By 1964, Disney had already enjoyed quite a bit of success in the live-action arena. Films like The Absent-Minded Professor and Son of Flubber took a comical look at science while The Shaggy Dog and The Parent Trap offered plenty of teenage hijinx. So the next logical step was to star two of their most popular teens, Annette Funicello and Tommy Kirk in a wacky little adventure about two students dabbling dangerously in pseudo-science. The result was The Misadventures of Merlin Jones.

Kirk plays teen-genius Merlin Jones, a high school student who, through the course of exploring hypnosis, manages to invent a mind reading helmet. While wearing the headgear, he taps into the thoughts of Judge Holmby and is dismayed to discover that His Honor is planning a robbery. Merlin enlists his girlfriend Jennifer (Funicello) to help him put a stop to the Judge’s larcenous plans but they soon discover that things aren’t what they seem. One might think that this would be a good time to leave the Judge alone but no, Merlin decides to use the hypnotic powers he is developing to get the Judge to kidnap Stanley, a chimp that belongs to the school science department. The plan backfires when Merlin is blamed for the crime and he soon finds himself in some mighty hot water.

Disney assembled a winning team for this film, once again utilizing the talents of director Robert Stevenson as well as the prolific songwriting team of the Sherman Brothers, all of which who had contributed to another highly-successful film in 1964, Mary Poppins. While not quite achieving the same iconic status as the previous film, they still helped to make The Misadventures of Merlin Jones a respectable hit at the box office. The film would spawn a 1965 sequel titled The Monkey’s Uncle.