Neptune's Daughter

Released Jun 9, 1949

1 hr. 33 min.

Musical

Comedy

List

100%

6 Reviews

Tomatometer

58%

100+ Ratings

Audience Score

Aquatic dancer Eve Barrett (Esther Williams), now partnered with Joe Backett (Keenan Wynn) in a swimsuit design company, tries to prevent her sister, Betty (Betty Garrett), from falling in love with Jose O'Rourke (Ricardo Montalban), a suave South American polo player. Unbeknownst to Eve, Betty has actually fallen for Jack Spratt (Red Skelton), a masseuse who is posing as Jose. To protect her sister, Eve finds the real Jose, agrees to a date and also falls in love.

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ashley h

Neptune's Daughter is an okay film. It is about a swimsuit fashion designer who is determined to protect her scatterbrained sister from a South American heart-breaker. Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalban give decent performances. The screenplay is a little slow in places. Edward Buzzell did an alright job directing this movie. I liked this motion picture because of the humor and romance.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The best musical movie ever made! With the best movie song ever sung: Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/26/23

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Audience Member

The title really does not represent the film well at all, nor does the description above. Nonetheless the movie is magical and full of comedy, mistaken identities, and of course at least one swimming sequence! This film debuted "Baby, It's Cold Outside," and wow they certainly do it justice!

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/03/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This screwball musical-comedy is light on the storyline, but great on the show-tunes and choreography. It's also super fun to watch these dated 50s films and all of the hockeyness.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I've recently developed an obsession with the young Ricardo Montalban. He rarely played non-ethnic parts and was largely cast as a native person or a latin lover. This film falls into the later category. Esther Williams is a bathing-suit designer who falls for polo player, latin lover Montalban. Red Skelton has a funny supporting role as a polo club worker mistaken for polo star Montalban, who then assumes the part to woo William's friend, Betty Garrett. Mel Blanc is a waiter who does his Speedy Gonzalez voice four years prior to Speedy's first appearance. Keenan Wynn serves as the films narrator, though I'm not sure why the film needed this. The story is fluff, but the stars are all very likable and how can you resist Montalban and Williams sining the original version of the Academy Award winning song "Baby It's Cold Outside.'' This film continues my obsession with Montalban, even if it was one of his stereotypical parts. Montalban has a commanding screen presence and this film was the first time I'd seen him sing, which made me appreciate him on a whole new level. This is a must see for Montalban fans, although I suspect there really aren't many out there besides fans of Khan.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Fantastic! They don't make shows like these anymore!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

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Edward Buzzell

Director

Esther Williams

Eve Barrett

Red Skelton

Jack Spratt

Ricardo Montalban

José O'Rourke

Betty Garrett

Betty Barrett

Keenan Wynn

Joe Backett

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Variety Staff

Variety

Neptune's Daughter is a neat concoction of breezy, light entertainment. It combines comedy, songs and dances into an amusing froth.

Mar 26, 2009

Full Review

Bosley Crowther

New York Times

Once a year, about this time, Metro comes along with a great big beautiful musical, full of slickness and Technicolored plush, models and Xavier Cugat rhythm and Esther Williams in a water ballet, and everybody is happy -- if they like that sort of thing.

Mar 25, 2006

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

The Usual Suspects it ain’t, but it IS a lot of fun.

Rated: 3/4

Mar 26, 2023

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: B

Jan 9, 2013

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

The best of the Esther Williams swim-musicals is just bubbly.

Rated: B-

Mar 27, 2010

Full Review

John J. Puccio

Movie Metropolis

Although it hasn't much story (or many good jokes), its characters and music are appealing.

Rated: 6/10

Jul 16, 2007

Full Review

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Synopsis

Aquatic dancer Eve Barrett (Esther Williams), now partnered with Joe Backett (Keenan Wynn) in a swimsuit design company, tries to prevent her sister, Betty (Betty Garrett), from falling in love with Jose O'Rourke (Ricardo Montalban), a suave South American polo player. Unbeknownst to Eve, Betty has actually fallen for Jack Spratt (Red Skelton), a masseuse who is posing as Jose. To protect her sister, Eve finds the real Jose, agrees to a date and also falls in love.

Director: Edward Buzzell
Screenwriter: Dorothy Kingsley
Production Co: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Genre: Musical, Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 9, 1949, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 1, 2016

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