Reviews & Ratings for
Boy on a Dolphin More at IMDbPro »

Page 1 of 4:

[1] [2] [3] [4]

42 out of 47 people found the following review useful:
Sophia explodes beautifully!, 22 September 2000

Author: ironside (robertfrangie@hotmail.com) from Mexico

Certainly script writers Ivan Moffat and Dwight Taylor have done the best they could to arrange a fairly equal balance of nature and Sophia...

The Greek Isle of Hydra is one of the most cosmopolitan points in the Mediterranean, a dream world with a unique beauty... It appears like a huge dry rock rising out the sea with its tiled houses and buildings scaling the precipitous terrain, one on top of the other, starting from the quay and reaching up to the tops of the hill, while the victorious color scheme is Aegean (white green and bright blue), and the weather is Adriatic... The pretty port looks extremely picturesque, dramatically beautiful...

Director Jean Negulesco has thrown all the grandeur and loveliness of these features upon the eye-filling CinemaScope screen... But Alan Ladd's and the audience's attention is directed to Sophia who explodes beautifully into warmth, glamor, beauty and sex, through frequent and liberal posing of her in full and significant views... Her statuesque beauty reminds us what the Mediterranean can offer in grace and richness...

Diving in the Aegean Sea for sponges off Hydra, peasant girl Phaedra (Sophia Loren) discovers a golden statue of a boy riding a bronze dolphin, chained to the body framework of a wrecked ship... Together with Rhif (Jorge Mistral) her lazy fisherman lover, Niko (Piero Giagnoni) her little brother and an English doctor Hawkins (Laurence Naismith), she tries to look for a rich American sponsor for the raising of the sunken statue...

She had two alternatives: Dr. Jim Calder (Alan Ladd), a U.S archaeologist, devoted to return lost artifacts of great value to their home countries, and Victor Parmalee (Clifton Webb), an ambitious art collector, prepared to pay highly price to cool his insatiable desire for ancient treasures...

With striking photography of the Greek island, the sparkling sea, and the Parthenon, this entertaining film, with nice music by Takes Morakes, is another example of cinema ingenuity...

28 out of 34 people found the following review useful:
Sophia!, 27 April 2004

Author: jotix100 from New York

The best excuse to watch again this long forgotten film of the late 50s is the exquisite and gorgeous Sophia Loren. What a beautiful woman; a sight for sore eyes indeed!

The Jean Negulesco film shows its age. This film has a little bit of adventure, love story, suspense with the backdrop of Hydra, one of the most enchanting Aegean islands. The film might look a bit outdated to today's audiences, but it's fun to watch Alan Ladd and Clifton Webb doing their best out of roles that don't require much acting. Sophia Loren is perfect as the sponge fisher who discovers a hidden treasure.

I saw this movie recently on cable. It was a trip to another, more innocent era.

23 out of 28 people found the following review useful:
Sophia In A Wet Dress, 13 November 2006

Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

Boy On A Dolphin concerns a statue that is just that which is found by lovely sponge diver Sophia Loren in the Aegean Sea. She's got two people interested in it, archaeologist Alan Ladd working for the Greek government and antiquity collector Clifton Webb.

Sophia likes Ladd, but Webb's got the big drachmas. I'll leave it to the experienced movie goer to figure out who she winds up with.

The film was shot in the Grecian Isles it really was her first big exposure (literally) to American audiences in an American film. Originally this was to star Robert Mitchum with her, but he backed out and Ladd was substituted.

Ladd had a miserable time during this film because of the rough humor of the Greek crew regarding his height. Sophia towered over him and 20th Century Fox did the usual compensating that Paramount and Warner Brothers did with him that involved Sophia in a trench or Ladd on a box. Alan Ladd was one of the nicest of Hollywood stars, but a sensitive soul and the barbs wounded him deeply.

The color cinematography in Greece is first rate, you can't photograph a bad color film in that location. Sophia Loren looks real good wet or dry. Reason enough to see Boy On A Dolphin.

21 out of 27 people found the following review useful:
The immortal Sophia, rising from the sea!, 27 September 2003
Author: Greg Couture from Portland, Oregon

Ah, yes! Who can forget that image of Sophia, climbing aboard a small fishing vessel, her peasant blouse opulently revealing why she first became a movie star? 20th-Century Fox wisely featured a snippet of that scene in "Previews of Coming Attractions" for this film when it was first being distributed. The production itself benefits hugely from the gorgeous locations of its story and the Hollywood professionalism of everyone assigned to it. All that, plus Julie London lending her breathy vocalizing to the lovely title song.

One of the things I recall about it was Sophia's retort when asked how much would be sufficient compensation for the ancient treasure she'd found under the Aegean. "For me, plenty of money is enough!" How convincingly she delivered that line and how lucky we've been ever since that her stardom led to many better displays of her talents.

Where, oh! where is the DVD (CinemaScope ratio preserved, s'il vous plait!) of this sunken treasure?

14 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
An exotic on-location underwater thriller!, 3 January 2007

Author: Gilbert BURBACH from France

This film was one of 1957's top grossers mainly due to the fact that in those years the public wanted exotic European location shooting and the film certainly does a good job of showing Greece and Sophia Loren who is ravishing.The story is a thriller.Alan Ladd plays a archaeologist ,Sophia a poor sponge diver and Clifton Webb an unscrupulous collector of art.The plot is not really that important.What counts is the scenery and Sophia.Alan Ladd whom I have always considered as a very good actor, but underrated by critics does a good job,like always(he always tried his best), all the more so that his partner was really very much taller than him and he suffered from that.I don't understand why everybody made so much fuss about Alan Ladd's size.He was just as short or tall as Humphrey Bogart or James Cagney or even George Raft.The film is very enjoyable.

16 out of 20 people found the following review useful:
Gorgeous Sophia in Greek sun, surf, and intrigue., 18 July 2005

Author: merlinfarms from United States

I saw this movie in the theater when it first came out and then again, years later on t.v. I had the good fortune to tape it onto video as I don't think it can be found in any video stores. I really enjoy this movie as the story is engaging and the location shots are beautiful. Sophia Loren does a fantastic job of portraying a vibrant, headstrong, passionate woman on a mission. I've always liked Clifton Webb and thought he did a typically tight, professional turn as an arrogant, proud art dealer immersed in his own inflated sense of superiority and worldliness. Alan Ladd as Dr. Caulder of the museum in Athens is the low point for me as I never found him to be a particularly good actor. He does okay in this movie but doesn't really fill the screen with great charisma. The soundtrack and the title song are fabulous - at times lilting, haunting, and fun. I find myself humming the title theme for hours after watching the movie. How I often know whether I like a movie or not is if I want to jump into the story and "be there". I definitely would want to "be there".

4 out of 4 people found the following review useful:
Unusual cast; very entertaining, 30 November 2000
Author: maxwell_hoffmann from Thousand Oaks, CA

I saw this film on network TV sometime in the late 1960s. It seems to NEVER be shown. I found it very involving and suspenseful (even with many commercial interruptions). Sophia Loren never looked better, Alan Ladd makes a good foil for Clifton Webb's dry wit. Beautiful location photography. Worth waiting for; a highly watchable film.

9 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
Wet T-shirt Contests? - Watch Sophia Loren in this instead!, 8 August 2007

Author: L. Denis Brown (ldbrown1@shaw.ca) from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Some films are set in very gritty surroundings such as docks or decayed warehouses, others have period settings, or need to support a sci-fi story-line. But when it is possible, most films will increase their appeal if they can provide attractive screen images to help tide viewers over occasional dull spots. Such eye candy may be land or marine scenery, architecture or people. Used at the right time, any of then can provide additional viewer enjoyment. Boy on a Dolphin, based on a novel by David Divine, is one of many films (among them Venus, Summer Lovers, and Aphrodite) which have used the magnificent scenery of the Greek Islands for this purpose. It was made by the Fox studios on location on Hydra Island in Greece, and is an adventure film about an impoverished Greek scuba diver, very vigorously played by a young Sophia Loren, who discovers a valuable classical statue she wants to see accepted as a national treasure rather than simply sold on the open market. It was filmed in colour and provides some delightful images of the scenery in this lovely part of the world; but, although there was an extremely vigorous and fiery performance by Sophia Loren, the acting of the North American cast members unfortunately left much to be desired and the overall impression after watching this film is somewhat patchy. This is sometimes blamed on the height disparity between the rather short Alan Ladd, who plays the curator of one of the museums of antiquity in Athens and the unusually tall Sophia Loren. It has been suggested that Robert Mitchum who was originally considered for the role of the museum curator, might have helped create a film which would wear better. I do not think this is fair to Director Jean Negulesco who, as I remember it, very adequately coped with any problems this difference created, and also did a wonderful job of exploiting the scenic attractions which did so much for this film. His main failure was in melding the contributions of the various cast members into a coherent story with enough sparkle and life for it to become a classic. However it was one of the top earning films at the time it was released, and was also nominated for an Oscar, so it seems probable that both Fox and those involved in making the film would have classed it as very successful.

I am a visual person, and perhaps appreciate the value of eye candy more than many film-goers, but I would not give this film an IMDb Users rating of more than seven today. I would however quickly buy myself a new DVD copy if it was available. The VHS tape is no longer listed and I do feel very strongly that as a re-mastered DVD, the delightful scenery, combined with the important theme about national treasures being preserved for the enjoyment of posterity and the great performance by Sophia Loren, would be enough to ensure better sales for it than for many of the other DVD revivals which are being created in great quantities today. This is my principal reason for adding these further User Comments now.

9 out of 16 people found the following review useful:
Alan Ladd & Sophia Loren Red Hot!, 9 March 2006

Author: whpratt1 from United States

Enjoyed this 1957 film dealing with a sunken treasure and all kinds of people trying to locate the item and hid it at the same time from everyone else involved. This film was a big hit with Sophia Loren,"Firepower",'79, who was very young and attractive and gave an outstanding performance. Alan Ladd, (Dr. James Calder),"Two Years Before The Mast",'46, was playing the game of trying to find the treasure also, however, he became romantically involved with Sphia Loren who was very much younger than he was. Clifton Web, "Satan Never Sleeps",'62, gave a great supporting role as a rich painter and yacht owner. Enjoyable film to view, especially when two great film stars were starring together.

14 out of 26 people found the following review useful:
The statue is gold and bronze...Alan Ladd is wooden, 22 January 2005

Author: moonspinner55 from redlands, ca

Miscast, misfired adventure has Sophia Loren playing a Greek skin-diver (!) who comes across the title-named sunken treasure just off the Greek Islands. Soon, two Americans--an archaeologist and a wealthy art collector--are vying for the prize, and Loren finds herself playing both sides: one man for the money, the other man for love. Rarely have I seen a picture so full of pretty ambiance and yet so dead at its core. The music and locations--as well as Sophia's figure--are all gorgeous, but this story is lost at sea. Alan Ladd, looking bloated with gimlet eyes, never connects with mercurial Sophia, who initially is in a constant rage (she snaps at everybody, even the doctor taking a nail out of her leg). It's a shame this film doesn't work, the beauty of the Aegean Sea is worth beholding. The dim script, from David Divine's novel, needed more bite, and the lazy direction needed more zest. Perhaps Sophia should have directed? ** from ****

Page 1 of 4:

[1] [2] [3] [4]

Add another review

Related Links