Fantasy Island

On an Island with You seems to be an innocent musical starring Esther Williams, Ricardo Montalban and Peter Lawford, assisted by Jimmy Durante, Cyd Charisse and Xavier Cugat. But it is, in reality, much darker.

It starts in Hawaii (or Florida filmed as Hawaii). Williams, Montalban and Charisse are making a movie, called Tropic Thunder... No, wait, it's called On an Island with You. Williams and Montalban are engaged in real life, I mean in the movie, not the movie-within-the-movie (in real life, they were married), but Cyd is mooning over Ricardo. Durante is acting as AD, and providing comic relief. Into this paradise, Peter Lawford appears.

He plays a Navy lieutenant, hired as a technical advisor for the movie. He has a thing for Esther Williams, and won't take "I'm engaged" for an answer. Soon, he has kipnapped her and taken her to a desert island to have his way with her.

The movie treats this as a humorous contretemps, but Lawford's solipsistic attitude and soulless, dead eyes make it chilling for any modern viewer. As this little psychodrama progresses, Williams comes to identify with her captor, in an early case of Stockholm syndrome. Meanwhile, her intended, Ricardo, decides to make time with the lovely Cyd. Horrifying.

We chose this to honor Ricardo Montalban's recent passing (and we've seen Star Trek II often enough). He has some fine swimming scenes with Williams, and soem great dancing with Charisse. But he is really overshadowed by Durante's schtick - he seems to think it's his movie. Cugat has a few numbers, which don't do anything for me - likewise his chihuahua, Chita.

Cy Charisse has a few dances, including a South Seas Savage number during which she badly injured a knee. It wasn't worth it.

The best part was a cameo by precocious child actor Kathryn Beaumont, playing a precocious child actor.

But Peter Lawford - Brrrr. He should have had more horror roles. Deeply frightening.

On the other hand, Marie Windsor has a tiny part as Jane the script girl. She looks like Betty Page and sounds like Eve Arden. Oh Marie, always cast as the tough girl - why couldn't they have given you more comic roles?