The second Flipper feature, Flipper's New Adventure, was a pilot of sorts for the TV series. This is evident with the recasting of Brian Kelly as a widowed father (though young Bud Ricks is nowhere to be seen). There's a lot of action and it all starts with Sandy running away from home. He doesn't want to move and leave Flipper behind. The majority of the story takes place on a deserted island where Sandy ends up after a perilous ocean journey. On this island the encounters a family that has been besieged by modern-day pirates. The family is British, and they have a young daughter who is played by Pamela Franklin, who had previously been in the excellent The Innocents with Deborah Kerr (highly recommended), and who later grew up to be a beautiful, talented actress who brightened such films as The Prime of Miss Jean Brody and The Legend Of Hell House.
The film is very entertaining and is quite a bit more like the series would be (Flipper is more heroic and clever than before), and less like the previous film. One wonders if more films were planned or if the series was well along in the planning (my guess is the latter considering all the logistics involved in how the series was produced). But Brian Kelly's billing is "special introductory appearance", so this was really the beginning of what Flipper was to become.
No comments:
Post a Comment