According to info at Amazon.com and Movies Unlimited, the upcoming VCI DVD of MERMAIDS OF TIBURON (being released under the title PSYCHOTRONICA VOL. 3) will be in color, letterboxed at 1:85-1, and carry an R-rating. So, it sounds to me that this may be the long-lost version known as THE AQUA SEX, but I am speculating about that. Hopefully, the infomation is correct. I've only seen the film in flat, black and white prints, although Something Weird used to have a color trailer preview of it.

This is in the same package as PSYCHOTRONICA VOL. 2, which contains the Jack Hill two-fer of MONDO KEYHOLE and THE RAW ONES. There are three volumes called PSYCHOTRONICA 1, 2, and 3, and there's also a box set with all three of the two-fers. The street date is listed as February 5th, a bit earlier than first reported.

In a word...... WOW!

Looks like VCI worked out a deal with John Lamb to release this, as well as his MONDO KEYHOLE and THE RAW ONES.

MERMAIDS has some interesting extras: Commentary by Romero Carey, son of Timothy Carey, with Elijah Drenner| Original Theatrical Trailers for all three versions of "Mermaids of Tiburon"

I can't wait for these!

Mike, where did you find the information about the extras for the MERMAIDS OF TIBURON disc? I've looked for all of those films on the VCI website, but they continue to be the worst self-promoters in the business, with no mention of the three Psychotronica double-bills on the site (at least, I can't find anything there).

Lamb has held onto that stuff forever, so it's great to have it finally coming out. Even MERMAIDS OF TIBURON (the common B&W version) has never had a commercial release.

Do you agree with my speculation that the DVD will hopefully present the uncut AQUA SEX edition with the (probably brief) topless shots? That would be the only element that would require an R rating, methinks.

I'll say this much - after VCI's CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS debacle, I just don't trust them to get a release like this (i.e. one so full of potential for error) correct.

Is a corrected version of CHILDREN available yet?

John, I got the MERMAIDS info from the order page at Amazon. CRY OF THE BEWITCHED, a Mexican horror film, is the co-feature. Here's what the page says about the version of MERMAIDS that will be released:

"The Mermaids of Tiburon: This film was produced and directed in 1962 as a fantasy-adventure by noted underwater cinematographer, John Lamb. Two years later, he chopped out 10 minutes, re-shot the close-ups and medium shots of the mermaids; revealing the enchantresses in the nude (with emphasis on actress Gaby Martone), and released it as "The Aqua Sex ". Twenty-three years later, Lamb took the time to re-edit his epic like he really wanted and, just to make sure, added additional nude footage using glamour model Diane Webber! The result is a beautifully photographed fantasy about mermaids who assist...and distract...a young scientist in his quest for sunken treasure, complete with Timothy Carey at his menacing best. Filmed in the pearl garden of Mexico's La Pez, and the kelp forest along the coast of Santa Catalina."

Jeffrey, I do think this sounds like a promising release--a director's cut, in color, including the adults-only scenes, etc. What's not to like?

Only VCI's track record with quality control. I just have no confidence in them as a company. They seem to be stuck in mastering/authoring standards barely acceptable in '99.

Define 'corrected'.

There are additional screenshot comparisons below the initial post.

VCI is really hit and miss. Their widescreen transfer of HANNIBAL (1960) was excellent.

I think that their product tends to be more carefully handled when they're transferring films that they haven't previously released on VHS, such as HANNIBAL and hopefully MERMAIDS OF TIBURON.

Some of their own titles previously released on VHS, such as DEATH GAME (aka THE SEDUCERS), look pretty bad. I'm wondering if they previouslly released CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS on VHS. Perhaps they haven't stored their older prints adequately over the years?

Their noir titles from Lippert have looked quite good overall, another example of them doing well with recently-acquired product.

However, I still feel that their own website and promotional efforts are substandard. They were just as poor in promoting themselves back in the days of VHS.

Do we know who Elijah Drenner is? I notice that the person also moderates Jack Hill's audio commentary track for MONDO KEYHOLE, also in this series.

Here's an old thread with musings/additional info on MERMAIDS OF TIBURON:

MERMAIDS/Diane Webber

I'm surprised that Diane didn't appear in Lamb's later nudist camp flick THE RAW ONES, given her appreciation of the nudie lifestyle.

It seems that MERMAIDS OF TIBURON, MONDO KEYHOLE, and the other titles in the PSYCHOTRONICA promotion have been delayed. Amazon estimates that they will show up around the end of this month. Given VCI's track record, I am not shocked by this news.

Just received the PSYCHOTRONICA COLLECTION today. First up for viewing was MERMAIDS OF TIBURON. The color is a little aged, but looks very nice overall, and the nudity was plentiful. Really fun to finally see this film in color, uncut and in widescreen. I recall reading about THE AQUA SEX in the Psychotronic book back in the 1980s or so, when the book was new. It has taken this long for the nude version to surface.

Some of the previously announced extras have changed. There aren't any trailer previews for TIBURON, and no audio commentary track with Romeo Carey. By the same token, there's a slightly different cut of the film sans nudity, suitable for the "family-friendly" crowd.

The next title I'll get to will be MONDO KEYHOLE.

I want to get this, but there seems to be both single releases and some kind of box - does this hold all three volumes? My source (Axelmusic) is a bit unclear

http://www.axelmusic.com/productDetails/089859057724

Edit: the first post here actually seems to answer my question, should have re-read from the top...

There is a box set that contains all three double-bills. The box set (which is cheaper than buying the three double-bills separately) is specifically entitled PSYCHOTRONICA COLLECTOR'S SET.

All six films are claimed to be from the original 35mm negatives. TIBURON looks like it, and so does MONDO KEYHOLE, although I've only had time to spot-check the latter. KEYHOLE is letterboxed at approx. 1:85-1, and has audio commentary with director/cinematographer/writer/editor Jack Hill. The DVD looks much better than my recollections of the old SWV VHS version, which was withdrawn from the market at the "request" of John Lamb.

Thanks - MONDO KEYHOLE is really the reason I'm going for this, but some of the others sound intriguing so I'll get the whole box while I'm at it!

Well, I had a chance to poke around in this set. DELINQUENT SCHOOLGIRLS appears to be the same version released on VHS by Vestron, albeit at 1.85:1 and anamorphic. Kinda dark and scuzzy looking though, and none of the transfers here are stellar. MONDO KEYHOLE is indeed widescreen but non-anamorphic. There's also a rather bad glitch at the beginning of one of the chapters--12?--possibly a clumsy layer change. I had not seen DREAM NO EVIL before, and the film starts with a disclaimer about originally being rated R, then re-rated PG before finally being released. This would seem to be the stultifying PG cut; some nudity is optically censored.

Many of the films have ugly new video-generated title cards. There are some good trailers, marred at times by compression issues. It would seem the same company owns Bethel Buckalew's MAG WHEELS (aka SUMMER SCHOOL) and judging from the trailer included here, it could be some sort of awful masterpiece. May it appear on PSYCHOTRONICA VOLUME 4 with all deliberate speed. There's also a trailer for UP YOURS/UP YOUR LADDER, which looks amazingly bad.

MAG WHEELS is not quite as good as, say, THE VAN, but it is indeed awfully wonderful, or wonderfully awful, right down to its sensitive guy theme song ("Anita, can you tell me whyyyyyy..."). Please, please, get this on DVD with all speed!

Just got the box set...wow! I was a little surprised the box copy did not mention that THE RAW ONES was notorious for being the first US film to show full frontal nudity. It won several court cases, due to the fact that it portrays nudity in a non-erotic context. Also, the outer slip case has a couple errors: it indicates there are deleted scenes for YAMBAO and DREAM NO EVIL, and it claims the nude version of MERMAIDS has nude footage of Diane Webber, neither of which is true. These are minor quibbles, though, as this is a great set--six films, all first time on DVD, with two being first time on home video in any format, THE RAW ONES and MERMAIDS OF TIBURON (It may even be three, as I'm not sure if this is a home video debut for YAMBAO.) I hope VCI continues to release rarities like these!

The nude version of MERMAIDS does not appear to actually be THE AQUA SEX; it looks to be a "director's cut," a different edit that incorporates the nude footage from AQUA SEX. Most of the gals in the nude footage do not have mermaid-tail fin costumes, though they come across as water nymphs or mermaid-like creatures. The nude version has a lot less footage of Diane Webber than the original theatrical version included on the DVD. Many scenes are completely reshot, e.g., the underwater scene where George Rowe offers flowers to Webber; in the nude version he offers them to Gaby Martone. It's great to have both variants on the DVD: if you want a mermaid fantasy (with some cheesecake titillation), watch the theatrical version; if you want something with more of a softcore emphasis, watch the nude version, which loses a bit of the hypnotic, mermaid aura, but makes up for it with ample footage of gorgeous women swimming au natural. (This film surely holds the record for the most time and views devoted to undraped female breasts shimmying and wobbling every which way imaginable underwater!) As I mentioned, the nude version does not have actual nude footage of Diane Webber. According to the book "Va Va Voom" by Steve Sullivan, when MERMAIDS was released theatrically in '62, a concurrent variant played in Europe with scenes of Diane swimming topless. However, none of this topless footage of her is included in the DVD's nude version. Again, though, this is a minor quibble.

I knew that Webber's mermaid costume was worn by her in an episode of "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea," but in the intro to MERMAIDS on the DVD, Elijah Drenner drops another interesting tidbit I wasn't aware of: Marta Kristen wore the exact same costume in BEACH BLANKET BINGO. Drenner is incorrect about Gaby Martone being a Playboy centerfold/playmate. She was definitely not a centerfold, and I don't believe she was ever in Playboy, though there's a slim chance the magazine used her in a "Girls of Chicago" or "Toast to Bikinis" type feature with other models. She did model for a few other girlie mags (Fling, for example), and her only other film appearance appears to be MY TALE IS HOT. A shame, as the slender, well-endowed Martone is quite a wonder of nature! If you're into exotica/bachelor pad music, you might enjoy MERMAIDS score: when George Rowe first encounters the mermaids, composer Richard La Salle breaks out into a Martin Denny/"Quiet Village"-type groove. There's also a haunting theme that sounds like it was played on a theremin, but the MERMAIDS pressbook says it is actually a "new instrument, the aqua-electric violin...recorded with an underwater microphone to lend realism to the luring call of the mermaids."

The various running times and versions of MERMAIDS have me scratching my head. (Now I know how Tim feels when sorting through variants of a Franco film!) There are at least four and possibly more:

MERMAIDS OF TIBURON theatrical version (about 76m)

MERMAIDS OF TIBURON concurrent Euro version with topless Diane Webber scenes (according to "Va Va Voom")

THE AQUA SEX (Walt Lee's Fantastic Films reference guide lists run times of 88m and 70m)

MERMAIDS OF TIBURON nude version (76m)

I have a black & white TV broadcast that runs 79m24s. Obviously, it doesn't have any nudity, but I'm not sure why it runs 3m longer than the theatrical version. Maybe it's padded with extra footage. Unlike the DVD versions, the TV print has the film's title superimposed over a map of the ocean. Unlike the DVD, the TV print does not zoom in to Tiburon on the map.

I've never seen AQUA SEX, so I'm not sure about Walt Lee's 88m running time. Could that be a version where Lamb added ten minutes of footage, including nudity, to the 76m theatrical version? Remember, a lot of the nude scenes replace Webber's footage, so you couldn't have both in the same cut; you'd be duplicating scenes. I'm perplexed. Lee's 70m listing for AQUA seems to agree with the notes on the DVD case: Lamb took MERMAIDS at 76m, chopped out ten minutes, replaced scenes and added nudity, yielding a 70m version. That makes more sense...I think?

Besides being filmed around La Paz, Mexico, and Catalina island, "Va Va Voom" states that Lamb also shot footage in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and Red Seas, Majorca, Hawaii, and Silver Springs, Florida. In his book "The New Poverty Row," Fred Olen Ray writes that Roger Corman acquired rerelease rights to MERMAIDS for Filmgroup, and successfully reissued it to US military bases in the 60s. I hope the service men enjoyed it back then, and I'm amazed that, in 2008, the "most fantastic undersea adventure ever filmed!" is finally available--uncensored and in glorious color--for us to enjoy too.

Compared to my recollections of b&w and p&s dupes, I'd say that the new DVD counts as a restoration. The color is still quite lovely, although it doesn't look like it was "filmed yesterday" (a phrase we sometimes use for a high-quality remastering of a film).

I was curious about Gaby Martone, the lead mermaid in the nude version of MERMAIDS OF TIBURON, who's pictured on the back of the DVD case. The IMDb only credits her with MERMAIDS and MY TALE IS HOT, but I did some digging and found she was also in HEAVENLY BODIES (1963), one of Russ Meyer's three long-unseen nudies from the early 60s (the other two being EUROPE IN THE RAW and EROTICA). The third volume of Meyer's autobiography has detailed credits for his films, and the cast of HEAVENLY BODIES includes an actress named Gabby Martine, along with two photos. In one her head is turned away from the camera, but in another shot, though her face is partly obscured, I'm fairly certain it's her. The shot shows her lying on a blanket, sunning in nothing but her birthday suit with another gal oiling her back, and, besides her facial features, her shapely form is a dead giveaway after having seen quite a lot of her in MERMAIDS.

It's amazing to watch the film and then realize that, today, Martone is what, at least 65? If she's still around, it would have been great if she'd been approached to do a commentary. There seems to be little, if any, info about her online. I did a Google search on her and, besides the usual credit listings, the most informative result that came up was a link to a post I myself did here on Mobius! Amazing to think that, over the entire Internet, there's basically zip about her and other actresses like Althea Currier (LORNA), Monica Strand (HOUSE ON BARE MOUNTAIN), etc.