BOY ON A DOLPHIN
US, 1957, 111 minutes, Colour.
Alan Ladd, Sophia Loren, Clifton Webb, Alex Minotis, Laurence Naismith.
Directed by Jean Negulesco.
Boy on a Dolphin was the first international film starring Sophia Loren. However, she had been appearing in numerous Italian films since 1950 in small parts though by 1954 she appeared in Aida as well as in Attila with Anthony Quinn.
She made an immediate impact and the same year was appearing in The Pride and the Passion with Frank Sinatra and Cary Grant and was soon to appear in films with John Wayne, William Holden, Trevor Howard and Charlton Heston.
Alan Ladd was moving towards the end of his career at this stage of the mid-50s, after being an action hero in the 40s but in minor films of the 1950s. Clifton Webb, originally a dancer, had made an impact in the 1940s with sinister and sarcastic roles in Laura and The Razor’s Edge. However, as Mr Belvedere in Sitting Pretty, he began a decade of comedies. He also appeared in Titanic and went into glossy upmarket films like Three Coins in the Fountain and Woman’s World.
The film was directed by Jean Negulesco who made thrillers at Warner Bros during the 1940s including The Mask of Dimitrios as well as Johnny Belinda. He made many glossy films at 20th Century-Fox? with the coming of Cinemascope including Three Coins in the Fountain.
The film is set in the Greek Isles with beautiful colour photography. Sophia Loren plays a sponge diver who discovers a statue of a boy on a dolphin which allegedly has magic powers. An unscrupulous collector wants to get the item – Clifton Webb. She prefers to give it to the American anthropologist who intends to return the statue to the Greek government. A blend of popular romance and action.
1. Was this an enjoyable film? Was this its main theme? Entertaining?
2. How important was the presentation of Greece? The credits sequences, the use of scenery and colour? The effect of the widescreen colour on the audience?
3. The importance of the theme of Greece? The glories and legends of Ancient Greece and achievement? The contrast with modern Greece? The ordinariness of modern Greek people? Their response to archaeological treasures? The shrewdness, money, yet the sense of pride? How well was this theme developed? Especially in the finale?
4. The theme of beauty in the film? The Ancient Greek treasures as beautiful? The contemplation of beauty? The discussion of Parmalee in the museum? Calder’s attitude towards beauty? Phaedra’s? Beauty and Greece, legend and truth?
5. How well presented was the theme of greed? Phaedra’s greed, Dr Hawkins, Rhif? And the effect on their lives? The selfcentredness of greed? Parmalee and his elegant greed?
6. The theme of greed and achievement? Of achievement outweighing greed? What kind of achievement did Parmalee want? What kind of achievement did Calder want?
7. How well drawn were the characters in the film? Did they emerge as persons, well acted? Sophia Loren’s portrayal of Phaedra? As a Greek, poor, her ambitions, shrewdness, her primitive aspects, her emotional response to Rhif and Calder? The clash with Rhif? The reliance on Dr Hawkins? Her ambitions for Nico? Was Calder a real person - Alan Ladd as an archaeologist? His role in detecting Parmalee? His practicality? The emotional relationship with Phaedra - and the final tackle?
8. How real a person was Parmalee - Clifton Webb's acid performance? An elegant criminal? Why was he a criminal? The nature of his dialogue? The shrewdness of his playing off people, one against the other? Should he have been let off at the end of the film?
9. How typical a hero was Calder? Standing for good? Typically American?
10. How did the minor characters add to the tone of the film - Dr Hawkins as an alcoholic expatriate, his medical work, his ambitions? The continual presence of the Greek investigator? Nico and his boyishness? Rhif as an Albanian, emotional relationship to Phaedra, being bought by Parnalee?
11. How important was the underwater photography for the theme of the film and its impact?
12. The importance of the sequences in Athens with the discussion about archaeology and beauty? The visit to the monastery?
13. What did the presentation of village life add to the film? The folksongs and dances etc.?
14. Was the happy ending appropriate? The various crises for Phaedra in her decisions? The achievement of finding the Boy on the Dolphin for the village?
