''The Water Babies'' is a 1978 live action-animated

family film A children's film, or family film, is a film genre that generally relates to children in the context of home and family. Children's films are made specifically for children and not necessarily for a general audience, while family films are made ...

directed by

Lionel Jeffries Lionel Charles Jeffries (10 June 1926 – 19 February 2010) was an English actor, director, and screenwriter. He appeared primarily in films and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, Golden ...

and starring

James Mason James Neville Mason (; 15 May 190927 July 1984) was an English actor. He achieved considerable success in British cinema before becoming a star in Hollywood. He was nominated for three Academy Awards, three Golden Globes (winning once) and two ...

Bernard Cribbins Bernard Joseph Cribbins (29 December 1928 – 27 July 2022) was an English actor and singer whose career spanned over eight decades. During the 1960s, Cribbins became known in the UK for his successful novelty records " The Hole in the Ground" ...

Billie Whitelaw Billie Honor Whitelaw (6 June 1932 – 21 December 2014) was an English actress. She worked in close collaboration with Irish playwright Samuel Beckett for 25 years and was regarded as one of the foremost interpreters of his works. She was als ...

Joan Greenwood Joan Mary Waller Greenwood (4 March 1921 – 28 February 1987) was an English actress. Her husky voice, coupled with her slow, precise elocution, was her trademark. She played Sibella in the 1949 film ''Kind Hearts and Coronets'', and also app ...

David Tomlinson David Cecil MacAlister Tomlinson (7 May 1917 – 24 June 2000) was an English stage, film and television actor, singer and comedian. Having been described as both a leading man and a character actor, he is primarily remembered for his roles wit ...

, Tommy Pender, and Samantha Gates. It is very loosely based on the book ''

The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby ''The Water-Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby'' is a children's novel by Charles Kingsley. Written in 1862–1863 as a serial for '' Macmillan's Magazine'', it was first published in its entirety in 1863. It was written as part satire in ...

'' by

Charles Kingsley Charles Kingsley (12 June 1819 – 23 January 1875) was a broad church priest of the Church of England, a university professor, social reformer, historian, novelist and poet. He is particularly associated with Christian socialism, the workin ...

Plot

Tom is a 12-year-old orphan living in

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

in the mid-19th century. He is taken under the wing of Grimes, a roguish

chimney sweep A chimney sweep is a person who inspects then clears soot and creosote from chimneys. The chimney uses the pressure difference caused by a hot column of gas to create a draught and draw air over the hot coals or wood enabling continued combust ...

, as he is small enough to climb inside the chimneys. One day, they leave town and go to Harthover Hall, a huge country house set in vast grounds. Grimes rides a donkey – Tom and Grimes' assistant Masterman walk alongside. At the house, Tom gets lost in the maze of chimneys and appears in a young girl's bedroom (Elly). Meanwhile Grimes is passing silverware out of the windows to Masterman. When discovered by the housekeeper Grimes blames the crime on Tom who makes a run for it with his dog Toby. They are pursued across the estate, and end up at Dead Man's Pool: a deep pool in a fast flowing river. Although the young girl protests his innocence Tom jumps in with the dog. The film then switches to a fantasy animation of speaking sea-creatures. Here he must help rescue his new friends, the Water Babies, from enslavement by sharks. This section includes multiple musical sequences mainly involving Jock the Scottish

lobster Lobsters are Malacostraca, malacostracans Decapoda, decapod crustaceans of the family (biology), family Nephropidae or its Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on th ...

, Terence the English

seahorse A seahorse (also written ''sea-horse'' and ''sea horse'') is any of 46 species of small marine Osteichthyes, bony fish in the genus ''Hippocampus''. The genus name comes from the Ancient Greek (), itself from () meaning "horse" and () meanin ...

and Claude the French

swordfish The swordfish (''Xiphias gladius''), also known as the broadbill in some countries, are large, highly migratory predatory fish characterized by a long, flat, pointed bill. They are the sole member of the Family (biology), family Xiphiidae. They ...

. The story jumps to a cave in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

where they join forces with Cyril the

Walrus The walrus (''Odobenus rosmarus'') is a large pinniped marine mammal with discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. It is the only extant species in the family Odobeni ...

, a group of

polar bears The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a large bear native to the Arctic and nearby areas. It is closely related to the brown bear, and the two species can interbreed. The polar bear is the largest extant species of bear and land carnivo ...

, and a flock of penguins; and also encounter the sea king Kraken also known to many as

Neptune Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun. It is the List of Solar System objects by size, fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 t ...

and

Poseidon Poseidon (; ) is one of the twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and mythology, presiding over the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 He was the protector of seafarers and the guardian of many Hellenic cit ...

. In the end, Kraken returns Tom and Toby to their world for self-sacrificing for others instead of choosing their own needs. On their world, Tom proves his innocence and helps capture Grimes. He is then adopted by Elly's family.

Cast

as Mr. Grimes *

as Mr. Masterman *

as Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby/Old Crone/Mrs. Tripp/Woman in Black/Water Babies 'Gate Keeper' *

as Lady Harriet *

as Sir John *Tommy Pender as Tom *Samantha Gates as Elly * Paul Luty as Sladd

Voices

*James Mason as Killer Shark *Bernard Cribbins as

Electric Eel The electric eels are a genus, ''Electrophorus'', of neotropical freshwater fish from South America in the family Gymnotidae, of which they are the only members of the subfamily Electrophorinae. They are known for their electric fish, ability ...

*David Tomlinson as Polar Bear *Samantha Gates as Ariadne the Water Baby *Paul Luty as Claude the

Swordfish The swordfish (''Xiphias gladius''), also known as the broadbill in some countries, are large, highly migratory predatory fish characterized by a long, flat, pointed bill. They are the sole member of the Family (biology), family Xiphiidae. They ...

Jon Pertwee John Devon Roland Pertwee (; 7 July 1919 – 20 May 1996), known professionally as Jon Pertwee, was an English actor. Born into a theatrical family, he became known as a comedy actor, playing Chief Petty Officer Pertwee (and three other roles) in ...

Salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

/Jock the

Lobster Lobsters are Malacostraca, malacostracans Decapoda, decapod crustaceans of the family (biology), family Nephropidae or its Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on th ...

/Kraken *

Lance Percival John Lancelot Blades Percival (26 July 1933 – 6 January 2015), known as Lance Percival, was an English actor, comedian and singer, best known for his appearances in satirical comedy television shows of the early 1960s and his ability to impr ...

as Terence the

Seahorse A seahorse (also written ''sea-horse'' and ''sea horse'') is any of 46 species of small marine Osteichthyes, bony fish in the genus ''Hippocampus''. The genus name comes from the Ancient Greek (), itself from () meaning "horse" and () meanin ...

David Jason Sir David John White (born 2 February 1940), known professionally as David Jason, is an English actor. He has played Derek "Del Boy" Trotter in the sitcom ''Only Fools and Horses'', Detective Inspector Jack Frost in the drama series '' A Touch ...

as Cyril the

*Olive Gregg *Cass Allan *Liz Proud *

Una Stubbs Una Stubbs (1 May 1937 – 12 August 2021) was a British actress, television personality, and dancer who appeared on British television, in the theatre, and occasionally in films. She became known after appearing in the film '' Summer Holiday'' ...

Production

Producer Peter Shaw read the book in 1972 and thought it would make a good film. However, he was unsure how to tackle the film technically and was concerned about how to turn the book into a script. He and writer Michael Robson took some time adapting the book. Key changes were made including adding a sidekick for the evil sweeper Grimes and having the villains get their comeuppance in the real world as well as the fantasy world. Shaw toyed with the idea of using special effects then decided to create the underwater sequences via animation. "We had the perfect excuse," said Shaw. "The surface of the water becomes the boundary between live action and fantasy." Shaw formed a company called Water Babies Ltd. The budget for the film was raised entirely in England, and the film was shot without a distributor. Shaw looked into hiring animators in Hollywood, but found them to be too expensive, so made a deal with a Polish company. The Poles did the animation while the British did the story, soundtrack, working designs and characters. Lionel Jeffries was going to direct a film version of ''

David Copperfield ''David Copperfield''Dickens invented over 14 variations of the title for this work; see is a novel by English author Charles Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, detailing his adventures in his journey from infancy to matur ...

'' with

David Essex David Essex (born David Albert Cook; 23 July 1947) is an English singer-songwriter and actor. From 1973 to 1994, he attained 19 Top 40 singles in the UK (including two number ones) and 16 Top 40 albums. Internationally, Essex had the most suc ...

but that was postponed so in September 1976 it was announced he would make ''Water Babies''. The film was filmed on location in Yorkshire, England in November 1976. Primarily based at Denton Hall, Wharfedale, early scenes are filmed in the city of York. Post-production took many months, due to incorporating the animated sequences. Costumer designer Phyllis Dalton claimed the film was ruined because "we did the on the ground Water Babies stuff in Ilkley, but they used Polish cartoons for all the underwater stuff, which I thought was awful. I think they were the wrong people to do it. I don’t think they had the sensitivity to do our Water Babies. But the rest of it was fun and Lionel Jeffries was lovely to work with."

Reception

''The Guardian'' felt the animation "that is basically the trouble.. it does not fit the original in either style or content." ''The Sunday Telegraph'' also felt the animation "does not seem to integrate with the rest of the story" but "once to shore it

he film He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

comes to life." ''Sight and Sound'' called it a "charming adaptation... with an excellent cast and surprisingly appealing animation for the underwater scenes, although the water babies themselves are in the well-worn tradition of Disney cuteness."

Home media

''The Water Babies'' was released on VHS, DVD and Bluray. The last physical format release was a Bluray released in the UK on March 21, 2016

Books

Collins Colour Cubs also published four children's books based on the movie; Tom the Little Chimney Sweep, Tom Becomes A Water-Baby, Tom in The Undersea World and Tom and Ellie.The Water Babies
/ref> In addition a novelization of the movie was published the same year as an Armada paperback ().

References

External links

*
The Water Babies
at

TCMDB Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Water Babies, The 1978 films 1978 animated films 1978 fantasy films 1978 musical films The Samuel Goldwyn Company films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animated films Animated films based on children's books British children's animated films British children's fantasy films British fantasy films British musical films 1970s British animated films 1970s children's fantasy films Films directed by Lionel Jeffries Films with live action and animation 1970s children's animated films 1970s English-language films 1970s British films Films based on works by Charles Kingsley English-language musical films English-language fantasy films Films set in Yorkshire