Packaging Back
Packaging Bookend Spine
Packaging Front

The Incredible Mr. Limpet

Catalog Number
11808
-
Primary Distributor (If not listed, select "OTHER")
Release Year
Country
VHS | N/A | Slipcase
N/A (NTSC)
N/A | N/A | N/A
N/A | N/A
The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964)

Additional Information

Additional Information
GLUB! The Face That Launched A Thousand Torpedoes!

Now he takes his place with America's greatest naval heroes! The incredible story of Henry Limpet, America's deadliest secret weapon! Now you will know all!

will leave you limp with laughter!

In this amusing fantasy, a combination of live-action and animated effects, Don Knotts plays scrawny bookkeeper Henry Limpet, who longs to help the U.S. after the outbreak of World War II. He becomes depressed after being turned down by the Navy, particularly after his pal George (Jack Weston) is accepted. When Henry takes a walk on the Coney Island pier with his wife Bessie (Carole Cook), he falls into the water and is transformed into a fish, complete with his reading spectacles. Henry finally gets to help the war effort by helping to track down Nazi U boats for the Navy. Andrew Duggan and Larry Keating play the admirals who spearhead the secret mission involving the transformed Henry. Longtime Disney production associate John Rose was the producer of this film, and the influence of the animation is evident.

The Incredible Mr. Limpet is a 1964 American live-action/animated adventure film from Warner Bros.[1] It is about a man named Henry Limpet who turns into a talking fish resembling a tilefish and helps the U.S. Navy locate and destroy Nazi submarines. Don Knotts plays the title character. The live action was directed by Arthur Lubin, while the animation was directed by Robert McKimson, Hawley Pratt, and Gerry Chiniquy. Music includes songs by Sammy Fain, in collaboration with Harold Adamson, including "I Wish I Were a Fish", "Be Careful How You Wish", and "Deep Rapture".

The story begins September 1941 just before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Shy bookkeeper Henry Limpet loves fish with a passion. When his friend George Stickle enlists in the United States Navy, Limpet attempts to enlist as well, but is rejected. Feeling downcast, he wanders down to a pier near Coney Island and accidentally falls into the water. Inexplicably, he finds he has turned into a fish. Since he never resurfaces, his wife, Bessie, and George assume he has drowned.

The fish Limpet, complete with his signature pince-nez spectacles, discovers a new-found ability during some of his initial misadventures, a powerful underwater roar, his "thrum". He falls in love with a female fish he names Ladyfish, and makes friends with a misanthropic hermit crab named Crusty.

Still determined to help the Navy, Limpet finds a convoy and requests to see one of his friends, George Stickle. With George's help, Limpet gets himself commissioned by the Navy, complete with advancing rank and a salary, which he sends to Bessie. He helps the Navy locate Nazi U-boats by signaling with his "thrum", and plays a large part in the Allied victory in the Battle of the Atlantic. In his final mission, he is nearly killed when the Nazis develop a "thrum" seeking torpedo, and is further handicapped by the loss of his spectacles. He manages to survive using Crusty as his "navigator", and sinks a number of U-boats by redirecting the torpedoes. After the battle, he swims to Coney Island to say goodbye to Bessie (who has now fallen in love with George) and get a replacement set of glasses. He then swims off with Ladyfish.

In the film's coda, set in the modern times of 1964, George (now a high ranking naval officer) and the Admiral are presented with a report that Mr. Limpet is still alive and working with porpoises. The two men travel out to sea to contact Mr. Limpet and offer him a commission in the United States Navy.

Release Date: March 24, 1964 by Warner Brothers

Comments0

Login / Register to post comments

1

2