Boy on a Dolphin

Boy on a Dolphin
Original lobby card
Directed by	Jean Negulesco
Produced by	Samuel G. Engel
Written by	Ivan Moffat Dwight Taylor David Divine (novel)
Starring	Alan Ladd Clifton Webb Sophia Loren
Music by	Hugo Friedhofer
Cinematography	Milton R. Krasner
Editing by	William Mace
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	April 19, 1957 (1957-04-19)
Running time	111 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$2.8 million
Box office	$3.3 million

Boy on a Dolphin is a 1957 20th Century Fox romantic film set in Greece and shot in CinemaScope. It was directed by Jean Negulesco and produced by Samuel G. Engel from a screenplay by Ivan Moffat and Dwight Taylor, based on the novel by David Divine.

The film is noteworthy as Sophia Loren's English language debut. Opposite Loren were stars Alan Ladd and Clifton Webb, with Alexis Minotis and Laurence Naismith in support. Hugo Friedhofer's score was nominated for a Best Music Academy Award in 1958. Cinematography was by Milton R. Krasner.

Plot

Sophia Loren (Phaedra) plays a poor Greek sponge diver who accidentally finds an ancient Greek statue of a boy riding a dolphin on the bottom of the Aegean Sea. Her efforts to sell it to the highest bidder lead her to two competing individuals - Alan Ladd, an honest archaeologist with an academic's bankroll, and Clifton Webb, a wealthy but unscrupulous art collector.

Ladd (museum curator Dr. James Calder) is committed to seeing the statue handed over to the rightful Greek authorities. Webb (millionaire Victor Parmalee) seeks to outwit him and add the treasure to his private collection. Loren throws in with Parmalee, but ends up romantically involved with Ladd, with predictable complications all round.

Cast

• Alan Ladd as Dr. James Calder
• Clifton Webb as Victor Parmalee
• Sophia Loren as Phaedra
• Alex Minotis as Milidias Nadapoulos
• Jorge Mistral as Rhif
• Laurence Naismith as Dr. Hawkins
• Piero Giagnoni as Niko
• Gertrude Flynn as Miss Dill

Production notes

Much of the film was shot on location on the Greek Saronic Islands, notably Hydra. Establishing shots of Athens, Rhodes and Delos add to the verite, while matte shots and some interiors were done at Cinecittà in Rome. One scene utilizes the Eastern Orthodox monastery complex at Meteora later used as a location in the James Bond film For Your Eyes Only.

The disparity in heights between the 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) Loren and 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) Ladd led to complications in filming. Some of their scenes together required him to stand on a box, while another forced a trench to be dug for Loren when the pair walked along the beach.

Title song

The sultry theme song often attributed to Julie London (though she did record her own version accompanied only by a guitar) is actually sung by Mary Kaye in the movie and is performed over the stunning underwater title sequence. Later Sophia Loren sings it in a duet with a local performer at an al fresco cafe:

There's a tale that they tell of a dolphin

And a boy made of gold.

With the shells and the pearls in the deep,

He has lain many years fast asleep

What they tell of the boy on a dolphin,

Who can say if it's true?

Should he rise from the depths of the ocean,

Any wish that you wish may come true.

You say "he's only a statue, and what can a statue achieve?"

And yet, while I'm gazing at you,

My heart tells my head to believe.

If the boy whom the gods have enchanted

Should arise from the sea,

And the wish of my heart could be granted,

I would wish that you loved only me.

External links

• Boy on a Dolphin at the Internet Movie Database
• Boy on a Dolphin at AllRovi
• Boy on a Dolphin at the TCM Movie Database