Zafarrancho en la universidad

Reading about the history of this film, I discovered (as other reviewers pointed out) that this film was produced as a two-part production which was then stitched together and released theatrically. While this explains how disjointed it is, it really is two separate stories in one piece of media, as a viewer neither narrative is fully explored and feels unfinished.

These days, we're more likely to see one story cut into two feature-length films, so to see the opposite feels a bit jarring. There are plenty of films which feel like separate stories, such as Downsizing.

As for the two stories, I'm not sure 'misadventures' is the right word. The premise is classic Disney: what can go wrong when an inventor tries his whacky invention? The first half is enjoyable, where Merlin Jones exposes a court judge's life of crime. But the second half, which explores hypnotism, seems to lose the plot (so to speak).

It's interesting enough for fans of classic Disney, Tommy Kirk, and Annette Funicello, but for casual viewers, give it a miss.

It's difficult to write one of the normal pithy little plot summaries I come up with. I have no firsthand knowledge, but The Misadventures of Merlin Jones smells suspiciously of two different television episodes (perhaps from The Wide World of Disney) cobbled together to create a feature length movie. In the first half, brainiac Merlin Jones accidentally develops the ability to read minds and almost immediately suspects the local judge of being a criminal mastermind. In the second half, Merlin uses hypnosis to force the same judge to actually commit a criminal act. None of it rises much above average as far as entertainment goes. I grew up on live action Disney movies like The Love Bug and The Snowball Express. The Misadventures of Merlin Jones pales in comparison. It's neither written as cleverly as it needs to be nor are Merlin's antics madcap enough to generate laughs. It's all safe (perhaps too safe) Disney fare.

Some of the supporting cast deserves mention. I always enjoy watching Leon Ames. Here, he does the most with what he's given to work with. Ames is easily the best actor in the bunch. I also got a kick out of seeing (and hearing) Dal McKennon. The name might not be overly familiar, but if you grew up watching cartoons in the 70s like I did, you'll definitely recognize the voice.

5/10

Sleepy, over-the-hill "teenager" Tommy Kirk isn't really the ideal actor to carry a movie set on a mythical college campus, one wherein everyone is relentlessly energetic and colorful. Kirk is supposed to be wacky and wonderful too, but he's the most normal of the bunch, bland and grounded. Still, there are some chuckles in this Walt Disney production about a nerdy college whiz, and love-interest Annette Funicello is lively doing the same love-means-a-wedding-ring thing she perfected in the concurrent "Beach Party" flicks. Much preferable to its immediate sequel, "The Monkey's Uncle", which--despite an opening featuring Annette on stage with The Beach Boys!--just didn't have the heart or spirit of this one. *** from ****

The movie seems to have dramatic arcs that end at 45 minutes. First 45 minutes is about mind reading. The second 45 minutes was about hypnotism. Both almost seemed disconnected from each other. If there is anyone out there who knows about the production or about this T.V. show....Uh.. oops..I mean movie, let me know. I guess I'll have to mention my guess for why this Potential television series did not happen. The scandal of Disney discovering that "Tommy Kirk" was not heterosexual, caused Disney to drop his contract. Since the series was already in the can, they had to do something with it. So to make some money back, they linked two of the four episodes into two feature films. Again if somebody out there has the real answer...write.

Merlin Jones was intended to be two episodes of Walt Disney's Sunday night hour long anthology series "The Wonderful World of Color." For some reason, they decided to release it theatrically instead. Disney produced some very good films for his TV series like the 3 part Scarecrow of Romney Marsh and the Gallagher Boy Reporter episodes which were very highly rated. Merlin Jones was a theatrical hit for some odd reason, though far less entertaining than aforementioned programs. One can never predict what the American public will buy but even at the time this was pedestrian entertainment. I realized that even at 10 years old when I saw it at my local movie house.