Fantastic!

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

The first must-see film of the year.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Sophia Loren is the key to this whole film and whatever you experience with it. Her natural acting gifts, screen presence, beauty and overall pulchritude are remarkable. View it to experience the phenomenon of Sophia. Everything else I am about to write is secondary, but here you are:The location is attractive as is the lovely theme song. Clifton Webb is notable of course. The story is sort of "An American sojourns in Greece" with nice scenery and water and a cute kid. Its inoffensive and OK 1950's fare.As for Ladd, he is giving his competent leading man performance that he did on a sort of standard basis, always in his quiet underplayed manner. He's adequate.Ladd was taller than Robinson, Cagney and numerous others. Paul Newman was often unfairly called "short". Ingrid Bergman was an inch taller than Bogart yet who taunts Bogart about "Casablanca"? Here are the 2 real issues :(1)- Sophia is a tall woman, taller than her own husband Carlo Ponti, and she towers over many male actors in most of her movies. She is a half inch taller than was Humphrey Bogart (she never made a movie with him so we don't know if he would have stood on a box). (2)- Sophia was half Ladd's age! The problem in this film is mostly the tremendous age difference between an older, declining leading man and a vigorous, very young beginner actress. "Taunts" of Ladd's height then and now are missing the point: I believe that the veteran and savvy Ladd probably was rather disinterested as he realized something was awkward here but not height. He was wondering "what am I doing here in these scenes with this young chick half my age?" The following year Ladd made a film with 41-year old leading lady Olivia DeHavilland and it worked.So these are my theories but please keep them in perspective. "Boy on a Dolphin" is all about Sophia and all this other stuff is really only minor details.

Wow! What a wonderful film! This is the kind of adventure that takes you to another world, with all the best the film industry has to offer in every aspect. Aside from the great acting, directing, editing, and locations, the photography is most certainly one of the stars of this captivating realm. The magical music score of Hugo Friedhofer is haunting and lingers in the mind long after the film. In fact, I bought the film soundtrack years ago and still love it today! I found a source on the Internet to order a DVD of this classic adventure and urge film lovers take a ride.Enjoy!

Boy On A Dolphin concerns a statue that is just that which is found by lovely sponge diver Sophia Loren in the Aegean Sea. She's got two people interested in it, archaeologist Alan Ladd working for the Greek government and antiquity collector Clifton Webb. Sophia likes Ladd, but Webb's got the big drachmas. I'll leave it to the experienced movie goer to figure out who she winds up with.The film was shot in the Grecian Isles it really was her first big exposure (literally) to American audiences in an American film. Originally this was to star Robert Mitchum with her, but he backed out and Ladd was substituted.Ladd had a miserable time during this film because of the rough humor of the Greek crew regarding his height. Sophia towered over him and 20th Century Fox did the usual compensating that Paramount and Warner Brothers did with him that involved Sophia in a trench or Ladd on a box. Alan Ladd was one of the nicest of Hollywood stars, but a sensitive soul and the barbs wounded him deeply.The color cinematography in Greece is first rate, you can't photograph a bad color film in that location. Sophia Loren looks real good wet or dry. Reason enough to see Boy On A Dolphin.

Ah, yes! Who can forget that image of Sophia, climbing aboard a small fishing vessel, her peasant blouse opulently revealing why she first became a movie star? 20th-Century Fox wisely featured a snippet of that scene in "Previews of Coming Attractions" for this film when it was first being distributed. The production itself benefits hugely from the gorgeous locations of its story and the Hollywood professionalism of everyone assigned to it. All that, plus Julie London lending her breathy vocalizing to the lovely title song.One of the things I recall about it was Sophia's retort when asked how much would be sufficient compensation for the ancient treasure she'd found under the Aegean. "For me, plenty of money is enough!" How convincingly she delivered that line and how lucky we've been ever since that her stardom led to many better displays of her talents.Where, oh! where is the DVD (CinemaScope ratio preserved, s'il vous plait!) of this sunken treasure?