''The Water Babies'' is a 1978

live action Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ga ...

- animated family film directed by Lionel Jeffries 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 the top box-office attraction in the UK in 1944 and 1945; his British films inc ...

, Bernard Cribbins,

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 al ...

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, 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 1862–63 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 working ...

Plot

Tom is a 12 year old orphan living in

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

in the mid-

19th century The 19th (nineteenth) century began on 1 January 1801 ( MDCCCI), and ended on 31 December 1900 ( MCM). The 19th century was the ninth century of the 2nd millennium. The 19th century was characterized by vast social upheaval. Slavery was abolis ...

. He is taken under the wing of Grimes, a roguish chimney sweep, 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 Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

lobster Lobsters are a family (biology), family (Nephropidae, Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs ...

, Terence the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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

and Claude the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

swordfish Swordfish (''Xiphias gladius''), also known as broadbills in some countries, are large, highly migratory predatory fish characterized by a long, flat, pointed bill. They are a popular sport fish of the billfish category, though elusive. Swordfis ...

. 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, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

where they join forces with Cyril the Walrus, a group of polar bears, and a flock of penguins; and also encounter the sea king Kraken also known to many as

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

and

Poseidon Poseidon (; grc-gre, Ποσειδῶν) was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth, god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece, he was venerated as a ch ...

. 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 * Bernard Cribbins as Mr. Masterman *

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

as Lady Harriet * David Tomlinson as Sir John *Tommy Pender as Tom *Samantha Gates as Elly *

Paul Luty Paul Graham Luty (5 May 1932 – 12 January 1985) was an English wrestler who later became a film and television actor. In 1973 Luty played window cleaner, Bert Henshaw on '' Coronation Street''. Other television credits include '' Love ...

as Sladd

Voices

*James Mason as

Killer Shark ''Killer Shark'' is a 1950 American B film directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Roddy McDowall, Laurette Luez and Roland Winters. Charles Lang scripted the film and also appeared on it. Plot summary Shark fishermen on ocean Mexican Cantina ...

*Bernard Cribbins as Electric Eel *David Tomlinson as Polar Bear *Samantha Gates as Ariadne the Water Baby *Paul Luty as Claude the

Swordfish Swordfish (''Xiphias gladius''), also known as broadbills in some countries, are large, highly migratory predatory fish characterized by a long, flat, pointed bill. They are a popular sport fish of the billfish category, though elusive. Swordfis ...

Jon Pertwee John Devon Roland "Jon" Pertwee (; 7 July 1919 – 20 May 1996) was an English actor, comedian, entertainer, cabaret performer and TV presenter. Born into a theatrical family, he served in the Royal Navy and the Naval Intelligence Division during ...

Salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

/Jock the

Lobster Lobsters are a family (biology), family (Nephropidae, Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs ...

/Kraken * Lance Percival as Terence the

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

* David Jason as Cyril the Walrus *Olive Gregg *Cass Allan *Liz Proud *

Una Stubbs Una Stubbs (1 May 1937 – 12 August 2021) was an English actress, television personality and dancer who appeared on British television and 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 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. The budget for the film was raised entirely in England, and the film was shot without a distributor. It was filmed on location in Yorkshire, England in November 1976. Primarily based at

Denton Hall, Wharfedale Denton Hall is an English country house located to the north of the River Wharfe, at Denton, Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England between Otley and Ilkley, and set within a larger Denton estate of about , including a village, church, ...

, early scenes are filmed in the city of York. Post-production took many months, due to incorporating the animated sequences. 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 (ISBN 10: 0006914357 / 13: 9780006914358).

References

External links

*
The Water Babies
at TCMDB {{DEFAULTSORT:Water Babies, The 1978 films 1978 animated films 1970s fantasy films Animated films based on children's books British children's animated films British children's fantasy films British fantasy 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