''This Time for Keeps'' is a 1947 American

romantic musical film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

directed by

Richard Thorpe Richard Thorpe (born Rollo Smolt Thorpe; February 24, 1896 – May 1, 1991) was an American film director best known for his long career at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Biography Born Rollo Smolt Thorpe in Hutchinson, Kansas, Richard Thorpe began his en ...

and starring

Esther Williams Esther Jane Williams (August 8, 1921 – June 6, 2013) was an American competitive swimmer and actress. She set regional and national records in her late teens on the Los Angeles Athletic Club swim team. Unable to compete in the 1940 Summer Ol ...

Jimmy Durante James Francis Durante ( , ; February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, vaudevillian, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced song ...

Johnnie Johnston Johnny Johnston (December 1, 1915 – January 6, 1996) was an American actor and singer who was popular in the 1940s. Early years He was born John Clifford Johnston in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Radio In the late 1930s, Johnston had hi ...

and opera singer

Lauritz Melchior Lauritz Melchior (20 March 1890 – 18 March 1973) was a Danish-American opera singer. He was the preeminent Wagnerian tenor of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s and has come to be considered the quintessence of his voice type. Late in his career, Me ...

. Produced by

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

, it is about a

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

, returning home from war, who does not wish to work for his father's

opera company Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

or to continue his relationship with his pre-war lover. The film was shot in color and partly on location at the

Grand Hotel A grand hotel is a large and luxurious hotel, especially one housed in a building with traditional architectural style. It began to flourish in the 1800s in Europe and North America. Grand Hotel may refer to: Hotels Africa * Grande Hotel Beir ...

, on

Mackinac Island Mackinac Island ( ; french: Île Mackinac; oj, Mishimikinaak ᒥᔑᒥᑭᓈᒃ; otw, Michilimackinac) is an island and resort area, covering in land area, in the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the island in Odawa is Michilimackinac an ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

.http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article.jsp?cid=253042&mainArticleId=253038 ''This Time for Keeps'' became the second film in which Williams's name was first billed above the title, after ''

Fiesta ''Fiesta'' (Spanish for "religious feast", "festival", or "party") may refer to: Events *Fiesta San Antonio, a 10-day event held every April in San Antonio, Texas *St. Peter's Fiesta, a five-day festival in Gloucester, Massachusetts *Fiestas d ...

''.

Plot

Richard Herald is a famous

opera singer Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libretti ...

and father to Richard Herald II, who has recently returned from fighting in the war and now prefers to be known as Dick Johnson. Dick has been engaged to

socialite A socialite is a person from a wealthy and (possibly) aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having traditio ...

Frances Allenbury since before he left for the war, but has been expressing some apprehension about marrying her. Mr. Herald wants his son to join him at the

, but Dick wants to enjoy his life now that he's out of the army. Backstage at the theater, he sees a magazine featuring Leonora "Nora" Cambaretti, an aquacade star. Earlier, as it turns out, after Dick received an injury during the war, he stayed at a hospital where Leonora performed for the patients. Dick had yet to have his bandages removed from his eyes and head, so he couldn't see Nora. Other servicemen described her beauty to him, as her family's friend, Ferdi Farr, played on the piano. Thinking he was blind, Nora allowed Dick to touch her face and then kissed him, only to then find out that he was able to see. Nora is now performing as the star of the Aqua Capers show. Dick surprises her there, and he reminds her of their previous meeting by giving her a quick kiss, getting his nose twisted as punishment. Nora knows Dick is there to flirt, but she offers him a job with the show, but Ferdi convinces his friend

Xavier Cugat Xavier Cugat (; 1 January 1900 – 27 October 1990) was a Spanish musician and bandleader who spent his formative years in Havana, Cuba. A trained violinist and arranger, he was a leading figure in the spread of Latin music. In New York City ...

to give Dick a position as a baritone at his nightclub. Thistimeforkeeps-estherwilliamsjohnniejohnston

After an Aqua Capers performance, Dick and Nora go to dinner. Ferdi reminds her that she barely knows anything about Dick. At rehearsal the next day, Nora says before she can fall in love, Dick must pass inspection from her family back on

. Dick leaves with Nora while Frances's mother, Harriet, meets with Richard and agrees to announce their children's engagement, unbeknownst to Dick. On the island, Dick meets Nora's grandmother and niece Deborah, who warm up to him after he sings Grandmother's favorite song, "(I’ll be with You) In Apple Blossom Time". Nora's grandmother grants her approval of Dick for Nora. A bit later, Dick leaves to tell his father about his relationship with Nora and break off the engagement to Frances, which Dick has not told Nora about. Gordon finds an engagement announcement in the newspaper regarding Dick and Frances and shows it to Ferdi. Ferdi tells Nora about it and she is heartbroken. Gordon arranges for her to stay somewhere Dick can't find her. Six weeks later, Mr. Herald arrives at an Aqua Capers rehearsal in an attempt to find Nora, but Ferdi will not tell him where she is. Ferdi goes to Xavier Cugat's club to see Dick, who accuses Ferdi of being in love with Nora as well. Grand Hotel 2008

Meanwhile, summer arrives on Mackinac Island and tourists are flocking there. Cugat's band has a contract to perform at the

, and Dick goes with them. Deborah, knowing that Nora (traveling with Gordon and Ferdi) has arrived by boat, hurries to the hotel and notifies Dick, who loads Deborah onto her bicycle and together they ride to the Cambaretti house to speak with Nora. This trip, Nora has brought Gordon for her grandmothers' approval. Suddenly, Dick and little Deborah walk in. Dick tries in vain to explain all that has happened. Nora remains confused and upset. She rejects him, so he leaves. Nora and Deborah both start to cry and flee upstairs, where Ferdi overhears them. He invites Mr. Herald to the island, where he apologizes to Grandmother Cambaretti for placing the announcement in the newspaper. He also recognizes her from her old days as a performer in the

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclist ...

. The two decide that their children should be married and come up with a way to push the two together. While Nora is at the swimming pool of the hotel, teaching Deborah to dive and swim, Dick begins singing "Easy to Love" with Cugat's female vocalist, which makes Deborah jealous. That night, Nora decides she is going to go after Gordon, but Ferdi convinces her otherwise. Mr. Herald takes Grandmother to listen to Dick's performance at the hotel, where he convinces Cugat to fire his son and then begins to sing for the audience. He stops singing "

La donna è mobile "" (; "Woman is fickle") is the Duke of Mantua's canzone from the beginning of act 3 of Giuseppe Verdi's opera ''Rigoletto'' (1851). The canzone is famous as a showcase for tenors. Raffaele Mirate's performance of the bravura aria at the opera' ...

" and begins " Easy to Love", during which Dick gets up and sits next to Nora, where they hold hands and snuggle.

Cast

as Leonora Cambaretti *

as Dick Johnson *

as Ferdi Farro *

as Richard Herald *

as Himself *

May Whitty May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the third of seven months to have a length of 31 days. May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, May ...

as Grandmother Cambaretti * Mary Stuart as Frances Allenbury *

Ludwig Stössel Ludwig Stössel (12 February 1883 – 29 January 1973) was an actor born in Lockenhaus, now Austria, then Hungary. He was one of many Jewish actors and actresses who were forced to flee Germany when the Nazis came to power in 1933. Biography St ...

as Peter * Sharon McManus as Deborah Cambretti *

Dick Simmons Richard Simmons (August 19, 1913 – January 11, 2003) was an American actor. Early life Simmons was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and his family later moved across the Mississippi River to Minneapolis. There, he attended West Side High Sc ...

as Gordon

Music

The film's soundtrack contains a mixture of genres, including pop, classical, and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

music. Melchior performs three

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

tic arias. Near the end of the film, Cugat's band singer

Lina Romay Lina Romay (born Rosa María Almirall Martínez; 25 June 1954 – 15 February 2012), a.k.a. Candy Coster and Lulu Laverne, was a Spanish actress who often appeared in films directed by her long-time companion (and later husband) Jesús Franco. ...

and Cugat perform the "Chiquita Banana" song before they are interrupted by Dick (Johnny Johnston) to sing "You'd Be So Easy to Love" with Romay, who joins in with him, to the bandleader's perplexity. Johnston and Romay later sing a 'blended' "Un poquito de amor" / "I'll give you all my heart" together in the ending

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

scene. Other numbers include: * " Easy to Love" – Johnny Johnston * "I Love to Dance" – Xavier Cugat and His Orchestra * "I'm the Guy Who Found

the Lost Chord "The Lost Chord" is a song composed by Arthur Sullivan in 1877 at the bedside of his brother Fred during Fred's last illness. The manuscript is dated 13 January 1877; Fred Sullivan died five days later. The lyric was written as a poem by Adelai ...

" – Jimmy Durante * "

" from ''

Rigoletto ''Rigoletto'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play ''Le roi s'amuse'' by Victor Hugo. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had cont ...

'' – Lauritz Melchior * "A Little Bit This and a Little Bit That" – Jimmy Durante * "

Inka Dinka Doo "Inka Dinka Doo" is a 1933 popular song whose words were written by Ben Ryan, and whose music was composed by James Francis "Jimmy" Durante. Background The song debuted in the 1934 movie '' Palooka,'' a film about the comics character Joe Palo ...

" – Jimmy Durante * "M'Appari" from ''

Martha Martha (Hebrew: מָרְתָא‎) is a biblical figure described in the Gospels of Luke and John. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Mary of Bethany, she is described as living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem. She was witness to ...

'' – Lauritz Melchior * " I'll Be with You in Apple Blossom Time" – Johnny Johnston * "S'No Wonder They Fell in Love" – Johnny Johnston, Esther Williams and Sharon McManus * "Ora è per sempre addio" from ''

Otello ''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play ''Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on 5 February 1887. Th ...

'' – Lauritz Melchior

Production

The film was announced in January 1946, with

Jose Iturbi Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods. * Jose ben Abin * Jose ben Akabya *Jose the Galile ...

and

to star.

Van Johnson Charles Van Dell Johnson (August 25, 1916 – December 12, 2008) was an American film, television, theatre and radio actor. He was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during and after World War II. Johnson was described as the embodiment o ...

was originally announced as Esther's co-star. He was eventually replaced by Johnny Johnston, who had just appeared in MGM's ''

Till the Clouds Roll By ''Till The Clouds Roll By'' is a 1946 American Technicolor musical film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. A fictionalized biopic of composer Jerome Kern, portrayed by Robert Walker, Kern was originally involved with the production, but died before ...

''. This was the third of four films Williams made with director

. Williams disliked Thorpe from the start, and the feeling was mutual. "Dick didn't like people who were too cheerful, which meant that he took an instant dislike to me", wrote Williams in her autobiography.

Shooting

Filming took place in July 1946 and included location shooting on

. Esther Williams was pregnant during the filming of ''This Time for Keeps'', but later suffered a miscarriage.The Million Dollar Mermaid: An Autobiography, By Esther Williams, Digby Diehl, Published by Harcourt Trade, 2000, , To convey the sense of outdoorsy, country small-town life in the film,

Irene Irene is a name derived from εἰρήνη (eirēnē), the Greek for "peace". Irene, and related names, may refer to: * Irene (given name) Places * Irene, Gauteng, South Africa * Irene, South Dakota, United States * Irene, Texas, United Stat ...

decided to use a lot of plaid in the costumes. She designed a swimsuit for Williams made out of lumberjack plaid flannel. "It absorbed water like crazy. I dove into the pool and tried to swim, but the suit just dragged me to the bottom. It was like trying to swim while wrapped in an old army blanket. I actually had trouble keeping my head above water" wrote Williams in ''The Million Dollar Mermaid''. "Finally, I reached around me, tugged at the zipper, and watched as the suit quickly sank to the bottom of the deep end of the pool." Williams's assistant had to cut holes in a towel to place around her as she exited the pool, as the set was surrounded by tourists.

Stanley Donen Stanley Donen ( ; April 13, 1924 – February 21, 2019) was an American film director and choreographer whose most celebrated works are '' On the Town,'' (1949) and ''Singin' in the Rain'' (1952), both of which he co-directed with Gene Kell ...

choreographed the dance and water ballet scenes. Johnston was having a long-term affair with

Kathryn Grayson Kathryn Grayson (born Zelma Kathryn Elisabeth Hedrick; February 9, 1922 – February 17, 2010) was an American actress and coloratura soprano.Ronald Berganbr>Obituary '' London Guardian'', February 19, 2010. From the age of twelve, Grayson train ...

(whom he would later marry) and in her autobiography, Williams wrote that he would read Grayson's intimate letters aloud to the girls in his fan club, including the "all-too-graphic details concerning what she liked about his love-making."

Reception

The film was a hit earning $2,694,000 in the US and Canada and $1,712,000 elsewhere resulting in a profit of $104,000.

Critical response

A 1947 ''New York Times'' review of the film called it a "very dull show, consciously cute and embarrassingly cloying for most of its over-extended length.

Home media

On October 6, 2009, Turner Entertainment released ''This Time for Keeps'' on DVD as part of the Esther Williams Spotlight Collection, Volume 2. The 6 disc set was a follow up to the company's Esther Williams Spotlight Collection, Volume 1, and contains digitally remastered versions of several of Williams's films including ''

Thrill of a Romance ''Thrill of a Romance'' (also known as ''Thrill of a New Romance'') is an American Technicolor romance film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1945, starring Van Johnson, Esther Williams and Carleton G. Young, with musical performances by Tommy D ...

'' (1945), ''

'' (1947), ''

Pagan Love Song ''Pagan Love Song'' is a 1950 American romantic musical film released by MGM and starring Esther Williams and Howard Keel. Set in Tahiti, it was based on the novel ''Tahiti Landfall'' by William S. Stone. Plot Mimi Bennett lives with her weal ...

'' (1950), ''

Million Dollar Mermaid ''Million Dollar Mermaid'' (also known as ''The One Piece Bathing Suit'' in the UK) is a 1952 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer biographical film of the life of Australian swimming star Annette Kellerman. It was directed by Mervyn LeRoy and produced by Arthur ...

'' (1952) and '' Easy to Love'' (1953).http://www.tcm.com/movienews/index/?cid=254877

References

External links

* *
''This Time for Keeps''
at TCM * {{Richard Thorpe 1947 films 1947 musical comedy films 1947 romantic comedy films American musical comedy films American romantic comedy films American romantic musical films Films directed by Richard Thorpe Films set in Michigan Films shot in Michigan Films set on islands Mackinac Island Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Swimming films Films produced by Joe Pasternak 1940s romantic musical films 1940s American films