MovieChat Forums > Manfish Discussion > Why I liked 'Manfish'

Why I liked 'Manfish'


Finally watched the DVD Manfish from retromedia today and even though it's cheesiness showed through it wasn't a bad little film. Lon Chaney playing his famous 'Lenny' dumb role is always fun and everyone was smoking and drinking. The Manfish in title is not a monster, it is a turtle/tortoise harvesting boat in the Caribbean. Of notice to me are a couple of things:
1. I liked the guy warning Brannigan not to leave the girl alone on the ship with a bottle of Rum. When they come back in the dingy she's waving a bottle obviously fake acting like she's smashed but it's still funny.
2. The film seems like it was never edited very much since it's starts up with the standard countdown numbers and keeps flashing a picture of what looks to be a drunk Lon Chaney Jr.
3. No dissolves or scene fades here folks! When they change scenes the camera spins views several times very fast. No need to be on a boat at sea regarding the filming of this movie, the scene changes alone will make you sea-sick!
4. Someone mentioned that the underwater corral swimming scenes/photography would be beautiful in Color. I agree and the film is in Black and White BUT at the very end of the credit scroll it says 'Color by DeLuxe'. Is this an Ed Wood type deal where nobody could afford the move up? I'm curious so someone/anyone let me know! and.....
5. My favorite part of the movie!! (spoiler alert!) After the Professor murders Brannigan with a harpoon he tries desperately to dispose of the body. It is so funny and seems to last for 20 minutes in the film. After he kills the captain of the manfish boat he starts trying to anchor the dead body to a huge lead oxygen bottle. While keeping the dead body covered he keeps getting interrupted LOL! A guy walks up wanting his pay and won't leave. Another guy walks up wanting his pay. A girlfriend walks up wanting to see the captain. Dog barking all the time. All of these people arrive wanting to see the captain who is dead under a tarp. FINALLY, everyone leaves and the professor starts tying a rope to dead captains neck AND a boat pulls up slowly next to him carrying at least a dozen people! After hours of waiting, the prof finally gets the rope around captains neck but the body falls in the water before he can anchor it. By now I'm laughing like it's the Three Stooges! He finally fishes the rope back and attaches it to the tank and drops tank/body in water. Finally! Dead, done, gone!! But No! The oxygen tank on bottom tied to dead body starts leaking huge bubbles up to the water surface! For some reason I found this hilarious.
Check out this cheesy movie, it's fun.




You're damned if you do and damned if you don't ~ Bart Simpson

reply

Why I liked "Manfish?" John Bromfield takes his shirt off with pleasing regularity.

reply

John Bromfield's Brannigan was such an insufferable ass, it made watching the movie difficult.

That said, the Professor's problems getting rid of the body was cute. Reminded me of The Tell-Tale Heart short story by Edgar Allan Poe. Which I guess was the point.


No two persons ever watch the same movie.

reply

[deleted]

totally agree with everything you said,, from the fake drunken girl waving the bottle,, to the humor of the 20 or so minutes of trying to hide Brannigan.. it was so hilarious.. I figured Manfish, was a creature of some sort.. but I loved the movie.

are you going to bark all day little doggie,, or are you going to bite

reply

I've read multiple comic-book versions of both "THE GOLD BUG" and "THE TELL-TALE HEART" recently. For some reason, several different versions of "HEART" tend to make the murder victim as unlikable as the murderer. And, unlike the original Poe story "THE GOLD BUG", everybody in this one (except "Swede") is thoroughly unlikable.

It was almost a shock when Swede, the one honest, decent, likable character in the film, wound up getting his heart's desire at the end-- the boat. And also sad, that he lost the treasure-- WITHOUT even knowing it. But at least, he WAS happy, and unlike his former boss (who won the ship by gambling, and was probably en route to losing it the same way), I imagine Swede will simply make a decent living for the rest of his life, which is all most people really hope for.

I enjoyed the 1973 Spanish comic-book version in "JOYAS LITERARIAS JUVENILES #88" (reprinted in English in "KING CLASSICS #14" in 1977), as that "expanded" the story the way many Roger Moore SAINT episodes did. They added an entire sub-plot about someone else trying to get their hands on the treasure, which was only hinted at in the original. But all 3 main characters were likable. I kinda wish this movie hadn't been so relentlessly unpleasant... though I suppose it WAS funny seeing Victor Jory go off the deep end at the end, being repeatedly frustrated moments after he's committed murder.

Did anyone else think John Bromfield reminded them of RALPH MEEKER's younger brother? He not only looked but acted almost exactly as I've seen Meeker in several films (especially "KISS ME DEADLY"), and I thought he might have brought a bit more power to this.

I also kept thinking, boy, this would look SO much better if they'd filmed it in color. Apparently... THEY DID, but only cheap B&W prints made for television have survived!! A shame.

I see the writer of the film had MUCH more success in TV sitcoms, including a number of "GET SMART"s and no less than 26 episodes of "McHALE'S NAVY" !!


Anyone who'd like to check out 4 different comics versions of the story (plus links to 2 audio versions), click here...

http://professorhswaybackmachine.blogspot.com/2015/04/poe-1973-pt-5.html

Oh, by the way, looking over the comics versions, I'm beginning to suspect the artist who drew the 1973 Spanish version MAY have based the 3 main characters on the 3 actors in THIS movie!

reply

profh-1 is right. When I saw this film at the cinema in the late 1950s, it was in De Luxe Color. But only black and white prints of it made for television have survived.


reply

There was a slow bit early on, but I found it quite watchable. I've seen far worse.

The underwater scenes were quite nice, as was the professor's girlfriend.

I saw it in color on Amazon Prime.

reply