| A cautionary tale for the middle-aged man, who upon reaching fifty can expect life to take an absurd and whimsical turn. This is the diagnosis Mr. Peabody's doctor delivers to him as this story, told in flashback, begins on the psychiatrist's couch. William Powell is our Mr. Peabody who is sent, under the doctor's orders, to a tropical paradise in the Carribean for some mid-life R&R. Everything goes along swimmingly until one day while ocean-fishing he snags Ann Blyth, in the form of a mermaid. Peabody takes her home and puts her in the bathtub, then when she's feeling better into the pond at his villa. In a flight of youthful fancy the stodgy Bostonian loses his heart to the fish. This creates all sorts of comical misunderstandings and, especially with his wife, jealousies. His wife diappears and the police think he bumped her off. Peabody is tipped off about the police and decides to go overboard himself, literally, with his fishy lady. Nearly drowning in the deep blue, he hears the song of his dream as he struggles to the surface, where rescue and middle-aged sanity await. |
