Sunday, August 14, 2016

Five Swimming Pools in Classic Movies

Even by day, it's a creepy pool.
1.  Taste of Fear (aka Scream of Fear) - The creepiest swimming pool on film is not the one from Cat People (see below). No, it gets edged out by the dark, dank pool in this excellent 1961 Hammer suspense film. Susan Strasberg plays the film's wheelchair-bound protagonist, who seems obsessed with the murky waters after returning home following a ten-year absence. In one of the best scenes, she imagines seeing her father's corpse in a room opposite the pool and, consumed with fright, falls helplessly into the shadowy water.

Poor Jane Randolph!
2.  Cat People - The most famous swimming pool scene is undoubtedly Jane Randolph's nearly fatal dip in Jacques Tourneur's chilling 1942 classic. She plays Alice, a young woman who goes for a late night dip in the basement of her apartment building. Alas, she is unaware that she has been followed by a jealous wife who can transform into a panther. As Alice treads alone in the water, dark shadows drift across the walls, followed by a panther's growls and a fleeting silhouette of a large stalking cat. Good stuff!

Burt Lancaster looks concerned.
3.  The Swimmer - On an afternoon in suburban Connecticut, middle-aged Ned Merrill (Burt Lancaster), still looking fit in swimming trunks, decides to "swim his way home" by navigating through a series of neighbors' pools. There were plenty of unusual films in the late 1960s, but The Swimmer is one of the oddest--a sort of esoteric version of Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries courtesy of Frank and Eleanor Perry (David and Lisa). Still, it's critically praised in some quarters and can count film critics Roger Ebert and Vincent Canby among its fans.

4.  The Dragon Murder Case - The best adaptation of a Philo Vance detective novel, this 1934 mystery begins with a wealthy playboy disappearing after a night-time dive into a natural lake called the Dragon Pool. When he fails to turn up after a day, the police drain the pool and discover claw marks on the sandy bottom. Later, Philo Vance discovers the dead body in a "glacial pot-hole" on another part of the estate. The victim's mangled body is covered with large claw marks--as if he had been ripped open by a dragon.

Esther Williams in a flaming pool.
5.  Bathing Beauty - There had to be an Esther Williams movie on this list, right? We opted for one of her first major roles in this 1944 musical comedy with Red Skelton. The huge swimming pool is pretty impressive, with white steps and backlit columns in the background and a barrage of ladies dressed in pink, yellow, purple, black, and shimmering white (that'd be Esther!).

5.  The Thrill of It All - Yes, there is a tie for the last spot because we felt compelled to include this sparkling 1963 Doris Day-James Garner comedy. Doris plays a housewife who unexpectedly becomes the TV spokesperson for the Happy Soap Company. Inevitably, several boxes of the product are kicked into the pool and eventually transform into a giant cloud of foamy bubbles--leading to one of the film's best known scenes.


  1. What fun!

    In so many westerns, the old swimming hole inevitably leads to a scene of some unsuspecting young leading lady enjoying a refreshing dip only to find some cheeky cowboy holds her clothes for ransom.

  2. We start out supporting Lancaster's odd character in The Swimmer. By the end of the film, all the things we learn about him are true. Not a happy ending.

  3. Honorable mentions could include the big white pool in the "By A Waterfall" number from Footlight Parade; the pool under the gym floor in It's A Wonderful Life, into which half the town dives; and of course William Holden (or his manikin) floating face down in the swimming pool in Sunset Blvd (he always wanted a pool...)

  4. So glad The Thrill of it All made the list! That is a great scene.

    I'll have to give The Swimmer another go. I tried watching it several years ago and couldn't get into it. But I've read many favourable things in the meantime, your mini-review included, and I think I was being a little unfair.

  5. This is a great list and I also like Grand Old Movies mention of the floor that opens and reveals the pool in "It's a Wonderful Life." I agree that "Taste of Fear" wins bar none for creepiest pool ever. My favorite pool scene though is definitely in "The Thrill of It All". I love all the bubbles that float up and have to be removed after James' ticked off scene of kicking the soap into the pool.

  6. "Swimming Pool" (2003) and the fetching Ludivine Sagnier.

    For some reason I also thought of "Waterhole #3" (1967) and the equally fetching Margaret Blye.