A Quick Look: THE MISADVENTURES OF MERLIN JONES (1963 - color)

   Given that Disney stars helped create the Beach movie, it seems only appropriate that Walt would offer his own take on the material. Annette and fellow Beach regular Tommy Kirk took the form to more academic surroundings in at least four episodes of The Wonderful World Of Color. These episodes, in turn, were edited into a pair of feature films: THE MISADVENTURES OF MERLIN JONES and THE MONKEY'S UNCLE. The second film even brought in the Beach Boys to do the title tune with Annette. These films were every bit as charming as one could hope for, and set the groundwork for the Dexter Reilly movies of the early 70's. In our first adventure, Merlin Jones (the scrambled egghead) happens onto a process for mind reading and thinks a murder plot is afoot! The second film finds our hero trying to develop a flying suit. (On a personal note, I finally found both films on those rare white-case cassettes from the 80's. THE MONKEY'S UNCLE I actually found at a local general store! Sadly, the store recently burned to the ground. Providently, nobody was hurt. The dedicated videonaut, however, will be saddened to hear that a number of rare Disney videos did go up in smoke.) Both films had new title tunes recorded by Annette Funicello. You'll hum them for days after you hear them.