RELEASED IN 1964 and directed by Leon Benson, "Flipper's New Adventure" has Luke Halpin returning as teenager Sandy who runs away to an island where he discovers three female castaways, a mother and two daughters (Helen Cherry, Francesca Annis & Pamela Franklin). Meanwhile there are three escaped convicts on the loose. Brian Kelly replaces Chuck Connors as the kid's father, Po.As a family adventure/fantasy/animal flick, this sequel has even more "Yeah, right" moments than the first one, but I like it better because there's more human interest and sense of adventure. Luke was 16 during filming and Pamela 13. Their chemistry is real seeing as how Pamela was Luke's first girlfriend and he later traveled to England to see her, although it never morphed into anything permanent.It's amusing to observe Sandy basically becoming a teenage Tarzan as he aids the three females: Penny (Franklin) secretly receives his help while humorously pretending to possess great survival skills to her mother & sister. The showdown with the three convicts in the last act is actually kinda thrilling for a kid's adventure.The dolphin Mitzie played Flipper in the first movie whereas Suzy performs as Flipper in this one. Right before the film's release Luke confessed that Mitzie was more affectionate.THE MOVIE RUNS 94 minutes and was shot in Bahamas and Key Biscayne & Miami, Florida. WRITER: Ivan Tors. ADDITIONAL CAST: Lloyd Battista plays the lead convict while Tom Helmore plays the Brit patriarch.GRADE: B

I discovered the existence of the two Flipper movies quite by accident after a childhood of Flipper TV re-runs. It has been a pleasant discovery.The first Flipper movie tells us how boy and dolphin became friends. That bond became the foundation of the popularity of the Flipper franchise. In this the sequel movie, we see further evolution of the family structure that was not finalized until the Flipper TV series was filmed in the summer of 1964. Flipper's New Adventure (FNA) was filmed due to the success of the first Flipper movie only one year later in 1963 but was held back for release in the early summer of 1964 as an intro to the TV series that was screened in the fall of 1964. Whilst the first movie featured all of the Ricks family members and was a little slow in getting to the dolphin rescue story, FNA quickly zeros in on the two stars of the first movie (Luke Halpin as Sandy Ricks and the dolphin - actually dolphins as Flipper). The producers were keen to cash in on Halpin's emerging teen idol status (he was 16 when FNA was filmed) as he grew up and so Sandy is the central character in FNA as opposed to a major character in the first movie. Halpin wore nothing more than just a pair of cut down blue jeans shorts for 90% of FNA cementing his signature look that became an integral part of the TV series and defined Halpin permanently (ultimately to the detriment of his post-Flipper career). The Flipper/Sandy bond is now front and center - first with Sandy running away from his Florida Keys home when a family friend advises of an intended forced removal of he and his pet dolphin. This is no ordinary running away - it is a potentially life threatening journey in a small skiff across the Atlantic to the Bahamas. Flipper of course saves the day.The bond continues as Sandy's paradisaical island retreat is soon visited by fleeing murderers and then a well-to-do British family on a sailing voyage. When the crooks cast ashore the mother and daughters, they are helped by the Sandy/Flipper duo - sometimes in ways that defy reality. The crooks are all gradually captured by the guile and tactics of Sandy and Flipper. Unlike the first movie, the sequel moves at a much quicker pace and involves action more likely to appeal to older children and early teens.As touching as the first Flipper movie is, FNA was voted as more enjoyable by an extended family group of children aged 5 to 11 that we showed both to over a family reunion weekend. It more easily commanded their attention despite being the longer movie. Sandy's consistent loyalty to Flipper, the beauty of the Caribbean island, the budding romance between Sandy and the youngest English castaway and the determination he had to both help them but prevent outsiders from finding him and Flipper all add together to make this a halfway decent kids movie.Halpin comes across as more confident and independent, his underwater skills are superb and he handles the vagaries of girls and a foreign accent with all the puzzlement you'd expect of the 13/14 year old boy he is acting as. His penultimate scene with the injured Flipper is quite moving. FNA also transitions to the family dynamics seen in the TV series by replacing the more austere Chuck Connors with the friendlier telegenic Brian Kelly as the father Porter Ricks. The FNA Porter Ricks is now a Park Ranger (in training) and no longer a fisherman and the mother/wife has now died.Some trivia arising from FNA: 1 - Right after the final scene in FNA was shot in 1963, MGM had NBC shoot a pilot episode for the TV series that would follow in 1964. In the pilot, Tommy Norden makes his first appearance as the younger brother Bud. This pilot became Episode 3 (SOS Dolphin) in Season 1 and wasn't screened until quite a few months later in the midst of the other Season 1 episodes filmed in 1964. The age gap is quite noticeable in the case of Luke Halpin. 2 - The on-screen romance between Sandy Ricks and Penny Hopewell had a sense of realism to it because it had become a real life romance between Halpin and the well known English actress Pamela Franklin complete with Halpin later traveling to England to visit what he admitted to an interviewer when he was in his early 20's was his first girlfriend. 3 - Before FNA was released and just days before Halpin's 17th birthday, he appeared on the famous "To Tell The Truth" TV show. The producers would try to hide someone of rising fame with two other decoys leaving the celebrity panel of four to ask a series of questions of all three contestants in an attempt to uncover who was the real person. During the questioning, Halpin revealed that he was closer to the main dolphin in the first movie (Mitzie) than he was to the main dolphin in FNA (Suzy) describing Mitzie as more affectionate.Since showing the movies to my kids, they are thoroughly enjoying the TV series on Hulu. FNA cemented the Sandy/Flipper bond and neatly transitioned the franchise into the popular TV show that remains in syndicated re-runs some 50 years later.

the only thing I enjoyed from the movie is the scenery. definitely for the under 10 set who wont realize the unbelievability of the plot. sandy runs away with flipper to one of the small islands in the keys i guess . a British family gets hijacked while vacationing on their yacht. the dad is forced to stay with the crooks while the wife and kids are forced to get in a leaky dinghy and get to shore which happens to be the same island sandy is hiding on. he secretly helps the women who don't know how to do anything and accidentally runs into the younger daughter and they become secret friends- she swears to not tell anyone else that he is there.. this is where the unbelievable part goes , i mean don't you think the girl would worry about her dad and try everything to get off the island ,i mean screw sandy -- i want my dad back and i don't care about your childish run away from home thing. i would have told them and made him take the boat back to shore .. plain b/s and the writers not very intelligent.... average and all.

It is largely due to the participation of handsome Luke Halpin that this film drew my attention. Although Flipper the dolphin is well trained and does a good job it's also nice to see "Sandy Ricks" appear in a movie again.