Jupiter's Darling (1955)

Copyright 1955 by Loew's Inc. An M-G-M picture. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 17 February 1955. U.S. release: 18 February 1955. U.K. release: July 1955. Australian release: 18 April 1955. 8,645 feet. 96 minutes.SYNOPSIS: 217 B.C.: Hannibal crosses the Alps. Destination — Rome.NOTES: "The Road to Rome" opened on Broadway at the Playhouse on 31 January 1927 and ran a highly satisfactory 392 performances. It then went on the road for another year. Philip Merivale starred as Hannibal, Jane Cowl was Amytis. Other players included Barry Jones, Joyce Carey and Jessie Ralph.Such a box-office disaster — one of the worst in M-G-M's history — prompted the studio to punish everyone concerned. Sidney, Williams, Keel and the Champions were summarily fired; Wells was demoted from producer back to screenwriter; and Kingsley who had an iron-clad contract was forced to do nothing until a loan-out to Columbia for "Pal Joey" in 1957 redeemed her reputation.VIEWER'S GUIDE: Despite smirks from every censorship body in the world, I stand by my oft-stated credo: Satires are unsuitable for children. I didn't like it either when I saw it on first release. I like it much better now, but it's still a problem picture. The main reason is undoubtedly the exceptionally weak script. It's supposed to be funny, but is played — particularly by George Sanders and Norma Varden, and to a lesser extent by Richard Haydn — in a broad and hammy style that only points up the dialogue's lack of real wit and bite. In fact the theatricality of the speeches and the ridiculous plot are at odds with the often realistic CinemaScope spectacle.For maximum enjoyment, the best way to approach the movie is to take each scene as it comes. Enjoy the action, the spectacle, the dancing, the mildly entrancing songs, the costumes, sets and props — and forget about the silly story. The choreography is a delight, unusually inventive for Hermes Pan. And those trained elephants are a background marvel.Yes, Jupi's Darling is great viewing for its songs, production numbers and spectacle — though action fans will feel cheated that the long-promised climactic fight doesn't eventuate. Marge and Gower perform their own dizzying acrobatics too. And Keel is in great voice. And I loved the reprise of the three best songs at the end, plus colored elephants!Three or four attempts at sick humor (the heroine goes around casually killing people) add to the minuses so far as your typical M-G-M musical audience is concerned. Still, it does retain one traditional M-G-M virtue in that it is very pleasingly photographed throughout. I couldn't tell the difference between Vogel and Rosher, though one undoubtedly worked with the main unit under Sidney, the other on the musical numbers with Hermes Pan. Speaking of Sidney, the direction is at its best in the musical and action spots (which Sidney probably had little to do with), at its worst in the romantic episodes which are very flat-footed in their handling indeed.William Demarest makes some game tries at extracting humor from his material — and even succeeds in part — but his role is small. The rest of the players — with the possible half-exception of Richard Haydn — are (at least in the histrionic department) a complete wash- out. Keel is unbelievably stiff (he doesn't come on for 30 minutes either). Williams is decorative and swims most energetically, but like the Champions, she is a non-actor. Still, these players handle their other chores so spiritedly, why should we ask or expect them to act too?OTHER VIEWS: Of the many movies encountered in movie-going, it is rare that one comes as tediously pretentious as "Jupiter's Darling". It is difficult to decide just what aim there was behind the production which was taken from Robert Sherwood's play, "The Road to Rome." Here was surely the opportunity for a fine satire on ancient Rome and one or two moments of fun suggests that the aim has been to present a brightly modern musical comedy. It is astonishing that so much money and talent should be assembled to such dreary effect. - Inigo.

I had wanted to see this film for a long time since I like Esther Williams, Howard Keel and the Champions. I saw it last night on TCM. What a let down. Not one good, memorable song, no real story and even the dance numbers were uninspired. This could have been a real killer of a movie but it just sort of puttered along on two cylinders, not good enough to be enjoyable but not quite bad enough to say the heck with it and give up. Esther's fantasy swimming number with the living statues is the high point. Howard Keel has no song worthy of his talent and the Champion's dance number with the elephants goes on way too long. The other reviewers have pretty much said it all. The fact that this film is not included in ANY of the Esther Williams DVD collections says a bunch.

A legendary MGM flop, one of the big musicals reputed to have helped kill off big musicals. And it's pretty silly in spots, with a buff Gower Champion singing lyrics like "If this be slavery/ I don't want to be free!" and song-and-dance cues arriving perfunctorily. But it's also an enterprising effort at keeping a dying genre alive, with plenty of sung-lyric exposition by Richard Haydn as a bewildered historian, and more plot-song integration than most MGM musicals attempted. It's also sexier than the average musical, quite frank about why Hannibal kept delaying his attack on Rome, and with plenty of chemistry between Esther Williams and Howard Keel in the main plot and the Champions as the secondary, comic-relief couple. The Burton Lane-Harold Adamson songs aren't great, but they aren't terrible, and for such a huge production, it's surprisingly light on its feet and irreverent. There's a fairly exciting, well-edited chase-through-the-water climax, and if Dorothy Kingsley's screenplay doesn't achieve the Shavian heights it's attempting to scale, it's smarter than most musical screenplays of the day. The wide screen is well filled, and the thing moves quickly. Well worth a look.

JUPITER'S DARLING is an offbeat MGM musical with many entertaining elements. Famous as one of the musical flops of MGM's 1955 output (which included KISMET and IT'S ALWAYS FAIR WEATHER)which all but ended the MGM musical -as well as the contracts of some of its major participants- the movie generally received critical praise in its day and still has a "fan base" today. The credits for the film are eye-opening.It is based on a landmark play of 1927 entitled THE ROAD TO ROME which dealt humorously with Hannibal's march on Rome but was in fact a plea against war.It's author, Robert Sherwood, died the year of the film's release and amongst his other stage and screen work are titles such as The Petrified Forest,Idiot's Delight, Rebecca and The Best Years of Our Lives.Though much changed to accommodate the aquatic talents of Esther Williams and the form of the screen musical, generous amounts of Sherwood's witty and even racy dialogue survive. At a time when the period epic was in its full CinemaScope bloom (egs. THE ROBE, THE Egyptian) it's refreshing to see the genre being lampooned in such a tongue-in-cheek manner. Esther even spoofs her own underwater ballets in the I HAD A DREAM sequence (the best song in a somewhat underrated Burton Lane score)and has another dramatically exciting underwater scene in a later reel. Vocally strong as ever,Howard Keel is robust and virile as Hannibal (who in one funny scene reveals a fear of water and an inability to swim-surely an "in-joke" considering his co-star!)and the supporting cast (Marge and Gower Champion,George Sanders,Norma Varden,William Demarest and Richard Hayden) all get great moments. The direction is by one of MGM's best musical directors, George Sidney (The Harvey Girls, Show Boat, Pal Joey) and the inventive wide screen cinematography is by Paul C. Vogel and Charles G.Clarke,two of the best D.P.'s of the day. (Clarke shot CAROUSEL for Fox magnificently one year later).Written for the screen by MGM contractor Dorothy Kingsley (Seven Brides,Kiss me Kate)and budgeted at possibly the biggest figure for an MGM musical at that time, the film is a visual stunner with unique merits which outweigh its flaws.(One complaint- MGM cut the reprise of I HAVE A DREAM by Williams(dubbed) and Sanders (not dubbed) which was followed by a sizzling dance by the Champions.A faded out-take on the laserdisc edition at least allows buffs to view this now!)