Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid

Plot synopsis:
The film stars William Powell as Arthur Peabody, who is undergoing a midlife crisis as he approaches his 50th birthday. Much of the story is shown in flashback as Peabody tells his skeptical doctor the source of his malaise.
Peabody goes on vacation with his wife Polly (Irene Hervey) to a Caribbean resort. While there, he hears singing coming from a distant key (small island) and takes his boat to do a little fishing. To his surprise, he reels in Lenore, a beautiful mermaid played by Ann Blyth.
Although mute, Lenore is mischievous and childlike and more than a little bit alluring – so much so that before long Peabody has taught her to kiss. He hides Lenore by letting her soak in a suds-filled bathtub and then in the resort’s fish pond. But confusion ensues as his wife thinks he has a big fish in their bathtub and later suspects him of infidelity with Cathy Livingston (Andrea King), a vacationing singer.
Things get even more complicated when, after Polly returns home without Peabody, police suspect him of murder. But by the film's conclusion, Peabody and his wife are happily back at home in Boston with only Lenore’s comb left to prove the reality of his adventure.

Tags: romantic

Review:
The central character in this well-loved feature is an man (William Powell) who has reached the age of fifty.
A highlight of the film comes when she dons a bathing suit (she is a champion swimmer and gorgeous) and investigates the mermaid tale underwater, where Blyth bites her on the leg.
Clinton Sundberg, one of the best line-readers on planet, plays a man who is giving up smoking with whom Powell has droll conversations.
Ever the practical sort, Powell tries to buy half a bathing suit, with hilarious results; he also eventually has to explain the goings on to his wife; this is a character-based adult script by Nunnally Johnson adapted from Guy and Constance Jones' novel "Peabody's Mermaid"; and it makes, by my lights, an unforgettable, charming and beautiful made film.
Carmen Dirigo is credited with the film's challenging hair stylings and Bud Westmore with the makeup for Lenore the mermaid and the rest of this talented and beautifully-chosen cast (a hallmark, I suggest of Nunnally Johnsons' films, since he co-produced as well as writing the script).
This is not a film about someone being old; it is a wistful and intelligent look at being human, using the fantasy of a mermaid who is decidedly real as a symbol of youth itself--Mr. Peabody's youth--in which others believe or do not depending on their attitude to selfhood and individual desert.
The man is William Powell, reaching the age of 50 [supposedly a land mark in a man's life] and feeling in low spirits with still such an attractive wife, played by the attractive Irene Hervey, snags a beautiful mermaid while out on a fishing spree.
Of course, he is all in a dither to have caught this delectable sea creature, played with such lovely and simple sincerity by Ann Blyth, that he proceeds to bring her home, placing her in the bath tub, where she takes a bubble bath.Mr. Powell is wonderful in these type of semi-comedy films where he can show his sensitive side as well as his impeccable timing of high class comedy.
He steals the film, along with Miss Blyth, fresh from her scene stealing scenes as the bad girl in MILDRED PIERCE, who never speaks a word, but does some very intricate underwater swimming, including a water ballet that would make Esther Williams jealous.
However, Miss Blyth had a fish tail attached to her.Other cast members include Andrea King as a delicious woman out on the make , she swims and sings] Clinton Sundberg cast in a very funny role of a man trying to give up smoking and Art Smith as the psychiatrist who examines Powell for possible lunacy in having met a mermaid only to reveal later that he, himself, had visions of a small ice skater who proceeded to skate across the window shade.
Watch for another funny scene in a ladies' apparel shop when our hero requests from the saleslady, played wonderfully by Mary Field, for half a bathing suit.This is a first rate small film, directed by Irving Pichel and written by Nunnally Johnson, made in the 40s, when films were an escape.
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.
Ann Blyth looks beautiful and makes one of the best on screen mermaids ever in an unusual role.
She affirms that he is still a man who can be loved and needed.If you wish to be charmed not only by the lovely little mermaid but also by an interesting psychological study of aging and life itself, see this film.
It stayed in my memory as a mysterious and haunting film, with her song still ringing in my ears 56 years later.Luckily I found out that my TV/video is compatible with the NTSC system.(There is no DVD made as far as I know.) So through the magic of E-bay I bought the video from someone in America, who posted it to me in Australia.
William Powell, unwilling to face the encroachment of old age, receives the gift of a visitation from an altogether fetching mermaid, who sparks the diminishing flames of his youthful ardor.
Slightly bizarre little '40's comedy about a middle-aged married man's mid-life crisis solved by the discovery of a young mermaid while fishing in the Caribbean.
William Powell (The Thin Man series) carries the picture on his charm alone and Ann Blyth (Veda in Mildred Pierce) makes a very cute and seductive sea creature.
Some droll set pieces  -Peabody's attempt to purchase a swim top for his catch, the various encounters with the busy-body's who come to snoop-  work quite nicely and Powell actually creates some genuine moments of heartfelt desire but it runs out of steam before long, turns dark, then ends with a thud.
Mr. Peabody and The Mermaid is a film that was shown quite often as I was growing up, but I haven't seen it for years.
This film was any young boys dream come true, to go out and catch a beautiful mermaid and to bring her home was such a wonderful fantasy.
Mr. Peabody's Catch of the Day. William Powell stars as Mr. Peabody, a married man and on the verge of 50, and Ann Blyth as a mermaid he snags on his fishing rod one fanciful day, and ultimately falling for her.
You can't help but like anything that William Powell is in; he gives anything he's in charm and a high regard it may not possess without him.Having said that, this movie suffers mostly from a weak script and an awkward feel to it due to its staginess and the use of a flashback, in the form of telling the story to a psychiatrist.
It does a mystical feel to it and I can see how someone would have fond feelings for it having seen it as a child and therefore see past its technical flaws.Ann Blyth is good and quite striking as the mermaid, who rightly doesn't speak a word, unlike Glynis Johns in "Miranda." With Glynis Johns' "Miranda" being made in 1948 also, I get the feeling that this was made to capitalize on "Miranda"'s success.
It may not have the magic and humor that "Miranda" has, but, if you like William Powell and like his usual quirky approach to life's dilemmas, you'll be pleased for 90 minutes..
Wm. Powell is so gentle and earnest in the role of Mr. Peabody, and almost as sweet as the lovely young mermaid, Lenore.I found the set at the Peabody home with the fish pond and underwater grotoe where the mermaid lived to be much like the enchanted world I'd love to live in as my mermaid alter-ego, Sirena.I found myself wishing for a colorized version of the movie..
Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid (1948)There could have been some real pathos here in the device of a man facing his mid-life crisis also happening upon a beautiful and very young mermaid.
It's a good movie, and a deliberately limited one, the events taking place mostly in a little resort-seeming set where the lead man, Mr. Peabody (the wonderful William Powell), fights with the meaning of a mermaid who has fallen in love with him.I say pathos right away because what the movie needs is some edge, and it's almost there.
The mermaid, played by Ann Blyth (who was nineteen when it was filmed, next to Powell's 56), is certainly a coy and apparently enticing thing.
He does however seem to abandon his wife at one point (or she abandons him, and he lets her), so the complications are echoes of the most ordinary situations in post-war America: an older man finds a younger woman and makes a mistake, or what the movie portrays as a mistake.There are psychological and social depths here that are only hinted at, as would be the mode of the era, but in a way that's enough to make it a "delight," which is no demeaning word.
None other than the daughter from "Mildred Pierce."Scuba fans and underwater types will love all the really good footage of Blyth (the mermaid) doing a great job swimming and being a bit randy, as any good mermaid would who hadn't met a man for who knows how long.
The relentless saleslady (Field) won't give poor addled Peabody (Powell) a break as he tries oh-so-tactfully to buy half of a swim suit for his uncovered half-woman half- fish (Blythe).
Note how he doesn't even mention the pertinent word 'brassiere', a sign, I suppose, of Code-enforced times.Powell's superb in this whimsical fantasy of replacing your ordinary pet goldfish with a lovely pet mermaid who can trill a siren's song.
It looks like the screenplay wanted it both ways, happiness with both the mermaid and the wife.
But the underwater climax makes no sense and gets only a half-hearted explanation (an air pocket) as if writer Johnson is flummoxed too (maybe by the demands of a meddlesome producer).Nonetheless, the movie remains an amusing slice of fantasy served up in Powell's inimitable style..
When William Powell was lent out to Warner Brothers for Life With Father it marked for him a transition to roles more suited for his age.
In her memoirs Esther Williams noted that Powell felt very ridiculous trying to play a convincing love scene with Esther.
MGM lent him out to Universal for Mr. Peabody And The Mermaid and while the film is not a classic like Life With Father, it is still a charming fantasy that holds up well after over 60 years.The film is told in flashback by Powell narrating his involvement with a mermaid to a sympathetic psychiatrist Art Smith.
Powell is on vacation in the Caribbean with wife Irene Hervey and he's finding it hard to admit he's reaching that crucial age of 50.
In real life Powell was 56 when he made Mr. Peabody And The Mermaid.Hugh French who's a vacationing lizard and would be gigolo puts the moves on Irene.
Powell gets to do some deep sea fishing and catches a mermaid by hooking her tail.
The mermaid is Ann Blyth who is absolutely enchanting as she steals the film without a word of dialog.
Blyth gets a temporary home in the resort aquarium and Hervey suspects Powell of trying to romance vacationing Broadway singer Andrea King.
King in fact gets to meet Blyth and she's not quite the same after that.This fantasy had elements of it in the Ron Howard film Splash, but Mr. Peabody And The Mermaid will still delight audiences even today.
1948 was the year of film mermaids as it also featured Glynis Johns in "Miranda", a comedy much closer to "Splash" (1984) in style and tone.
"Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid" is a much darker film, with a mute mermaid (wonderfully played by a perfectly cast Ann Blyth), the manifestation of the protagonist's mid-life crisis fueled imagination.The hope that William Powell's "Thin Man" popularity would translate into a box office bonanza led to his unfortunate casting as the title character.
While both styles work fine on their own, their lack of unity makes the film far less powerful than it might otherwise have been (insert source novel here).The 5' 2" Blyth was 19 when this was filmed while Powell was 56 and in poor health, which made him look a bit older and make their scenes together even more surreal.
The island police believe that he has murdered someone after he returns Lenore to the sea.The comedy in the source novel came mostly from its satire of the tendency of mid-life crisis men to seek out unspoiled girls half their age (behavioral traits that once had significant genetic and evolutionary advantages) and land them.
Unlike the Jones' novel, the film is book-ended by Peabody's visit to his hometown psychiatrist, with his mermaid story told as a flashback story.
And the film goes out with Peabody giving Lenore's comb to his wife, signifying that his crisis has passed, he has surrendered and is moving on with his life.
There has been a roadside attraction mermaid show there since the mid-1940's; in which mermaids perform synchronized ballet moves underwater while breathing through air hoses hidden in the scenery (like the film's undersea castle).
William Powell and Anne Blythe are just wonderful, as is the entire cast.
This magical film takes you to a place where mermaids are real and childhood dreams do come true.
William Powell,plays a man in his 50's who finds a beautiful mermaid and decides to take her home with him.
You might be in for a treat.The vacationing Mr. Peabody (William Powell), struggling with middle age, takes in an enchanting young mermaid and finds himself in the middle of misunderstandings with his wife, his fellow residents, and the police.
Fully delightful performances by William Powell and Ann Blyth.I now find it came out at the same time as Miranda, another mermaid movie.
I'm not sure whether Mr. Peabody's(William Powell) tale of falling in love with a singing mermaid is simply a bizarre manifestation of a midlife crisis, or perhaps the result of a bout of schizophrenia, or maybe the result of taking a psychoactive drug.
It might have been made more palatable if Lenore(Peabody's name for Ann Blyth's mermaid) was given the capacity to talk as well sing eerily.
Incidentally, Irene Hervey , who played Polly, looked a good deal like Myrna Loy, Powell's frequent costar, as in "The Thin Man "series.
Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid is an innocent, fun, light, casual, and leisurely film.
While taking a vacation in the Caribbean, Mr Peabody (Powell) hears a strange and hauntingly beautiful singing.
Add to this, the excellent chemistry between Powell and Irene Hervey, who plays his wife Polly.
Clinton Sundberg has the best character in the film; Mike Fitzgerald is a man going through changes after seeing his quack of a doctor.
He even has his own style of speech which adds a more comedic aspect to the mix.Even though Ann Blyth has no lines in the film, she still has a presence.
She works well in the water.When I watch this film it makes the majority of today's comedy flicks appear even more infantile than they are.
While the story doesn't make a lot of sense, it is a pleasant little fantasy film..
William Powell plays a man whose wife thinks he's having a mid-life crisis and who police later think has murdered his wife!
Apparently, he was in the Caribbean with his wife and managed to catch a sexy young mermaid (Ann Blythe).
What exactly happens next you'll have to see for yourself.This is not the most distinguished film William Powell ever made.
There are lots of charming moments in Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid.
I especially enjoyed the scene in which William Powell tries to buy only the top half of a women's two-piece swim suit for the mermaid (I don't know the name of the actress who plays the salesperson, but she perfectly captures the weariness and irritation that lies behind the professional salesperson's smile and memorized patter).
Instead of turning 50, feeling old, and so chasing younger women to prove himself still virile, William Powell's Mr. Peabody turns 50 and loses himself in a little innocent romance.
Unfortunately, I can't recommend it.It sounds like a fun movie -- a man in his 50-ish life crisis meeting a mermaid...and everyone else thinking he might be loony.
Back in 1948 moviegoers who were into mermaids were spoilt for choice between Glynis Johns in Miranda (UK) and Ann Blyth as Lenore in Mr.Peabody And The Mermaid.
It's gossamer of course but with a screenplay by Nunnally Johnson and a leading man like William Powell it's Industrial strength gossamer and will reward the average viewer..
Guy and Constance Jones also wrote There Was A Little Man, filmed in the same year it was published - 1948 - as Luck of the Irish.
It's a sadly wistful little sex "comedy" of youth and old age, beautifully summed up in William Powell's line, murmured with an off-hand sadness, an almost casual regret: "Fifty - the old age of youth; the youth of old age."COMMENT: A much under-rated and misunderstood film.
Actually, the mermaid doesn't come in for thirty minutes - charmingly introduced in what would have been Irving Pichel's one really inspired piece of direction, were it not undermined by Mrs Fowler's intercutting a banal reaction shot of William Powell.
There are three female figures in this film: the wife, calm, understanding and feisty (when she thinks he's been unfaithful she walks out and flies home from their vacation in the middle of the night), a muscial comedy star who is aggressively on the make for Peabody, and the Mermaid, docile, adoring and silent-and totally dependent.
At one point Peabody says he wants a woman who "can't do much of anything", his mermaid, but when he gets her he doesn't really know what to do with her (and she almost drowns him at the end when she tries to take him to her underwater world).
A beautiful, magical film with William Powell a master.