Director: Jack Couffer
Cast: Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna, Peter Jeffrey

Ever since the silent movie era, filmmakers have often showed an interest in filming stories that depict the warm and loving relationship between an animal and a human. It really got started with the Rin Tin Tin movies, and it just grew from there. Many different kinds of animals have been used over the years to be paired up with a human or humans, such as the horse Trigger tagging along with singing cowboy Roy Rogers in a number of westerns aimed at children. Despite the fact that quite a few different kinds of animals have been joined up with human actors, there are definitely a lot of animals that clearly couldn't be used in the animal side of the relationship. For example, take the fact that nobody has ever made a movie focused on the friendship and bond between a human and an alligator. Yes, I very well know that the horror movie Alligator began with a little girl and her pet alligator, but that was only for a few minutes. I'm talking about full grown alligators, and it's easy to deduce why no film has been about an adult alligator and a human. Alligators look cold and slimy, they always seem to have an attitude that is hostile and always hungry, and they really can't be trained to make the illusion that they have human characteristics such as love. For that matter, I don't think a movie has every been filmed that depicts a person and a pet giraffe. Giraffes are hard to control, they can only make a low noise that doesn't really sound like any human emotion, and they are so tall it would be very difficult to film an entire movie where shot after shot showed both the entire human and the entire giraffe.

There are a lot of other animals that while may have a few characteristics that would be appealing to filmmakers and audience, ultimately possess too many obstacles to be successfully filmed and/or accepted by moviegoers. It's interesting to think about the characteristics that often appear in animals that are used to depict a relationship between an animal and a human. One such trait that is frequently seen is that most of these animals seem to have hair. All mammals have some kind of hair, and seeing any hair often makes people in the audience want to reach into the screen and run their fingers across that hair. It probably is a large reason why it seems most human/animal pairups involve mammals on both sides. Another way that audiences can buy a human/animal relationship is if the animal can show human characteristics in its behavior. Dogs can whine when they are upset, chimpanzees can laugh and clap their hands, parrots can speak human languages, etc. You can't see anything like this in worms, frogs, or plenty of other animals. There is another factor that I see in these kinds of films, and that is the eyes of the animal. Eyes can look enticingly mysterious (like cats), warm and friendly (dogs), or induce other positive emotions. When people look into the eyes of such animals, they can sense some kind of connection and understanding in the creature. But when you look into the eyes of insects, frogs, alligators, and a heck of a number of other animals, there is more often than not a definite creep factor that sinks into the viewers and instantly repulses them.

Despite the fact that there are a good number of animals that would work in a cinematic human/animal pairing, more often that not filmmakers stick to the tried and true - dogs, chimpanzees, etc. Quite frankly, the tried and true is getting a little tiring, and for a while I've craved to see a pairing that has a completely different kind of animal. When I came across the DVD of Ring Of Bright Water in a thrift store, it promised to be a nice change of pace. For starters, the animal in this movie is an otter - hadn't seen that in an animal/human pairing before. Also, I found out that the movie is based on a 1960 book by Graham Maxwell that is still popular and in print today. Adding to the interest was finding out that the events of the book were somewhat autobiographical, promising that the movie would more likely depict the animal/human relationship in a realistic manner instead of going wild with the idea. The human in this movie is a man in London named Graham Merrill (Bill Travers, Duel At Diablo). One day while passing a pet store, he sees in the window an otter. Graham for a time ponders about this fascinating animal, and eventually he decides to buy the otter and keep it as a pet, naming it Mij. However, Mij soon proves to be pretty uncontrollable in Graham's flat, so eventually he makes the decision to take Mij and move to an isolated coastal community in Scotland, where Mij will have a big area to run around and swim in. Not too long after settling in the countryside, Graham meets a woman named Mary (Virginia McKenna, The Chosen), who is the doctor of the village. Soon Graham and Mary becomes good friends, and everybody involved is very happy - which of course means that some serious drama will inevitably come.

When I popped in the DVD of Ring Of Bright Water into my disc player, I admit that I was a little wary about the possibility that the movie's director and co-writer Jack Couffer (Mountain Family Robinson) might have feared that with audiences not accustomed to seeing otters in other movies, subsequently decided to depict the otter in a completely slapstick comedy way (as in Disney movies around this period) to grab the audience's interest. Thankfully, instead the depiction of the otter is pretty realistic. Not long into the movie we learn that wild otters are not to be messed with, and while Mij has clearly been tamed a lot, he all the same often acts in a near uncontrollable manner. When Graham brings home Mij from the pet store, though Mij does show some love for his human master, Mij cannot help but run all over the place and cause utter chaos. As the movie progresses, while Mij does seem to become more obedient, all the same we still get a sense of it still having animal instincts, at one point disappearing into the Scotland sea for several days. This human/otter relationship is very believable, with both partners not always getting their way. But don't get me wrong - this more serious look at a human/animal relationship is not without smiles and chuckles. Mij's unlimited energy and curiosity lead to some very funny moments, my favorite being the sequence where Graham takes Mij onto a train after convincing the railroad Mij is a dog. Sure, you can probably guess what happens during the train journey, but director Couffer does direct the chaos in a manner where viewers will nod and say, "Yes, in that way it would happen in real life." Even when Mij is calmer, there is still something intriguing about this animal that makes you keep watching. It's like many cats you have seen, an animal that still has a mysterious instinct despite being domesticated. Very fascinating.

Couffer gives Mij a lot of respect even when it's raiding Graham's aquarium or pulling down curtains - it's natural curiosity and desire. At the same time, children who watch this movie will find Mij a delight, with it looking so adorable and pulling off a lot of mischief without ever really getting into trouble for it; children will want an otter of their own by the end credits. The young ones may also enjoy the Scottish scenery that is the backdrop to the majority of the movie; it looks raw, untamed, and beautiful, just like the otter. Also, they may be pleased that the relationship between Graham and Mary doesn't get into any real mushy stuff. Their parents will be especially pleased that this adult-to-adult relationship is a lot more realistic than usual; Graham and Mary's first meeting has less of a "meet cute" feeling, and the bond that eventually they form progresses slowly but believably. At the end of the movie, they haven't even kissed, believe it or not. (Well, maybe you'll believe why when you know about author Graham Maxwell's personal life.) The change of pace with the expected romantic subplot does make up for some character weaknesses, mainly to do with the character of Graham. During the course of the movie, we learn that he was once was in Arabia (why?), and that he's an office worker who is divorced (why again? Oh, wait...)... and that's pretty much it, even though the movie also adds a voiceover from him that should fill in some details but never really does. Well, we do also learn that despite being an office worker, he does some pretty dumb and unbelievable stuff at times, from not researching about otters before buying Mij and bringing him home, to him buying a cottage in Scotland without even inspecting the property and the nearby village first. Also, to be honest, actor Bill Travers in this role is kind of bland at times, not getting very enthusiastic when his character experiences something positive and negative.

I will entertain the possibility of Travers' low-key performance being due to director Couffer. While there are the aforementioned scenes of slapstick, Couffer directs the majority of Ring Of Bright Water in a quite low key fashion. This reduced tone does seem appropriate for a simple story about a man and his pet, and it definitely gives the movie a sweet charm. However, it does eventually reveal a script weakness I have not yet mentioned. It doesn't take long to see that there is no real story here. Instead, what we have are basically a series of vignettes that are very loosely connected with each other. Some of these vignettes - Graham adopting some orphaned baby geese, Graham building a big aquarium for Mij - seem extremely pointless and they do drag on a bit until the movie changes its focus to another vignette. This padding might have become more palatable if the character of Graham was working towards some kind of goal or overcoming some big obstacle, but this is not so. Also, I feel I should add that Mij threatens several times in the movie to transform into a supporting player instead of an equal partner with his human master, kind of odd for a movie where a man is taken on adventures of sorts all due to his pet. But even if kids see weaknesses like those while watching Ring Of Bright Water, I still have a feeling they will embrace the entire package seeing that it has a cute and friendly animal as well as a story (if it can be called a story) that doesn't require them to think very hard at any moment. Their parents may nitpick the movie a bit more than them, but even they will at the end be glad they watched it all and tell their neighbors with kids that this is a movie they otter see.

(Posted July 17, 2025)