Spoilers. Observations. Opinions.Nice film. Williams is excellent. Melchior is superb. Witty is charming.Orphans. Nora, Grandma and Deborah are all that's left of Nora's family. Durante is Nora's stand-in father. Dick only has a father. Dick's old fiancé only has a mother.Grandma used to be a professional circus equestrienne. I wish we would have seen shots of her early days. That would have been wonderful, even if they were long shots of a quite young stand-in performer on the circus horses. I particularly like Nora's description of her grandma's detailed performing during the circus career. I could almost see Grandma jumping and twirling from one moving horse to another. I am thinking the circus acts in Water for Elephants. I have studied the history of the circus, for a long time.Deborah is portrayed by one smart little actress; S. McManus. I saw her in Anchors Aweigh, with Gene Kelly. I think that Ms. McManus was a very talented little girl. She has a much larger part in this film than in the Gene Kelly one. In that film, I don't think that she even has any dialogue -- just dances a hat dance with Kelly. You always hear of Kelly dancing with the animated Jerry the Mouse, in Anchors Aweigh.Durante never fails to amuse and entertain. He always has it together. He is always deadpan hilarious.I always love technicolor musical films, and this one does not disappoint. The colors show up well.I enjoyed seeing Mackinac Island, since I am a fan of Somewhere in Time. I had never seen this island portrayed in the snowy wintertime, so I was fascinated to see that season shown in this film.Dame Witty passed away not along after release of this film. More is the pity. I enjoy her performance in this film.I love the little Chihuahua doggie held in the arm of Cugat. Woof, woof. So doggone cute.This Time for Keeps must mean that Nora and Dick finally settle down with each other. Dick dumps his old fiancé, and Nora rejects her two admirers of Gordon and Durante.Time period: post-World War Two. Dick has spent several years in Uncle Sam's military service. He is home now. His father wants him to join the opera company, but Dick likes swing music. This is a transition from older to newer musical tastes, plus a conflict between older and younger generations. Later on, however, Dick would further have to switch to rock and roll, in order to keep up with changing popular musical times.Wartime America, and post-war economic and social history: Did the opera slow down during the war? Same for the swimming shows? Why did Nora dump the circus for the aquatic career? There is a post-war economic recovery going on in real life. Do Nora and Dick get married and end up having 3.5 baby-boomer children? Do they all end up living in a ticky-tacky 1950s manufactured development house, complete with manicured lawn and black-and-white TV set? Shades of I Love Lucy.The Chiquita Banana song is interesting. It reminds me of a certain TV commercial.You will notice that the so-called Hollywood golden years took place pre-and-post-World War Two, including the major technicolor song and dance films plus the swimming movies and combinations of both. In the 1950s as these types of films were thinning out, studio heads were changing and top talent contracts were ending. Production budgets were not clearing the high profits intended. Audiences were ditching the movies in favor of that square little b/w box, where they could stare transfixed at home -- making their own popcorn. These beautiful musical films are now magical time capsules, of a bygone entertainment historical era.I am a degreed historian, actress, singer, dancer, film critic and movie reviewer.

A film with great talent like Esther Williams, Lauritz Melchior, Jimmy Durante, Xavier Cugat and May Witty promises a lot, they're great enough individually but seeing them together in the same film is every bit as big a treat. None of the five stars disappoint, but 'This Time For Keeps' as a film could have been much more.Getting the flaws out of the way, the script really lacks lustre in places, lacks wit and sophistication and anybody looking for sense will be short-changed. The story is flimsy nonsense and often painfully predictable with some draggy pacing in a few scenes that aren't musical numbers.Despite singing decently, Johnnie Johnston is a charisma-free presence and fails to generate much chemistry with the rest of the cast. Richard Thorpe's direction is competent but undistinguished.Conversely, 'This Time For Keeps' is lavishly mounted and shot in glorious Technicolor. The songs are pleasant, while the operatic/classical music segments provided by Melchior (which include the likes of "La Donna E Mobile", "M' Apari" and even a bit of Otello) are even better. They benefit from being energetically staged.Most of the cast work very well. Williams radiates with charm and her swimming talent is second to none. Durante is very funny and seems to be having a ball. Melchior sings with his usual thrilling ring, sounding absolutely wonderful, and is cuddly and amusing. Cugat sends up a storm and Witty is just delightful.Overall, a pleasant diversion but unexceptional, with the cast being the biggest merit. 6/10 Bethany Cox

The cast list of this movie reads like a George Carlin joke, but a careful viewer will discover why actors like Jimmy Durante and Esther Williams were hired over and over again.The movie is a musical, not because the characters sing to advance the plot, but because the music is really what this film is about. The plot, such as it is, is easily spotted five minutes into the film and serves mainly to provide a framework for Esther Williams to do what she was best at. The same is true for Lauritz Melchior and Jimmy Durante. What they were good at is seen in the 21st Century as quaint, but again a careful viewer will find rewards.As a Michigan resident, I watched the movie for its scenes of the boats that used to ply the waters of the Straits of Makinac. It doesn't matter that when the movie shows the "Chief Wawatam" docking at Mackinac Island, it's actually docking at Mackinaw City. I like seeing the boats that are now all just memories as they once were, an essential part of Michigan life.So what if the "nightclubs" are so large they can only be Hollywood sound stages? So what if we are essentially seeing a remake of "The Jazz Singer?. Enjoy the music, the water ballet, Jimmy Durante's jokes and Xavier Cugat's teacup chihuahua.

Lauritz Melchior's rich tenor voice, especially at the beginning and end of this 1947 is worth the price of the entire film.The plot is quite simple. An over zealous man and woman announce the engagement of his son to her daughter, respectively. Problem is that the guy, Johnnie Johnston, has found love with Esther Williams, who entertained him at a convalescent home for war-injured soldiers.We have an all-star cast here. Jimmy Durante is Esther Williams's piano player who immediately distrusts Johnston. As a family friend, he favors the producer of the show she works at. The original cast includes Dame May Witty, quite inquisitive as the grandmother of Williams, but with her austere look in color, she has that facade as she did in Mrs. Miniver, but in a comical way.