This 1961 low key thriller is more low key than thriller, and likely would have been relegated to the dustbin of forgotten films had not Dennis Hopper starred in it. Hopper plays a Navy midshipman named Johnny who just happens to have the bad luck to fall for a mermaid (maybe) named Mora (Linda Lawson). It unspools not unlike Splash, save that there's precious little intentional comedy in here -- if anything, it takes itself a tad too seriously given the weak script and scattershot performances. But it's an effectively moody piece, much of it shot at night in and around the Santa Monica pier, which makes it a nice time capsule of certain parts of Southern California circa the very early 60s.
Hopper is his usual semi-wooden self, and Lawson, while a gorgeous creature, isn't that much better. A relatively weak ending helps sink the picture, unfortunately. Really this is a curio piece more than anything else; in the right hands it could have been a neat little movie, but as is, eh, not really worth your while unless you just love the period (like I do).
Hopper is his usual semi-wooden self, and Lawson, while a gorgeous creature, isn't that much better. A relatively weak ending helps sink the picture, unfortunately. Really this is a curio piece more than anything else; in the right hands it could have been a neat little movie, but as is, eh, not really worth your while unless you just love the period (like I do).