History Film / NeptunesDaughter

Best remembered today for its song score by Frank Loesser, highlighted by "Baby, It's Cold Outside", which won the UsefulNotes/AcademyAwardForBestOriginalSong. It also features Creator/MelBlanc's most substantial live-action film role, as Pancho, the South American polo team's manager.

Eve Barrett (Williams) is a champion swimmer who shares a Los Angeles apartment with her sister Betty (Betty Garrett). Eve is also a successful businesswoman, running a swimsuit company with Joe Backett (Creator/KeenanWynn), who harbors an unrequited crush on her.

Both sisters perk up at the news that a South American polo team is coming to LA for a big match: Eve because she can stage a swimsuit exhibition alongside the event, Betty because it gives her a chance to hook up with a hunky Latino polo player.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* RealityHasNoSubtitles: There's a surprisingly healthy amount of untranslated Spanish in the film, which provides a few [[BilingualBonus Bilingual Bonuses]]. One example is the Spanish instruction record that Jack lip syncs to--instead of seductive talk, it's actually about different types of food.

Eve Barrett (Williams) is a champion swimmer who shares a Los Angeles apartment with her sister Betty (Betty Garrett). She's also a successful businesswoman, running a swimsuit company with Joe Backett (Creator/KeenanWynn), who harbors an unrequited crush on her.

Betty shows up at the country club where the polo team in staying and meets a man who she thinks is Jose O'Rourke, the dashing captain of the South American team. It's actually Jack Spratt (Red Skelton), the club's dorky masseur. Jack, thrilled to get any attention from a woman, plays along. Meanwhile, the real Jose O'Rourke (Creator/RicardoMontalban) visits the swimsuit company and becomes smitten with Eve. After Betty brags about her romance with "Jose", Eve decides to date him, just to keep him away from her sister. But some gamblers eager to throw the match also have eyes on Jose.

Best remembered today for its song score by Frank Loesser, highlighted by "Baby, It's Cold Outside", which won the UsefulNotes/AcademyAwardForBestOriginalSong. It also features Creator/MelBlanc's most substantial live action film role, as Pancho, the South American polo team's manager.

!!Baby, there's Tropes outside

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar:
** Besides "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (which was quite scandalous in some quarters at the time), there's a lot of innuendo that flirts with violating the UsefulNotes/HaysCode, like the record that Betty thinks is "Jose" speaking words of love suddenly announcing "and now, please, turn over."
** Some of those pre-bikini two-piece swimsuits are rather revealing.
** Without being bluntly specific, Jose deftly gets Jack to [[AManIsNotAVirgin admit he's a virgin]].

Eve Barrett (Williams) is a champion swimmer who shares a Los Angeles apartment with her sister Betty (Betty Garrett). She's also a successful businesswoman, running a swimsuit company with Joe Backett (Keenan Wynn), who harbors an unrequited crush on her.

* BusbyBerkeleyNumber: Of course, it wouldn't be an Esther Williams movie if it didn't climax with one. This time, it's accompanied by Xavier Cugat and his orchestra, features spotlights and underwater photography, and a bunch of swimmers diving into the pool from a the deck of a mock ship.

* DateRape: The lyrics of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" have garnered much latter-day controversy because of their seeming undertone of this trope. While Frank Loesser had actually written the song a few years earlier (for him and his wife to sing at parties), this was its first public unveiling, and its presentation in the film gives the song clear context. Eve, who's uptight and serious, agrees to go out with Jose, under the flimsy pretext of keeping him away from Betty, but obviously she's falling for him. Meanwhile, Jose is a LadykillerInLove. So she sings the "mouse" part trying to deny her own feelings. The song's most notorious line, "Say, what's in this drink?", is actually [[DeadpanSnarker Deadpan Snark]], since she saw him pour the drink. Jose in the "wolf" role is being playful, rather than conniving. But after they're done we cut to Betty and Jack. Here, Betty is the sexually aggressive one, while Jack, as a bit of a clumsy ManChild, is very nervous and doesn't know what to do, so they repeat the song but GenderFlip the roles.

* DateRape: The lyrics of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" have garnered much latter-day controversy because of their seeming undertone of this. While Frank Loesser had actually written the song a few years earlier (for him and his wife to sing at parties), this was its first public unveiling, and its presentation in the film makes the song's context more obvious. Eve, who's uptight and serious, agrees to go out with Jose, under the flimsy pretext of keeping him away from Betty, but obviously she's falling for him. Meanwhile, Jose is a LadykillerInLove. So she sings the "mouse" part trying to deny her own feelings. The song's most notorious line, "Say, what's in this drink?", is actually [[DeadpanSnarker Deadpan Snark]], since she saw him pour the drink. Jose in the "wolf" role is being playful, rather than conniving. But after they're done we cut to Betty and Jack. Here, Betty is the sexually aggressive one, while Jack, as a bit of a clumsy ManChild, is very nervous and doesn't know what to do, so they repeat the song, but GenderFlip the roles.

* UnfortunateNames: Jack Spratt really is his name, which gets {{Lampshaded}}.

* DateRape: The lyrics of "Baby, It's Cold Outside" have garnered much latter-day controversy because of their seeming undertone of this. While Frank Loesser had actually written the song a few years earlier (for him and his wife to sing at parties), this was its first public unveiling, and its presentation in the film makes the song's subtext more obvious. Eve, who's uptight and serious, agrees to go out with Jose, under the flimsy pretext of keeping him away from Betty, but obviously she's falling for him. Meanwhile, Jose is a LadykillerInLove. So she sings the "mouse" part trying to deny her own feelings. The song's most notorious line, "Say, what's in this drink?", is actually [[DeadpanSnarker Deadpan Snark]], since she saw him pour the drink. Jose in the "wolf" role is being playful, rather than conniving. But after they're done we cut to Betty and Jack. Here, Betty is the sexually aggressive one, while Jack, as a bit of a clumsy ManChild, is very nervous and doesn't know what to do, so they repeat the song, but GenderFlip the roles.

Best remembered today for its song score by Frank Loesser, highlighted by "Baby, It's Cold Outside", which won the UsefulNotes/AcademyAwardForBestOriginalSong. It also features Creator/MelBlanc's most substantial onscreen film role, as Pancho, the South American polo team's manager.

Betty shows up at the country club where the polo team in staying and meets a man who she thinks is Jose O'Rourke, the dashing captain of the South American team. It's actually Jack Spratt (Red Skelton), the club's dorky masseuse. Jack, thrilled to get any attention from a woman, plays along. Meanwhile, the real Jose O'Rourke (Creator/RicardoMontalban) visits the swimsuit company and becomes smitten with Eve. After Betty brags about her romance with "Jose", Eve decides to date him, just to keep him away from her sister. But some gamblers eager to throw the match also have eyes on Jose.

* DidIMentionItsChristmas: Averted with "Baby, It's Cold Outside", since Jose specifically states that it's summer.

* BreakingTheFourthWall: It opens and closes with Jack talking to the audience.

* RomanticRunnerUp: Jack, but he gets to keep the swimsuit company.