The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964)

the audience applauded

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

What a joy to view this charming fable again! Don Knotts is wonderful as geeky Henry Limpett. Life is tough for this bespectacled gentleman. He's too near-sighted to join the Navy, like other men in wartime New York City, and he seems friendless but for the fish in his aquarium. Making matters worse, oafish pretty-boy George has the hots for Henry's bimbo of a wife, played with winsome vulgarity by Carole Cook.One day, Henry unexpectedly gets his secret wish -- to chuck landlubber life altogether and turn into a tuna, and take up residence in the briny deep. And it's under water that he's finally able to join the Navy, as a torpedo interceptor, and finally land true love -- with a lady fish who worships his every fin. Oh, bubbly bliss!This movie came out when I was 8, and I was thrilled to be able to tape it and watch it with my 11-year-old, whose father also maintains a fish tank. Given that it was "old," my son was at first reluctant. But he quickly submerged himself in the movie's charms.This film's happy ending sloshes with joy. Just another reminder that impossible dreams can come true if one remains open to life's lucky accidents.

I wasn't born when this movie originally came out but when I was 7 or 8 ,I kind of remember seeing a re-release of it at a small theater in my hometown in 1973. I don't think I liked it then and seeing it again last night on TCM reminded me of why I probably didn't like it back in 1973. The whole plot of course which is ridiculous and of course fantasy plods along with Don Knotts his usual boring bug-eyed self hamming it up for the camera. I found none of the characters appealing ,in fact most are annoying from his buddy George to his annoying henpecking wife Bessie. After he turns into a fish via a live action/animated sequence that is probably the only interesting part of the movie, he spends most of it swimming around in long boring sequences . Eventually meeting up with a crusty old hermit crab - who is the only somewhat decent thing about this movie and a very annoying female fish that is a parody of what I'd call a loose woman - wanting to spawn moments after meeting Mr Limpet, wrapping herself around him and groping him. Inappropriate for kids to say the least. The rest of the movie is rather bland and boring with more scenes of swimming through generically animated ocean caverns etc and the whole Navy subplot so thoroughly a plug to get people to join I'd bet since the war had been over for almost 20 yrs when this film was released and enlistments were probably low. I'd also have to say that the worst scene in the movie takes place in Limpets mind when he is helping the Navy sink U-Boats.In this really moronic scene which is also an anachronism , Limpet sees himself back in human form being treated as a national hero ,marching in parades ,speaking to crowds ,waving etc with stock footage of most likely WW2 parades after the war was over and not only is the admirals uniform he wears of the wrong country(it's British) , it's also about 30 yrs out of date being from WW1 days. He is also shown wearing it as a fish etc. For the most part , this movie has all the wrong elements to be decent , for kids , the sexual fish on fish thing , the divorce aspects, the slimy friend moving in on his buddies wife. I give it 2/10 , only thing keeping it from a 1 is Crusty the crab who not only knows women are trouble but also wisely opts out of any sequels. Oh wait , Hollywood is remaking it , surprise surprise - another in a long list of remakes proving Hollywood is running out of original ideas.

In my neck of the woods in Queens is the facade of a building that once was quite important - the R.K.O. Keith in Flushing on Northern Blvd., in New York. The theater was originally a vaudeville house where people like Judy Garland once performed. Then it was a movie house. And it was there that I saw this film in 1964, when I was ten years old.I had liked watching Don Knotts on television, first with Steve Allan and then with Andy Griffith. When I saw he was in this fantasy movie, part of which was a cartoon, I asked to see it. My mother treated me to it around Christmas.It was shown with one or two Warner Brothers cartoons (I recall one was with Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner). But MR. LIMPET was the highpoint of the afternoon for me. I thoroughly enjoyed it.Henry Limpet is a nice little man who is driving his wife Bessie (Carole Cook) crazy because of his non-stop interest in fish. Her brother George (Jack Weston) is a sailor, on home leave during World War II. He has little use for his weird brother-in-law, but he offers to take out his sister and Henry to the seaside. And while there, Henry goes out onto a pier and looks over the side. Earlier the audience heard him saying, "I wish I was a fish." Now he turns into a fish when he falls into the sea (the cartoon transmission of Limpert the man into Limpert the fish is done very nicely).Limpert soon discovers he can be of service to the nation - he can help track down Nazi submarines and enable the U.S. navy and coast guard to sink them. He manages to contact Bessie and George, and George brings in his superiors (Andrew Duggan and Larry Keating). Soon a system is set up with Limpert making a loud sonar reaching sound when he sites a submarine. And the submarines are slowly sunk.This particular description is just the bare bones of the story. There are also the problems of Limpert's break-up with Bessie, and his romance with Ladyfish, not to mention his friendship with Crusty the lobster (who thinks Limpert is a specie of fish called a "Flatbush" when Limpert tells him that he comes from there).It was a wonderful fantasy film for it's day, and I suspect it still would hold up quite well. Besides giving Knotts a role of some depth (no pun intended) as he is torn between human and fish lovers, but it had nice bits of business by Weston as George, who is stunned by the importance of his brother-in-law to the war effort. Therefore I give the film an 8 out of 10. I'm sure you'd be pleasantly surprised too.

Is there something I am missing here? I mean that this film, despite a reasonably high IMDb score, is a really dumb movie, isn't it?! Seeing a high number of glowing reviews makes me start to doubt my own sanity. I remember clearly that this movie as a stupid little fantasy movie about a fish-loving guy who is magically transformed into an ugly fish that wears glasses and helps the US Navy. Right?! Well, based only on that thin description it just seems obvious that this is a dopey movie and a real waste of Don Knotts talents. And he left The Andy Griffith Show one year later, after doing this??? But, there is definitely no consensus here. You see the film and be the judge. Maybe there is something about this movie that makes it worth seeing--I just never noticed it.