On an Island with You (1948)

(On Cable TV, June 2021) One of the differences between casual filmgoers and confirmed cinephiles is often the amount of meta-knowledge that the later carry around — including extensive knowledge of actors and their personas. That’s usually an advantage—except when it isn’t, for instance when an all-star cast comes together to produce something decidedly underwhelming. Such is the case with On an Island with You, a minor MGM musical of the late 1940s that brings together a truly interesting cast but doesn’t really do much with them. I mean: Esther Williams, Ricardo Montalban, Cyd Charisse and Jimmy Durante are four strong performers that could have been brought together in a way to play to their strengths. But what they get to do here is, at best, a pale shadow of their potential. With a script that’s only mildly funny or musical, On an Island with You struggles to establish itself as something worth remembering — the look at a film production is intermittently interesting, and doesn’t lead to any highlights. It’s probably important to note that MGM intended the film to be a success — while the film wasn’t part of their flagship Freed unit, it was shot on location in expensive Technicolor and clearly found a good audience during its theatrical run. But it clearly fell into disfavour since then — much better musicals with better roles for its stars followed, and its premise of having its female lead kidnapped by its male lead (assorted with misogynist remarks that would have most audiences up in arms) certainly hasn’t helped the film find new fans in the years since then. As a result, On an Island with You now ranks as a minor MGM musical, barely seen when compared to the better films of the era. Audiences aren’t wrong on this one, so beware if you’re tracking down the filmography of the actors involved. Too much knowledge can create false expectations!