ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Borgarkeri A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Stephen Abell While taking a vacation in the Caribbean, Mr Peabody (Powell) hears a strange and hauntingly beautiful singing. To his best judgement, he believes it to be coming from the quay opposite the villa. On his investigation, he hears splashing water and finds a bejewelled hair slide so he returns home. The next day, the slide has gone and the singing has stopped. Upset at not finding the owner of the beautiful voice he contents himself with fishing... and what a catch he reels in. A beautiful mute mermaid who he decides to take home. This is when the comedy excels.Powell is brilliant as Mr Peabody and is adept at delivering the comedic lines deadpan, which adds more to their power. It also helps that the whole thing is brilliantly written especially the narrative. 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. On the Doc's advice, he's given up smoking. His reaction to anybody who lights up is great. I really loved the beach scene. It had me laughing out loud. 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. Besides, who needs a voice when your face can speak volumes(?) And the swimming sections are well choreographed and filmed. 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. This is a comedy film with class, wit, and good writing. I wish there were more like this being made today. Therefore, I recommend this to anybody who wants a good laugh.

dougdoepke That scene in the women's wear shop is a hilarious gem of scripting and acting. 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. Trouble is Peabody's got an edgy wife (Hervey) who keeps nosing in at the wrong time, plus an amorous female acquaintance (King) who can't seem to keep her dress on. Naturally, all this produces a series of amusing situations, made more so by the expert cast, including Blythe who only needs to look silently alluring.My one complaint is the undersea climax. 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.

toddphil54 I first saw this movie when I was sick and home from school in the early 60s. It's always stayed with me, though I haven't seen it since then. My mother must have been at work or something because she probably would have made me turn it off. There isn't anything objectionable in it. Any sexuality would have been implied the way most films did in the 1940s. I'm sure that if I watched it again, it would seem rather quaint. Kind of an interesting fantasy, though. I'm surprised that it has been remade. It could be redone pretty much like the original. It seems like it would do well at the box office if it had the treatment.

barbarella70 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. Regardless, the film is a harmless little buried treasure and more than worth a look.