Il ragazzo sul delfino

Certainly script writers Ivan Moffat and Dwight Taylor have done the best they could to arrange a fairly equal balance of nature and Sophia...

The Greek Isle of Hydra is one of the most cosmopolitan points in the Mediterranean, a dream world with a unique beauty... It appears like a huge dry rock rising out the sea with its tiled houses and buildings scaling the precipitous terrain, one on top of the other, starting from the quay and reaching up to the tops of the hill, while the victorious color scheme is Aegean (white green and bright blue), and the weather is Adriatic... The pretty port looks extremely picturesque, dramatically beautiful...

Director Jean Negulesco has thrown all the grandeur and loveliness of these features upon the eye-filling CinemaScope screen... But Alan Ladd's and the audience's attention is directed to Sophia who explodes beautifully into warmth, glamor, beauty and sex, through frequent and liberal posing of her in full and significant views... Her statuesque beauty reminds us what the Mediterranean can offer in grace and richness...

Diving in the Aegean Sea for sponges off Hydra, peasant girl Phaedra (Sophia Loren) discovers a golden statue of a boy riding a bronze dolphin, chained to the body framework of a wrecked ship... Together with Rhif (Jorge Mistral) her lazy fisherman lover, Niko (Piero Giagnoni) her little brother and an English doctor Hawkins (Laurence Naismith), she tries to look for a rich American sponsor for the raising of the sunken statue...

She had two alternatives: Dr. Jim Calder (Alan Ladd), a U.S archaeologist, devoted to return lost artifacts of great value to their home countries, and Victor Parmalee (Clifton Webb), an ambitious art collector, prepared to pay highly price to cool his insatiable desire for ancient treasures...

With striking photography of the Greek island, the sparkling sea, and the Parthenon, this entertaining film, with nice music by Takes Morakes, is another example of cinema ingenuity...

I saw this movie in the theater when it first came out and then again, years later on t.v. I had the good fortune to tape it onto video as I don't think it can be found in any video stores. I really enjoy this movie as the story is engaging and the ___location shots are beautiful. Sophia Loren does a fantastic job of portraying a vibrant, headstrong, passionate woman on a mission. I've always liked Clifton Webb and thought he did a typically tight, professional turn as an arrogant, proud art dealer immersed in his own inflated sense of superiority and worldliness. Alan Ladd as Dr. Caulder of the museum in Athens is the low point for me as I never found him to be a particularly good actor. He does okay in this movie but doesn't really fill the screen with great charisma. The soundtrack and the title song are fabulous - at times lilting, haunting, and fun. I find myself humming the title theme for hours after watching the movie. How I often know whether I like a movie or not is if I want to jump into the story and "be there". I definitely would want to "be there".

There are two good reasons to see this movie: Sophia Loren. This, if anything, was her breakthrough role and she almost did.

Loren is a sponge diver. Okay. Sponges must come from somewhere I guess. She's Greek. Fine. If Anthony Quinn and Jose Ferrer (neither in this movie) can play every nationality under the sun, and play them well, why not the ladies?

On the Aegen floor (I think It's the Aegean; when Loren climbs into her boat all my senses shut down for a while) she finds a lost artifact of great value: the eponymous boy on a dolphin, so forget any fantasies you may have of an seagoing Roy Rogers (who also isn't in this movie).

Now comes her dilemma, and It's very modern: does she donate it to a museum and see that it's kept where it belongs where, being in a museum, no one will ever know it's there? Or does she sell it to an appreciative collector and live happily ever after on the proceeds? And maybe snag a rich husband in the bargain?

It would take me about two seconds to make up my mind (all but the husband part), but her situation is complicated by her growing affection for the side of good and decency and right, represented by Alan Ladd.

Ladd was an actor of limited range, but he parlayed that into being able to play tough good guys and tough bad guys. And he was a bona fide movie star, which meant he can hold a screen. Unfortunately, in his later years Ladd didn't appear at all well. It's only been a few years since he made what some consider his masterpiece, "Shane," and he's clearly going to seed.

On the other horn of Loren's dilemma is the always delicious Clifton Webb, who also with great facility played good guys and bad guys without changing a note or turning a hair in his performances.

Webb had greater range as an actor but in the movies way back then stardom meant typecasting. People going to the theaters, I suppose, were like diners who wanted their burgers to taste the same whenever they went to their favorite joints. Who doesn't? If they go to a Clifton Webb movie they want to see Clifton Webb. And here he is.

One big mistake in this movie is an almost preternaturally lame title song. I suspect it's one they piped into Soviet gulags during Happy Hour. I nearly switched off. I'm glad I wasn't holding the remote.

Whether you like this movie depends your tolerance for Greek scenery and the freshly-hatched Sophia. She'd grow into a much better actress in English. But even at that stage, she exuded a sense that would come to haunt her when she begged her producer-husband to cast her as Lara in "Dr. Zhivago": she lacks nothing, they said, except inexperience.

One of those movies from childhood you remember as an adult, if for nothing else then for the brilliant colors and underwater scenes. Although this may not be available on DVD as yet, it's a good candidate because of the Technocolor beauty of it all.

The best excuse to watch again this long forgotten film of the late 50s is the exquisite and gorgeous Sophia Loren. What a beautiful woman; a sight for sore eyes indeed!

The Jean Negulesco film shows its age. This film has a little bit of adventure, love story, suspense with the backdrop of Hydra, one of the most enchanting Aegean islands. The film might look a bit outdated to today's audiences, but it's fun to watch Alan Ladd and Clifton Webb doing their best out of roles that don't require much acting. Sophia Loren is perfect as the sponge fisher who discovers a hidden treasure.

I saw this movie recently on cable. It was a trip to another, more innocent era.