail, Esther Williams could not have had a movie career. Kellerman first won many swimming medals in her native Australia and then went to the United Kingdom and then to America where she was the first international female swimming star. The Aquacade, the water ballet, I believe the Australian crawl swimming stroke were named in her honor, all these are due to her. She was crippled as a child and swimming did indeed make her legs grow stronger, as therapeutic to her as it was to a certain crippled president of the United States.

I'm really surprised that the Australians have not done any kind of big screen or small screen film about her, she was such an icon in a newly independent country. Leaving it to America and to MGM, Million Dollar Mermaid is a fine Esther Williams film, but no more than that. I get very little information about the trials and tribulations of the real Annette Kellerman and the people around her.

She did in fact marry her manager James Sullivan played here by Victor Mature who did NOT bring Rin Tin Tin to the silver screen. They do in fact cover her notorious arrest in Boston for wearing a shocking newly designed one piece bathing suit. Boston had many silly laws back in the day, they were known for it. If you remember in John Ford's Donovan's Reef, a gag is used about Elizabeth Allen wearing the typical Gay Nineties bathing attire and then stripping down to what Kellerman popularized.

Most of the plot of Million Dollar Mermaid is fictitious, her romance with Hippodrome impresario David Brian, her accident on the set of Neptune's Daughter. Annette did become an early silent film star as big in the silent days as her male successors Johnny Weissmuller and Buster Crabbe became in sound.

Kellerman and Sullivan lived to see Million Dollar Mermaid and it's unknown what they thought about it. The fact they were both still around I'm sure made MGM tread softly. One thing the film didn't answer was why Kellerman did not compete in the Olympics. In that she has something in common with Esther Williams. Esther didn't compete because the 1940 Olympics were called off as were the 1944. She had to turn professional and then became an actress and the rest is history. Why Kellerman didn't is something I'd like to know.

Perhaps an Australian production might answer that question if one is made. Until then we'll have to be satisfied with the beautiful and expensive Million Dollar Mermaid.

Entertaining biopic of Annette Kellerman, an Australian swimmer turned vaudeville and early Hollywood star. Esther Williams is a natural fit for the role and does a fine job. Of course, it's an old-school Hollywood biopic so there's more fiction than fact in their telling of Kellerman's story. That sort of thing never really bothers me but it does some so be advised ahead of time this isn't a documentary. Esther is lovely as ever and has some excellent aquatic numbers choreographed by the great Busby Berkeley. A couple of these numbers are classics that every Esther fan will want to see. The rest of the cast, including Walter Pidgeon, Victor Mature, and Jesse White, is solid. The only problems are that the movie is overlong and the romance with Mature is less than exciting. But it's Esther Williams swimming in Technicolor and that definitely needs to be the headline.