Merlin Jones - Der Mann, der zuviel wußte

Who wouldn't want to read the minds of everyone around you?!! Merlin Jones does this and more in this hysterical film! Annette sings the title song,but its lacking a bit in enthusiasm. It's a real 60's production,but it's great for kids!!

Reading about the history of this film, I discovered (as other reviewers pointed out) that this film was produced as a two-part production which was then stitched together and released theatrically. While this explains how disjointed it is, it really is two separate stories in one piece of media, as a viewer neither narrative is fully explored and feels unfinished.

These days, we're more likely to see one story cut into two feature-length films, so to see the opposite feels a bit jarring. There are plenty of films which feel like separate stories, such as Downsizing.

As for the two stories, I'm not sure 'misadventures' is the right word. The premise is classic Disney: what can go wrong when an inventor tries his whacky invention? The first half is enjoyable, where Merlin Jones exposes a court judge's life of crime. But the second half, which explores hypnotism, seems to lose the plot (so to speak).

It's interesting enough for fans of classic Disney, Tommy Kirk, and Annette Funicello, but for casual viewers, give it a miss.

Sleepy, over-the-hill "teenager" Tommy Kirk isn't really the ideal actor to carry a movie set on a mythical college campus, one wherein everyone is relentlessly energetic and colorful. Kirk is supposed to be wacky and wonderful too, but he's the most normal of the bunch, bland and grounded. Still, there are some chuckles in this Walt Disney production about a nerdy college whiz, and love-interest Annette Funicello is lively doing the same love-means-a-wedding-ring thing she perfected in the concurrent "Beach Party" flicks. Much preferable to its immediate sequel, "The Monkey's Uncle", which--despite an opening featuring Annette on stage with The Beach Boys!--just didn't have the heart or spirit of this one. *** from ****

If you're looking for something clean, family friendly and funny, here it is. The Misadventures of Merlin Jones delights from beginning to end. In this classic Disney fare, Tommy Kirk plays Merlin, an eccentric college student at Medfield college who is interested in science, in this case, hypnosis.

Along the way, he and girlfriend Jennifer, payed by Annette Funicello, find themselves getting into all sorts of mischief. Included in the mischief is a chimp and a judge, who likes to write crime novels.

Between the judge writing crime novels, a mischievous chimp and an eccentric student who uses hypnosis, what more in a plot could you expect or ask for?

A great film for kids and adults alike that the whole family can enjoy.

Given how horribly Tommy Kirk was treated and some of the horrible films he made after Walt Disney gave him the boot one might be inclined to say The Misadventures Of Merlin Jones is a classic. I'm not one of them, in fact one wonders how this became a hit looking at it today.

Kirk in the title role is a scientific genius with the fashion sense of one. He's conducting all kinds of wild experiments which even put his relationship to fellow student Annette Funicello at risk. Still she puts up with him only God knows why.

The film bisects neatly in two segments, one concerning Kirk being supercharged with mind reading ability which produces a wonderful day in court with Judge Leon Ames. Police chief Stu Erwin thinks he's found a new crime fighting tool and in fact it does work on one interrogation subject. The second part has Kirk conducting experiments on hypnosis with a chimpanzee and Judge Ames with another day in court for Kirk.

No one ever want wrong underestimating the taste of the American public and this rather witless film was a big hit and inspired another, The Monkey's Uncle.

A whole lot of talented people look rather silly here. I can't see how The Misadventures Of Merlin Jones would appeal to anyone over 9.