"Athena" is a very strange film...too strange to come from the #1 studio of the time, MGM. But, somehow MGM did make this film...and I wonder why. This is because the plot is more than just a bit bizarre!

When the film begins, Adam Shaw (Edmund Purdom) is asked to run for congress. However, soon after he meets Athena (Jane Powell),a most unusual lady from a most unusual family to say the least. This is because the family is very cult-like and unconventional...at least for California in the 1950s. The family patriarch (Louis Calhern) is an exercise freak who believes in vegetarianism, naming his daughters after Greek and Roman goddesses as well as numerology and 'healthy living'. This is going to cause problems for Shaw, as the non-conventional family isn't the type to help him get elected or liked by the average Californian of the day.

"Athena" has quite a few songs....with very forgettable lyrics. It also features many characters who just seemed flakey and weird...so much so that I can understand why the director apparently hated the production.

I read through the reviews and they mostly positive...including a person who claims they watch the film very often. Yet, at the same time, the overall score is only 5.9...a rather low score. All I know is that the story was weird but not especially good or enjoyable. And, frankly, the whole thing seemed rather wrong-headed.

By the way, one sister is named Athena another is Minerva...which are the same goddess. Athena is the Greek version and the Roman is Minerva.

MGM cast four of its biggest actors in this non-supernatural musical about an odd family living through health food, tons of exercise and visions through the stars. Jane Powell and Debbie Reynolds are two of the six sisters starstruck in love with two outsiders-staid businessman Edmund Purdom and TV singer Vic Damone. Evelyn Varden ("Pinky", "The Bad Seed") and Louis Calhern ("Annie, Get Your Gun", "The Magnificent Yankee") are their eccentric grandparents who run an easy-going but disciplined ship filled with body builders (including Steve Reeves),sunshine and nuts and berries. No sooner have Purdom and Damone become involved with them than strange things begin to happen to their personalities. Grandma warns the lovers that the stars are not in favor of these romances.

A delightfully silly musical, "Athena" is probably the only MGM musical to feature practically naked men. They make their entrance into Varden and Calhern's dining room wearing only the briefest of briefs and sing along to a chorus of "Harmonize", making Purdom and Damone look like 90 pound weaklings. The songs are all wonderfully corny, especially a production number about re-decoration ("I Never Felt Better") lead by perky Reynolds. Powell gets the most beautiful song ("Love Can Change the Stars"),and seeing her as Reynolds' sister is a musical lovers dream. In fact, they had played sisters once before, in "Two Weeks With Love", and also appeared together in "Hit the Deck". When Reynolds left the Broadway musical "Irene" 20 years later, she personally chose Powell to replace her.

Look for Virginia Gibson, one of the "Seven Brides", as another one of the "Six Sisters". There's even a reference to the same years "The Student Prince" which starred Purdom. I don't think MGM realized when it made this film of the gay overtones of the body builders which would later be seen on Broadway and the big screen with "Li'l Abner".

A film starring Jane Powell and Debbie Reynolds and featuring songs by those behind the wonderful songs for 'Meet Me in St Louis' Hugh Martin and Ralph Blaine promises much. They certainly do not disappoint, though 'Athena' could have been better than it turned out to be.

It is let down by a story that is paper-thin, flimsy is being generous, sometimes contrived and routine in direction in the non-singing and dancing scenes. The script is even sketchier (if shining in the scenes with the grandparents),with little logic and even less attention to characterisation which is all nice and pleasant (with nobody being characters that you hate) but not much else. And as beautifully as Vic Damone sings (and goodness isn't it a wondrous sound he makes),it is not matched by his dull presence and wooden acting.

However, Jane Powell is cute as a button and effortlessly charming as well as being on top-form vocally (especially in "Chacun Le Sait" from Donizetti's 'La Fille Du Regiment'). She is matched and partnered wonderfully by the energetic and spirited Debbie Reynolds, who also shows a knack for beautiful singing. Edmund Perdum brings a delicious dry wit to his character, and while the stuffy, pompous and stiff kind of character can easily be an annoyance when poorly executed Perdum does bring enough charm to stop him from being insufferable.

Louis Calhern is an absolute joy in his supporting role and it is a shame that he didn't have more scenes. Steve "Mr Universe" Reeves is imposing and commanding, with the body-building scene one of the film's highlights. Evelyn Varden is delightfully eccentric without overdoing it, while Virginia Gibson also has fun with her role.

Production values in 'Athena' are above average, with luminous photography and very attractive costumes. The sets are less than lavish but have enough imagination and colour to stop them from looking ugly. The songs, while not classics like the best of the composers' songs for 'Meet Me in St Louis', are better than given credit for. The melodies are easy to remember and very beautiful, the marvellous orchestration helps it, and there is some very clever and sophisticated lyric writing.

Standouts are "Love Can Change the Stars", "I Never Felt Better" and the role-reversal version of "The Boy Next Door" (here called "The Girl Next Door"). "Vocalise"/"Harmonise"/"Imagine" are also lovely. "Venezia" is touchingly wistful but holds the least relevance to the story. The dancing is full of dazzling energy and the choreography always avoids being overblown or routinely static.

On the whole, unexceptional story and script wise, but when it comes to all but one of the performances, the songs, the choreography, the singing and the dancing 'Athena' is also irresistible. 7/10 Bethany Cox