Neptune's Daughter [VHS]
According to its opening voiceover,Neptune's Daughteris "a story about a guy, a girl, and a bathing suit." Oh, but it's so much more than that. Esther Williams plays Eve, a (surprise!) swimming champion who gives up her amateur status to design and model swimwear. She also plays chaperone to her boy-crazy sister Betty, who is determined to meet Jose (Ricardo Montalban), the captain of the visiting South American polo team--only instead she mistakenly meets amiable masseur Red Skelton, who she thinks is Jose, and meanwhile... well, it's best not to think about the plot. It'll just make your head hurt and it's really not the point, is it? The point is a charming romance between Williams and Montalban; the music, including the Oscar-winning "Baby, It's Cold Outside"; and Xavier Cugat and his orchestra playing the kind of song-and-dance numbers that seem to require a wind machine inside the nightclub. And just when you think the movie is going to end without a hilariously elaborate water ballet number, Esther comes through for you.--Ali Davis