The Incredible Mr. Limpet

Don Knotts stars as Henry Limpet, a mild-mannered 4F, circa WWII, who seems to have only two ambitions in life: to join the Navy and to become a fish--two goals that are, apparently, not mutually exclusive. While on an outing at Coney Island, Henry falls over the rail and, instead of drowning, is magically transformed into a fish. With the help of his friend, sailor George Stickel (Jack Weston), Henry is recruited by the Navy as a secret weapon, nosing out Nazi subs and directing the destroyers where to drop depth charges. There's a love interest (Ladyfish), a buddy (Crusty the crab), the ongoing battle with those dastardly Nazi subs to keep the story moving along, and a few nice tunes (yes, it's a musical, too), but the dialog is strictly cornball and the animation is unlikely to wow 21st century kids. Still, this 1964 film has a bit of a cult following among boomers (full disclosure: I enjoyed seeing this at the drive-in when I was eight years old). On DVD, the image sports good color, but is also a bit grainy (especially in the underwater sequences) and has some scratches, while the Dolby Digital mono track is somewhat tinny and treble-heavy. On the extras side, Don Knotts has an amiable three-minute introduction, and there's a 10-minute featurette called "Weekend at Weeki Wachee," documenting the film's (underwater!) premiere. Still, this is liable to appeal only to nostalgic boomers, and is therefore strictly optional. (R. Pitman)