Saw this movie when I was 6 years old and I never get tired of watching it. An anomaly for our star from West Virginia. Don Knotts plays a meek, bespectacled Bookkeeper from Brooklyn who was rejected by the armed services 4F. His passion or obsession is fish. Not to consume but to be one.A bold statement coming from our Mr.Henry Limpet.Henry has a domineering Wife Bessie Played by Carole Cook. Henry's collection of fish gets out of hand as he floods the apartment rug. Bessie lays down the law and says,"Either the fish goes or I go!" The Limpets are visited by a former third wheel George Stickle played by Jack Weston who also worked with Chimps on his TV program the Hathaway's. Stickle who is on shore leave from the Navy wants to do the town. The truth is that Henry is the third wheel in this triangle. Bessie and George would rather go dancing instead of sitting through boring lengthy lectures by ichthyologists. The trio agree on a venue. Coney Island. After all Henry exclaimed "WELL, I do like the water." Off they go for an Afternoon picnic by the pier. Henry fully clothed with a reverse evolution book in hand jumps into the water and the transformation begins. Warner Brothers animator Bob McKimson does a fine job of making a fish with glasses and it sort of captures the mannerisms of Don Knotts. George Stickle dives into save his friend and finds Henry in Fish form complete with glasses. They both looks at each other and shake their heads in disbelief and they swim away in opposite directions. Bessie distraught, is comforted by George as the police give up the search. Henry swims off and tries to be-friend other species of fish without any luck. Henry feels guilty about his dilemma and is quickly greeted by a hungry shark. He gasped and lets out a loud thrum. The shark is blown away. Henry swims on to a shipwreck and meets a hermit crab Crusty. Paul Frees voice man par excellence does a fine job making the crab come across like an old sea captain. Limpet sees a fish in distress on the verge of being some fisherman's dinner. Swoops by and cuts the fishing line in freeing our new member of the film Lady Fish voice by Elizabeth McRae. Limpet wants to help the navy in spotting Nazi U-boats with his thrum as a warning device or secret weapon. Henry directs the American destroyer to a Nazi sub with a direct hit. Henry tries top convince he's on the side of the allies and wants to give his services but Captain Harlock played by Andrew Duggan wants the recognition signal. Henry insists on meeting his pal George Stickle 3 days from now to straighten things with the Navy. After getting over the shock of his friends physical change, George and Henry are a piscatorial team in sinking one after another Nazi Submarines. Henry wants to be commissioned and have his wife receive a paycheck. Enter Larry Keating as Admiral Spewter who says, "Definitely Not!" The Fleet Admiral steps in and demands give the fish whatever he wants the convoy to Europe must not be stopped! Will Henry lead the ships across the Atlantic? Will Henry turn back into a human or stay a float and spend his remaining underwater life with his fish friends? Sit back with your Grandkids and enjoy The Incredible Mr. LImpet!

What a joy to view this charming fable again! Don Knotts is wonderful as geeky Henry Limpett. Life is tough for this bespectacled gentleman. He's too near-sighted to join the Navy, like other men in wartime New York City, and he seems friendless but for the fish in his aquarium. Making matters worse, oafish pretty-boy George has the hots for Henry's bimbo of a wife, played with winsome vulgarity by Carole Cook.One day, Henry unexpectedly gets his secret wish -- to chuck landlubber life altogether and turn into a tuna, and take up residence in the briny deep. And it's under water that he's finally able to join the Navy, as a torpedo interceptor, and finally land true love -- with a lady fish who worships his every fin. Oh, bubbly bliss!This movie came out when I was 8, and I was thrilled to be able to tape it and watch it with my 11-year-old, whose father also maintains a fish tank. Given that it was "old," my son was at first reluctant. But he quickly submerged himself in the movie's charms.This film's happy ending sloshes with joy. Just another reminder that impossible dreams can come true if one remains open to life's lucky accidents.

WWII-era bookkeeper--hopelessly near-sighted and strictly 4-F with the Navy--changes into a fish and aids the U.S. battleships in an attack against Nazi subs. Though it takes forever to get going, this is a harmless, mindless, partly-animated diversion for children. Probably the most popular of the Don Knotts vehicles of the 1960s, and indisputably the best-produced of the lot; however, with Limpet an underwater success as a military 'secret weapon', his insistence on gaining recognition, compensation, and a lieutenant's ranking for his work coats the product with an unattractive cynicism. The animation is better than it had to be, though the interiors are overlit and most of the performances are phoned-in. ** from ****

In my neck of the woods in Queens is the facade of a building that once was quite important - the R.K.O. Keith in Flushing on Northern Blvd., in New York. The theater was originally a vaudeville house where people like Judy Garland once performed. Then it was a movie house. And it was there that I saw this film in 1964, when I was ten years old.I had liked watching Don Knotts on television, first with Steve Allan and then with Andy Griffith. When I saw he was in this fantasy movie, part of which was a cartoon, I asked to see it. My mother treated me to it around Christmas.It was shown with one or two Warner Brothers cartoons (I recall one was with Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner). But MR. LIMPET was the highpoint of the afternoon for me. I thoroughly enjoyed it.Henry Limpet is a nice little man who is driving his wife Bessie (Carole Cook) crazy because of his non-stop interest in fish. Her brother George (Jack Weston) is a sailor, on home leave during World War II. He has little use for his weird brother-in-law, but he offers to take out his sister and Henry to the seaside. And while there, Henry goes out onto a pier and looks over the side. Earlier the audience heard him saying, "I wish I was a fish." Now he turns into a fish when he falls into the sea (the cartoon transmission of Limpert the man into Limpert the fish is done very nicely).Limpert soon discovers he can be of service to the nation - he can help track down Nazi submarines and enable the U.S. navy and coast guard to sink them. He manages to contact Bessie and George, and George brings in his superiors (Andrew Duggan and Larry Keating). Soon a system is set up with Limpert making a loud sonar reaching sound when he sites a submarine. And the submarines are slowly sunk.This particular description is just the bare bones of the story. There are also the problems of Limpert's break-up with Bessie, and his romance with Ladyfish, not to mention his friendship with Crusty the lobster (who thinks Limpert is a specie of fish called a "Flatbush" when Limpert tells him that he comes from there).It was a wonderful fantasy film for it's day, and I suspect it still would hold up quite well. Besides giving Knotts a role of some depth (no pun intended) as he is torn between human and fish lovers, but it had nice bits of business by Weston as George, who is stunned by the importance of his brother-in-law to the war effort. Therefore I give the film an 8 out of 10. I'm sure you'd be pleasantly surprised too.