Phaedra is a poor sponge diver on the lovely Greek isle of Hydra. While diving, she discovers an ancient brass and gold statue of a boy riding a dolphin, which is said to have the magical power to grant wishes. Her shiftless boyfriend wants to sell it to an unscrupulous art collector, but Phaedra wants to give it to anthropologist Jim Calder, who would return it to the Greek government.
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"Boy on a Dolphin" looks fabulous. It was shot for the most part in the Greek Isles and if ever there was a film that did justice to Cinemascope it's this one. It has one of the most beautiful music scores for a film ever. It also has Clifton Webb, who like George Sanders could lift any movie he was in. And then it has 22-year-old Sophia Loren, also doing justice to the Cinemascope process in a wet, figure-clinging dress - diving into the sea, swimming under the sea and climbing out of the sea - the Production Code people back in Hollywood must have been on holidays when that footage came up for review. It stars Alan Ladd. This was toward the end of his career, but we saw a lot of him in the 1950's. He has an easy assurance here although it's sad watching him knowing that he was gone a few years later aged only 50. Sophia Loren plays Phaedra who dives for sponges off her loser boyfriend's boat. When she discovers an ancient statue she tries to change their fortunes by selling it to a ruthless collector of antiquities, Victor Parmelee (Clifton Webb). However an honest American archaeologist Dr. James Calder (Alan Ladd) steps between Phaedra and Parmelee and also between Phaedra and her boyfriend.This was Sophia's first movie in English and she plays the whole thing in a fairly shrill manner, she is much better when she is diving into, swimming under or climbing out of the sea etc. However, it's hard to take your eyes off her. I first saw this film back in 1957 at age 10, an era when the thought of sex education made everyone feel uncomfortable, but I'm sure Sophia in this film helped set my gender preferences for the future. The music was by Hugo Friedhofer, and orchestral colour was his forte (he had orchestrated for Steiner and Korngold). He was brilliant at incorporating folk music and instruments into his symphonic scores. Here he infused his score with Greek music and gave the whole thing an ethereal quality - just listen to the music that accompanies Parmelee on the road to the Metoria Monastery.Watching "Boy on a Dolphin" is always a happy experience for me, nostalgia plays a part of course, but then again, what's not to like?
Sophia Loren vibrates and pouts through this film in a manner I'm sure was intended to be sexy, but isn't. She tries to convey earthy sensuality but can't carry it off. It's an embarrassing and tacky performance with a lot of shouting, odd body postures, and ridiculous extremes of emotional response. Alan Ladd, on the other hand, could use a little of Loren's extremism. He is even more wooden than usual, and that's saying a lot. He also appears bloated and heavily made up, especially around the eyes. Clifton Webb gives the only good performance in Boy On a Dolphin, but unfortunately Webb doesn't have enough screen time to save the film. The copy I saw was not of sufficient quality for me to really appreciate the much-vaunted scenery and color photography, so I can't comment on them. Clifton Webb always is worth watching, but otherwise Boy on a Dolphin is a pretty weak effort.
This is an amazingly lifeless movie despite it being filmed in Greece and being Sophia Loren's first American movie. While the Greek scenery is lovely, it's obvious that the biggest reason they chose Ms. Loren for the film was because of her ample breasts. Throughout the film, but particularly in the first diving scene, they are featured very prominently and it's a very risqué piece of film work for the 1950s (sort of like the movie THE DEEP in the 1970s). And, unfortunately, she is given a role that is very inconsistent and not particularly likable. Much of the movie concerns her wanting to help steal a valuable ancient statue she accidentally discovered while sponge diving. She is, through much of the film, amoral and self-centered. And, not very convincingly, at the end, she falls for Ladd and does the right thing with the statue! Predictable but also a bit ridiculous.Now to make things worse, some boob had the bright idea of pairing Loren with Alan Ladd--one of the shortest leading men of all time and about four inches shorter than her. This meant they had to do some interesting camera-work so she wouldn't tower above him. In addition, their chemistry is, at best, tenuous despite this being a love story. There just doesn't seem to be any "spark" between them. As for Ladd, his role is pretty mellow and subdued. Apart from some scuba diving, he just doesn't do all that much in the film. The bottom line for Ladd, Loren and the rest of the characters is that the parts just weren't written all that well and the people (aside from her little brother in the film) weren't very interesting or compelling. A dull time-passer and certainly no indication of the acting ability of either of its stars.
Enjoyed this 1957 film dealing with a sunken treasure and all kinds of people trying to locate the item and hid it at the same time from everyone else involved. This film was a big hit with Sophia Loren,"Firepower",'79, who was very young and attractive and gave an outstanding performance. Alan Ladd, (Dr. James Calder),"Two Years Before The Mast",'46, was playing the game of trying to find the treasure also, however, he became romantically involved with Sphia Loren who was very much younger than he was. Clifton Web, "Satan Never Sleeps",'62, gave a great supporting role as a rich painter and yacht owner. Enjoyable film to view, especially when two great film stars were starring together.
