Flipper's New Adventure

Filmed in colour in Florida and the Bahamas by veteran cinematographer Lamar Boren, despite being a sequel to that most American of kidflicks, 'Flipper's New Adventure' largely has a cast of Britons unfamiliar to Hollywood.

Of the damsels in distress, the nice sensible one is played by Pamela Franklin, while Francesca Annis draws the booby prize in the form of the thankless role of the whiny elder sibling.

To the cineliterate the biggest surprise comes in the presence as the girls' father of Tom Helmore, who brings to the proceedings all the dubious connotations you'd expect from the actor best known as the two-timing Gavin Elster in 'Vertigo'.

(Note: This comment has been re-written as of July 28th, 2020)

If anyone thinks this film is bad, they're wrong. Sure, it might not stack up to the original, or the TV series, but i'd rather go pop the 1990 VHS restored version into my VCR, or the DVD re-release and waste 2 hours on a movie I can almost recite line-by-line than any other dolphin movie available now. This, and the original 1963 film turned me & many other young men & women into Aquaphiles, people who love being in the water, swimming with fish and other creatures, and some have become marine biologists and learned more about the oceans and discovered new things.

Teenaged Sandy Ricks spends a lot of his time at home, alone with only his dolphin (Bud didn't exist in the movies yet) the 2 are inseparable, and this is tested when he has to leave home for a place with his aunt, leaving flipper behind because the land they live on is government property and the government wants it back. To avoid being separated, Sandy escapes with flipper to a deserted island. When he arrives at this island, it is his home. but little does he know that a British mother and her 2 children will be dumped off at this island by 3 murderers who recently escaped Prison. It will take all of his and flipper's wits and abilities to help the helpless family and to thwart the killers' plans.

Yeah, it's a hackplot meant for kids, simple & predictable, but films with friendships between man & animal never go out of style. The presentation that makes it so good. A good chunk of the movie takes place underwater, an already beautiful place to bring a camera, with Henry Vars's beautiful score giving the film it's tropical flavor. Plus, Flipper always drags the audience out of a sour moment. If something goes wrong for the characters, Flipper always swims in and lends a fin, sometimes with a little bit of humor.

It's highly unlikely we'll ever see a movie like this ever again due to laws prohibiting people from interacting with wild animals in the united states. Plus, it's sad to think the dolphin who played Flipper ended her life prematurely in her trainer's arms.

Another cool thing to comment on is that there is Advertising inside of the movie. How is that? the characters talk about the movie "Mutiny on the Bounty" Which is a real MGM film. they also Talk about "Showdown in Samoa" but that's not a real film, perhaps it was a project MGM was working on, but abandoned halfway through.

For me, this will always be the ultimate summertime film. Even the original box art said that "it's the next best thing to a day at the beach."

9/10

I only saw about the last 45 minutes of this movie or thereabouts. I only came to the review page to express my wonderment that the great British actress, Francesca Annis, played in this at the age of 19! I didn't even recognize her as the sister Gwen, until I caught a glance at the credits. I had no idea she started out so young, which I learned by looking at her page. And Pamela Franklin! it just seems like she pops up in everything during this time period. Her resume is not that packed, but the movies she was in were so high profile and also starred some of the great stars of the screen. Bette Davis...Deborah Kerr...Maggie Smith... Michael Redgrave...William Holden...Marlon Brando...Dirk Bogarde. She was also in one of my favorite Disney movies, The Horse Without a Head. As she got older she guest-starred in many American TV series back in the day when there were only 3 channels so she would come to my attention time after time. What a memorable presence she was in everything! A great actress indeed. If she ever writes an autobiography, I'd definitely read it. I think she's is long retired now from the antiquarian book business, so that is probably not on the horizon.

It is largely due to the participation of handsome Luke Halpin that this film drew my attention. Although Flipper the dolphin is well trained and does a good job it's also nice to see "Sandy Ricks" appear in a movie again.

For Flipper's New Adventure the writers at MGM came together and mixed the plots of The Admirable Crichton and The Desperate Hours and came up with a story that is cute and entertaining, but also for juveniles. I don't think any adults would buy it. A little bit of Bomba the Jungle Boy thrown in as well.

One phone call to his father who was studying to be a Park Ranger after giving up his career as a fisherman from the first Flipper movie might have eased Luke Halpin's concern for his pet. But he hears some folks from the Miami Seaquarium are going to take Flipper and so he runs away and finds a nice island off the Florida coast to live or at least until the Seaquarium folks go away.

Of course if Luke had made that phone call to Brian Kelly playing his father for the first time, he and Flipper would not have been around to help Tom Helmore's family who are stranded on the same island. He's been kidnapped for the use of his boat by three escaped convicts and they strand Helen Cherry and daughters Francesca Annis and Pamela Franklin on the island Luke took refuge on.

Here's where it gets really dumb. These three are fugitives being hunted by law enforcement and they hit upon the brilliant scheme of holding Helmore and family for a getaway insurance. So they go back to that island and take them all save Halpin whom they don't know about. Absolutely brilliant, these clowns would have killed Helmore and kept on going with that cabin cruiser of his in real life. No wonder a kid and a dolphin take them.

A bit unbelievable for adults, strictly for kids is Flipper's New Adventure.