I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Copyright 1955 by Loew's Inc. An M-G-M picture. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 17 February 1955. U.S. release: 18 February 1955. U.K. release: July 1955. Australian release: 18 April 1955. 8,645 feet. 96 minutes.SYNOPSIS: 217 B.C.: Hannibal crosses the Alps. Destination — Rome.NOTES: "The Road to Rome" opened on Broadway at the Playhouse on 31 January 1927 and ran a highly satisfactory 392 performances. It then went on the road for another year. Philip Merivale starred as Hannibal, Jane Cowl was Amytis. Other players included Barry Jones, Joyce Carey and Jessie Ralph.Such a box-office disaster — one of the worst in M-G-M's history — prompted the studio to punish everyone concerned. Sidney, Williams, Keel and the Champions were summarily fired; Wells was demoted from producer back to screenwriter; and Kingsley who had an iron-clad contract was forced to do nothing until a loan-out to Columbia for "Pal Joey" in 1957 redeemed her reputation.VIEWER'S GUIDE: Despite smirks from every censorship body in the world, I stand by my oft-stated credo: Satires are unsuitable for children. I didn't like it either when I saw it on first release. I like it much better now, but it's still a problem picture. The main reason is undoubtedly the exceptionally weak script. It's supposed to be funny, but is played — particularly by George Sanders and Norma Varden, and to a lesser extent by Richard Haydn — in a broad and hammy style that only points up the dialogue's lack of real wit and bite. In fact the theatricality of the speeches and the ridiculous plot are at odds with the often realistic CinemaScope spectacle.For maximum enjoyment, the best way to approach the movie is to take each scene as it comes. Enjoy the action, the spectacle, the dancing, the mildly entrancing songs, the costumes, sets and props — and forget about the silly story. The choreography is a delight, unusually inventive for Hermes Pan. And those trained elephants are a background marvel.Yes, Jupi's Darling is great viewing for its songs, production numbers and spectacle — though action fans will feel cheated that the long-promised climactic fight doesn't eventuate. Marge and Gower perform their own dizzying acrobatics too. And Keel is in great voice. And I loved the reprise of the three best songs at the end, plus colored elephants!Three or four attempts at sick humor (the heroine goes around casually killing people) add to the minuses so far as your typical M-G-M musical audience is concerned. Still, it does retain one traditional M-G-M virtue in that it is very pleasingly photographed throughout. I couldn't tell the difference between Vogel and Rosher, though one undoubtedly worked with the main unit under Sidney, the other on the musical numbers with Hermes Pan. Speaking of Sidney, the direction is at its best in the musical and action spots (which Sidney probably had little to do with), at its worst in the romantic episodes which are very flat-footed in their handling indeed.William Demarest makes some game tries at extracting humor from his material — and even succeeds in part — but his role is small. The rest of the players — with the possible half-exception of Richard Haydn — are (at least in the histrionic department) a complete wash- out. Keel is unbelievably stiff (he doesn't come on for 30 minutes either). Williams is decorative and swims most energetically, but like the Champions, she is a non-actor. Still, these players handle their other chores so spiritedly, why should we ask or expect them to act too?OTHER VIEWS: Of the many movies encountered in movie-going, it is rare that one comes as tediously pretentious as "Jupiter's Darling". It is difficult to decide just what aim there was behind the production which was taken from Robert Sherwood's play, "The Road to Rome." Here was surely the opportunity for a fine satire on ancient Rome and one or two moments of fun suggests that the aim has been to present a brightly modern musical comedy. It is astonishing that so much money and talent should be assembled to such dreary effect. - Inigo.

'Jupiter's Darling' had so much going for it. Who cannot resist a cast with the likes of Esther Williams, Howard Keel, George Sanders and Marge and Gower Champion, and that it was directed by George Sidney, who made a number of great films.It is a shame that 'Jupiter's Darling' wasn't better than it was. By all means, it is not a terrible film and not as bad as its notorious financial flop suggests. It does have many pleasures and the reasons for seeing the film in the first place come off well. This said, all have done much better, despite loving Keel and Sanders to death 'Jupiter's Darling' was seen as someone in the process of watching and reviewing every Esther Williams musical and it is one of my least favourite of hers along with 'Texas Carnival'.Williams certainly isn't one of the problems, in fact she is in her serenely beautiful Amazonian prime and her aquatic skills second to none and the envy of many. Neither is Keel, who is masculine, commanding and charismatic and sings with his usual warm beauty and robust brio, especially in "Never Let the Night Get Away" where he is quite touching. The two click together superbly. Sanders is his usual suave and smooth self, yes even in a role pretty far removed from the types he excelled at (villains and cads), while Richard Haydn is amusing and Marge and Gower Champion are a delight.That's not all though. The highlight is the truly spectacular water ballet in "I Had a Dream", one of Williams' best and most visually stunning water ballets. The chase sequence is also impressive. Marge and Gower Champion have two notable song and dance numbers and do a terrific job with both. "Life of an Elephant", which sees them dancing with painted elephants, is to be seen to be believed, though some may prefer the more energetic and less lengthy "If This Be Slavery".Visually, 'Jupiter's Darling' is the very meaning of lavish, the use of CinemaScope, rich bold colours and inventive use of wide-screen are just exemplary, "I Had a Dream" being the standout in this regard. The costumes and sets are very handsome too.However, the songs and score are only at best serviceable and generally forgettably substandard, the rousing "Hannibal's Victory March" and the touching "Never Let the Night Get Away" being exceptions. The rest have not-easy-to-remember melodies and sometimes very silly lyrics, some like in "Never Trust a Woman" being questionable. Choreographically, "I Had a Dream" and the Champions' numbers impress but the rest lumber and look under-rehearsed.Storytelling is uneven, sometimes it moves quickly and has great energy but other parts are ponderous, and there is a sense that the film was trying to mix too many styles and genres and it never quite came together. Worst of all is the script, which is impossible to take seriously even in moments that are meant to be serious and even when you are taking the film for what it is, if Keel and Sanders really did have the giggles during filming that's hardly surprising. Sidney's direction is competent but uninspired.Overall, difficult to rate but with enough pleasures to make it watchable. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Featuring two then top stars in yet another 'battle of the sexes' musical, which Keel had done, in quite different settings, with Betty Hutton, Doris Day, Jane Powell, and a couple times with Kathryn Grayson(the ones I'm familiar with). I'm quite surprised how obscure this film has become. I wasn't aware of its existence until seeing it on TCM today. Here, an attempt is made to amalgamate Keel's recent style of musicals with Esther's swimming forte, and the then popular Hollywood format of lavish productions sited in the ancient classical world. On the whole, I think it was rather successful , despite the lack of any memorable songs. At least, it was more entertaining than most of the 'straight' ancient spectaculars, although actual battle scenes were minimal Amazing to realize this was the third film pairing of Keel and Esther, although the first in 4 years. None of them have garnered an IMDb mean rating above 6.0, and all are mired in obscurity today. The styles and settings of these 3 films couldn't be more different. I rated "Pagan Love Song" well above average, featuring Keel much more than Esther. The lower -rated "Texas Carnival" actually more belongs to the supporting actors: Red Skelton and Anne Miller. With full beard to enhance his supermasculine image, the tall robust Keel seems like he had just stepped out from a take of "Kiss Me Kate", in which he plays an often bombastic tamer of a notorious shrewish medieval maiden(Grayson's character). As in this former film, Keel's interactions with Esther's character, Amytis, vacillate from threats or attempts to kill her to a desire to make love to her. This makes for quite a stormy and unpredictable twosome, once these 2 meet, which doesn't happen until well into the film. Esther even sometimes sports reddish hair, in mimicry of Grayson's dyed reddish hair during her role as a shrew. Meanwhile, we have hordes of soldiers and war elephants ,marching around, threatening to destroy Rome, after several victorious battles. Keel sings his alliterative 'Victory March', at the head of his marching troops. At times, the elephants enhance a circus-like atmosphere. For example, in the segment where Gower and Marge Champion, as a subsidiary romantic couple, tease each other, and sing and dance a bit in the presence of several elephants. Also, near the end, we have a string of elephants, each painted a different color. Amytis(Esther) sees it as her role to try to seduce Hannibal and convince him that he really doesn't want to destroy Rome. You see, she's betrothed to General Fabius Maximus(George Sanders), Hannibal's main opponent. Fabius is characterized as more cultured than the barbaric Hannibal, but also decidedly a less sexy catch to Amytis. Thus, the final deal is to exchange Amytis for Hannibal's guarantee not to destroy Rome(no historical basis). Yes, a very unlikely agreement, given the historic Hannibal's extreme hatred for Rome and vice versa.Esther's big 'solo' scene has her cavorting with a bevy of marble male statues around a pool, which represent the physical form of her ideal lover, while singing(dubbed) "I Had a Dream". This is followed by an extended playtime in the pool, which also contains a variety of underwater male and cherub statues, which eventual 'come alive' to cavort with her. Quite a sophisticated production, which can currently be seen at YouTube. I still find it amazing that such water ballets could be done looking like they never had to surface.It may interest you that, once again, Esther's left eardrum ruptured during filming: a recurring problem in her films. From then on, she had to wear a plastic prosthesis covering her nose and ears during her water scenes. Also, she refused to be on the horse when it galloped off a high cliff, into the Tiber River(supposedly). She had broken her neck just 2 years before from a high dive while making "The Million Dollar Mermaid", and didn't want to chance a possibly lethal repeat. As it turned out, her stuntman broke has back from this fall!

This film was a hoot! And for a spoof its humour was subtle (at times) and generally amusing.I just loved the opening splash screen - something along the lines of: "the year 216 BC Hannibal marched on Rome. The history of this great march has been confusing. This film will do nothing to clear it up" I giggled then and many more times throughout. Sad that it was a flop. If you want interesting aquatic action with wonderful Esther, then the first one is a cracker. The music, for me was pleasant and completely unmemorable. Loved it, made me smile for its self-indulgent silliness!The crowd scenes are impressive and the costumes impressive but the scene with the ballet dancing pachyderms was just too much. Damned shame Hannibal didn't appear naked in the river as he was gorgeous.