1955. Well, here’s a different cinematographic challenge – underwater filming for Jupiter’s Darling, a Roman epic and a water ballet musical rolled into one. The swimming pool is modeled on the one at San Simeon, the fabled estate of William Randolph Hearst. Esther Williams, “the million-dollar mermaid” and star of the show, plays Amytis, a vestal virgin whose I Have a Dream sequence being filmed here (do watch it) is one of the movie’s highlights.
Director George Sidney (presumably that’s him sitting in the director’s chair) seems to be worrying about the timing of the sequence or perhaps he’s just anxious about missing out on lunch. As to the crew, how on earth did they manage to get all that equipment functioning under water?
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