Million Dollar Mermaid

MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID

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CREDITS

1952, 115 minutes, Technicolor.
Producer, Arthur Hornblow, Jr.; Director, Mervyn LeRoy; Screenplay, Everett Freeman; Cinematography, George Folsey; Choreography, Busby Berkeley; Music Director, Adolph Deutsch.

CAST

Annette Kellerman, Esther Williams; James Sullivan, Victor Mature; Frederick Kellerman, Walter Pidgeon; Alfred Harper, David Brian; Annette (10 years), Donna Corcoran.

SONGS

Let Me Call You Sweetheart by Beth Slater Whitson and Leo Friedman.

PLOT SYNOPSIS

"[Esther Williams] portrays Annette Kellerman, the Australian swimmer who created a scandal in 1902 by introducing the one-piece bathing suit to America. Williams won acclaim for her portrayal of Kellerman who, after overcoming a crippling disease as a child, set swimming records worldwide; a champion who went on to become the toast of New York and, not incidentally, began a revolution in women's beachwear."
- Liner Notes from Turner/MGM/UA Laserdisc

NOTES

"The spectacular water ballets created by Busby Berkeley for MGM's Million Dollar Mermaid saved an otherwise pedestrian biopic that purported to tell the story of Annette Kellerman, the Australian swimming champion. . ."
- Clive Hirschhorn, The Hollywood Musical

"Esther Williams was a great advertisement for the one-piece bathing suit; still, centering a story on the invention of the thing leaves a lot of dead space in a movie that goes on for 115 minutes. The director, Mervyn LeRoy, is not known for his sense of pace. . .The picture's only claim on one's attention is in the two sequences staged by Busby Berkeley. . ."
- Pauline Kael, 5001 Nights At The Movies

ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATION:
Cinematography (Color)

HARVARD LAMPOON WORST FILM AWARD WINNER

Million Dollar Mermaid was one of the top-grossing films of 1952. See Box Office Hits

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