6.8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
As told to a psychiatrist: Mr. Peabody, middle-aged Bostonian on vacation with his wife in the Caribbean, hears mysterious, wordless singing on an uninhabited rock in the bay. Fishing in the vicinity, he catches...a mermaid. He takes her home and, though she has no spoken language, falls in love with her. Of course, his wife won't believe that thing in the bathtub is anything but a large fish. Predictable complications follow in rather tame fashion.
Starring: William Powell (I), Ann Blyth, Irene Hervey, Clinton Sundberg, Andrea King (I)Romance | 100% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Fantasy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Splash helped to make stars out of Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah, and for many helped to define a contemporary take on mermaid mythology for an entire generation (at least until their kids starting going to see The Little Mermaid 3D a few years later). Though absent on the screen for around two decades before Splash, mermaids have been consistent if not overly regular characters in everything from Beach Blanket Bingo to a whole series of silents starring Annette Kellerman (Kellerman’s life provided the story for Esther Williams’ 1952 opus Million Dollar Mermaid). For some reason, the charming if slight 1948 fantasy Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid isn’t especially well remembered today, though it has at least a few elements that also made it into Splash nearly 40 years later. Perhaps one of the ways that Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid failed to capitalize upon its fanciful presence was by having the human male, one Arthur Peabody (William Powell), be a more or less happily married man when he reels in a lovely mermaid named Lenore (Ann Blyth) one day. The other way that Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid perhaps hobbles itself slightly is by having Lenore be a mute character, thereby making any scintillating dialogue between the two main characters a (sorry about this) moot point.
Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. The elements utilized for this high definition presentation are generally in quite good shape, though there are the expected flecks, specks and even an occasional scratch or two. Gray scale is nicely modulated, though blacks aren't especially deep. There is some variable sharpness on display here, not always related to underwater photography. Some midrange shots are noticeably softer than the bulk of the film. Contrast is consistent throughout the presentation and the image has no stability problems whatsoever. As with most Olive releases, there's been no digital tweaking, and so a natural grain field is very much in evidence.
Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track is pretty shallow (no pun intended), but gets the job done, delivering both the dialogue, occasional sound effect and Robert Emmett Dolan's charming score cleanly and clearly. Aside from just a bit of background hiss that's audible in the quietest moments, the track has nothing worrisome to report.
As with most Olive Films catalog releases, there are no supplements on this Blu-ray disc.
There's an air of resignation and maybe even quiet desperation that undercuts Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid's comedic momentum. But perhaps those very elements are commendable, giving the story a bit more of a "human" edge than a mermaid tale generally does. Powell, Hervey and Blyth are all wonderful in their roles, and if there's a just slightly smarmy feeling at times as the Peabodys attempt to redefine their middle aged marriage (it's kind of amazing that the film depicts a married man giving "kissing lessons" to a younger woman, albeit a half fish one), things at least get to something approximating happily (or at least tolerably) ever after. (I'll leave it to the psychiatrists out there to analyze the meaning of the little gift Arthur gives Polly at the film's close.) This isn't the spry romantic comedy of Splash, or even the "fish out of water" (sorry) romantic tale of The Little Mermaid, so don't expect the same frivolous demeanor from this frankly kind of odd film. Recommended.
2013
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