Curtis Harrington is an interesting director whose good value as an interview subject gave him perhaps a higher profile than the quality of his output warranted. Nonetheless, this is a very impressive feature debut – it also marked the first lead for Dennis Hopper, who plays a sailor on leave who falls for a girl who thinks she’s a mermaid. A reverse of Cat People!
There’s very atmospheric depiction of the seaside area – jazz bars, deserted streets, dingy attractions, etc – which is the big appeal of the movie. It’s genuinely haunting. Some of the acting is a bit iffy, but not Hopper, who is touchingly awkward (the bad ones are just awkward).
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