Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid (1948)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Irving Pichel

Writers:

Guy Jones (novel) &
Constance Jones (novel) ...

Release Date:

16 April 1949 (Sweden)

Genre:

Comedy | Fantasy | Romance

Plot:

As told to a psychiatrist: Mr. Peabody, middle-aged Bostonian on vacation with his wife in the Caribbean...

Plot Keywords:

Love | Vacation | Mermaid | Fishing | Quirky

Cast

William Powell	...	Arthur Peabody
Ann Blyth	...	Lenore the Mermaid
Irene Hervey	...	Mrs. Polly Peabody
Andrea King	...	Cathy Livingston
Clinton Sundberg	...	Mike Fitzgerald
Art Smith	...	Dr. Harvey
Hugh French	...	Maj. Ronald Hadley, gigolo
Lumsden Hare	...	Col. Mandrake
James Logan	...	Lieutenant
Mary Field	...	Wee Shop Clerk
Beatrice Roberts	...	Mother
Cynthia Corley	...	Miss Martin (Dr. Harvey's' nurse)
Tom Stevenson	...	Waiter
Mary Somerville	...	Lady Trebshaw
Dick Ryan	...	Waiter (as Richard Ryan)

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Weeki Wachee Springs - 6131 Commercial Way, Weeki Wachee, Florida, USA

Company:

Nunnally Johnson Productions

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the underwater fight scene, one shot shows that the fishtail costume had clearly separated from Lenore's back.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Beach Blanket Bingo (1965)

Soundtrack:

THE CARIBEES

Another fun fantasy flick from the 40's.

I've only seen this movie a couple of times as it seems it was hardly ever shown on television and I don't know why it was so overlooked. It's not a big film and is a typical escapism fantasy fun film that were so popular in the 1940's but it's well done and deserves a look. William Powell whose days as a leading man were waning plays a man who is turning 50 and going into a mid-life crisis (Powell was in reality 56) so while on a seaside vacation with his wife away, he snags a mermaid while out fishing. A beautiful mermaid, played by the 20 year old Ann Blyth who in 1948 was breaking away from teen roles with this film and two others released that year, A Woman's Vengeance and Another Part of the Forest. This is adapted from the Constance and Guy Jones novel Peabody's Mermaid by noted screenplay writer Nunnaly Johnson who wrote The Grapes of Wrath, Tobacco Road and The Three Faces of Eve. Versitle director Irving Pichel who worked in comedy, drama, film noir, westerns and sci-fi and did such films as The Most Dangerous Game, Tomorrow is Forever, They Won't Believe Me and had just come off the sentimental The Miracle of the Bells, directs. Proliffic cinematographer Russell Metty photographs with underwater sequences filmed by respected visual effects photographer David S. Horsley. Irene Hervey and Andrea King are also in the cast. Ann Blyth looks beautiful and makes one of the best on screen mermaids ever in an unusual role. I would give this an 8.0 out of 10.