Miranda

A charming fantasy in which a mermaid appears to a young husband who has got away from it all to go fishing: Glynis Johns shines in the lead as the playful miss with the fish's tail who starts to snare all the men she comes across. Griffith Jones is the man who starts to regret bringing his find back to his home and wife (Googie Withers), while David Tomlinson is appealing as the driver with big ears who Miranda seems particularly taken with.

Quite the best performance in this confection comes from the incomparable Margaret Rutherford, joyous as the ageing nurse who has always believed in the existence of magical creatures such as mermaids. With an amusing and intriguing ending (and a credit ‘ Tail by Dunlop'), ‘Miranda' is one of the highlights of 1940s British cinema. Johns and Tomlinson would appear together again memorably in 1964 as the parents in ‘Mary Poppins'. Jones was still acting on stage recently in his late eighties in small Shakespeare roles. And the mermaid story showed up in another guise with Daryl Hannah, Tom Hanks, and ‘Splash!' some 40 years after ‘Miranda'.

Risque to say the least for this post war British comedy with a twist in the tail - quite literally. Glynis Johns is the delightful mermaid with a penchant for young men - wooing them with her charm alone. Interesting in part for its treatment of 'disabled' people as Miranda is treated as such throughout. Googie Withers is great as the harassed wife while Margaret Rutherford sparkles in a relatively small role - but at least she gets to dance. Of everyone, David Tomlinson is perhaps the most comical as a lovesick young butler and that really is Maurice Denham as the fish salesman. Acceptable but not for all.

This film about an Englishman on holiday, fishing in the sea and catching, or rather being caught by, a mermaid, may not rank high on the critics lists, but I love it. I used to see it occasionally on the late show many years ago. It probably has not been aired in over 25 years.

This movie is not to be confused with another mermaid movie from 1948 called Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid. One wonders which film came first, and if one film was influenced by the other. The plots are roughly similar, although the themes differ. Miranda was followed six years later with a color sequel called Mad about Men (1954) which I only saw once on the late show over 30 years ago. Hopefully, someday these films will see the light of day.

This is a one-of-a-kind fantasy movie that beautifully showcased such major talents as Glynis Johns and Margaret Rutherford. I can hardly wait til this movie is made available for sale (if the film is still in good shape, why hasn't it been available yet?). In my view, there simply isn't enough information, or good movies, on the subject of mermaids, and hopefully this could be rectified by an updated version of this movie..I haven't casted it in my mind yet, but there are a handful of worthies that come to mind for Miranda. However, it will be a more difficult task to find someone even close to our beloved Margaret Rutherford.

A smart, modest bauble from Britain's Gainsborough Pictures, with effervescent performances by its cast. Peter Blackmore adapted his play about a man-crazy mermaid off the coast of Cornwall who reels in a fisherman; he's a married doctor on 'bachelor's holiday' who is persuaded by the sumptuous siren to take her back to his home in London as his invalid guest. The intimacy of the stage material works well on-screen, with director Ken Annakin keeping the action moving briskly from room to room; there's also an outrageous outdoor sequence at the zoo which comes off very well. The picture looks sleek in shiny black-and-white, and Glynis Johns is just about perfect as the innocent temptress who has men fawning and women fuming (all except Googie Withers as the doctor's wife--she's too worldly to let another female get the best of her!). Johns put the tail back on for a 1954 sequel, "Mad About Men". **1/2 from ****