Mermaids of Tiburon (1962)

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

How sad is this?

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

As soon as I saw the thank-you's to Marineland & Mexico in the opening credits, I had a feeling I'd be in for some road show Jacques Cousteau sure to bore the pants off me and I was right. Filmed by a noted underwater photographer, it's certainly nice-looking but still, it's an hour-and-a-half of watching lead mermaid (the aptly named Diane Webber, a former Playboy Playmate) swim around and around -and around- as a marine biologist and a slimy villain search for giant pearls off the coast of Tiburon, an uninhabited Mexican island. On the plus side, it was in color, the three mermaids weren't cheesy, and the bad guy was played by the great Tim Carey but even he couldn't keep me from occasionally nodding off. This was the original version -actually a "DVD extra"- since the film was butchered and re-released with topless mermaids inserted and the waterlogged plot changed ...to what, I don't know because I have no intention of sitting through it again.

Young marine biologist Dr. Samuel Jamison (a likable performance by director George Rowe in his only acting gig) discovers a bunch of lovely and enticing lady mermaids while searching for buried treasure located deep in the ocean nearby an isolated Mexican island. Writer/director John Lamb gives this simple tale a certain sweet and strangely innocent charm. Moreover, Lamb also maintains a steady pace throughout and brings a sense of genuine awe to the fantastic subject matter. The actresses who portray the titular topless sea sirens are quite attractive and well-endowed; Diane Webber and Gaby Martone in particular are totally ravishing. Popping up in cool supporting roles are the singular Timothy Carey as nasty no-count criminal creep Milo Sangster, Jose Gonzales-Gonzales as excitable Mexican fisherman Pepe Gallardo, and John Mylong as weird old gent Ernst Steinhauer. Lamb's beautiful bright color cinematography offers a wondrous wealth of stunning visuals (the underwater photography is often very striking). Richard La Selle's lush, stirring orchestral likewise hits the melodic spot. An enjoyable little flick.

There have only been a handful of good live action movies with a mermaid as a central character. The black and white "Miranda" and its color sequel "Mad About Men," British films starring Glynnis Johns, are recommended, but only recently have become available on DVD or streaming. The best of the older American bunch, however, is "Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid" from 1948. William Powell plays a man going through an old age crisis who catches mermaid Ann Blythe on a fishing trip. It's a bit dated, but still quite appealing. "Night Tide" (with Dennis Hopper) is a more nightmarish take on the idea, and "Splash" with Darryl Hannah and Tom Hanks is a more humorous take. More recently "Aquamarine" successfully reinvented the myth for a younger female audience, and it's probably the most successful mermaid story other than "Peabody." I even prefer it to "Splash." What all these movies have in common, however, is that they find ways to keep the story on dry land. What distinguishes "Mermaids of Tiburon" is that it takes place mostly in the ocean, and often underwater. It was directed and photographed by John Lamb, who clearly knew how to shoot underwater scenes. And although it was low budget, the choice of location and clever imagery give it a bit more polish. Of course the infamous Tim Carey as the bad guy doesn't hurt, but considering his wonderfully characteristic voice, he could have used more dialog. Diane Webber was pretty impressive, however. She must have been quite a good swimmer. In most, if not all of the underwater scenes it was actually her. Her Queen Mermaid character doesn't have much development, but her performance has a lot of simple charm. There are a number of shots showing her interacting with the fauna of the area, including a particularly remarkable shot of her with a large puffer fish, and another showing her feeding an absolute swarm of small fish. I remember seeing "Tiburon" when it first was released and loving the wonderful COLOR photography. Until recently, it has only been available as a bad black and white dub. Finally, the full color version has been released on a DVD called PSYCHOTRONICA VOL 3, paired with another film. This DVD promotes the nude version of the film, where many shots of topless girls (not even wearing mermaid tails!) are inserted into the story. This version also reduces the role of Diane Webber. But the really good news is that the original version with Diane Webber's performance in tact is also included on this disc in the Extras! Subsequently, I read that Webber had passed away the day I ordered the disc. A sad coincidence. Having viewed the color version after living with the bad b&w dub for so long, "Mermaids of Tiburon" is a revelation. It's true the narration is very corny, and the voice-over performance of the lead was stiff, even somewhat amateurish, but color adds an abundance of atmosphere to the underwater scenes, which were even more impressively photographed than I'd remembered. The scenes between Carey and Jose Gonzales-Gonzales sometimes grate, but the Mexican's pet Mina bird adds a nice touch and they followed through with it all the way to the end.Lastly, the score by Richard LaSalle adds immeasurably to the mood of the piece. As would be expected, the strings suggest a siren call in the underwater sequences, but the music for the action sequences are equally effective. "Mermaids of Tiburon" is no classic, and there is an element of amateurishness to the whole affair, but there's something about its magical atmosphere that other mermaid movies don't capture as successfully. It's unlikely that anyone will take the time and care to make a mermaid film that takes place almost completely under water ever again, so in that regard, this film will probably remain a one of a kind. It was great to see it in color again.

The visuals were beautiful. Having different mermaids other than the mermaid queen, made the movie exciting. They were au naturel too, not that I'm trying to be nasty, but that's how one would imagine mermaids to be in their natural habitats. Not wearing silly flower or clam shells. It is really the only real mermaid movie I've seen besides Splash. That movie was very disappointing because there were only couple seconds where she was really a mermaid. I don't know why they call it Aqua Sex, because it says "Mermaids of Tiburon" in the beginning, I have a color version but I cannot enjoy the movie because it has big white letters in the middle of the screen that it is not for public distribution.