Oceans of Love (1956)
Article 5950 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 3-18-2021
Directed by Connie Rasinski
Featuring the voices of Roy Halee and Ken Schoen
Country: USA
What it is: Terrytoons cartoon

A young fisherman is having a tough time catching fish. When he is knocked unconscious, he dreams he rescues a mermaid from a fate worse than death.

Like many other Terrytoons I’ve seen, this one has roughly two sections. It begins as a series of comic scenes in which the various fish of the sea taunt and outwit the young fisherman. The dream section puts us back into an area Terrytoons was very familiar with; it turns into a mellerdrammer operetta when the fisherman becomes a hero rescuing a mermaid from having to undergo a forced marriage arranged by her greedy father. I do get the feeling that things didn’t change a lot at Terrytoons over the years; this cartoon was made in 1956, but feels like it could have come from the studio at any time during the previous twenty years. Still, this is a fairly solid entry from the studio.