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.

Like so many other people who have commented, I saw this film as a very young boy on television and was mesmerized by it.

So taken with it that I followed Miss Johns career and was amply rewarded. She's always been a delight..and not to forget that she was the original cast member to sing "Send in the Clowns". Margaret Rutherford also sticks in my memory as the hilarious nurse. When I saw the Tom Hanks and Darryl Hannah film many years later, I immediately was drawn back in time and remembered a much more delicate, sweet film as this one is.

Please....please....release this movie on DVD??

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.

If it weren't for the fact that the two films came out around the same time in different countries, I'd say the other either copied the British Miranda or the USA's Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid. Both William Powell and Griffith Jones go fishing and get themselves a fetching young mermaid for their troubles.

Ann Blyth's Lenore in Mr. Peabody is a silent young lady, but that's definitely not true of Glynis Johns in the title role of Miranda. She not only talks, but is rather well read on human kind. Of course one does not learn everything from books.especially some of the interspecies facts of life.

Because it's a man that Miranda is seeking. The mermen of the oceans seem to be just not her type. And though Griffith Jones is married he is taken with her.

Being a doctor Jones concocts a wild cover story involving her being a paraplegic patient who has come to live with him and wife Googie Withers. He has dresses made an extra foot long to cover her tail and has her in a wheelchair for the most part. And she's on an exclusively fish diet. Unusual doctor's orders to say the least.

Miranda is a nice little fantasy and Glynis Johns practically glows in the title role. Besides Jones and Withers other performances of note are David Tomlinson as their butler and the irrepressible Margaret Rutherford as the practical nurse that is engaged.

Hopefully it will come out on DVD/VHS and soon.

I remember seeing this film as a very young boy, and I've never forgotten the mesmerizing magical effect that it had on me. I also saw "Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid", but I think "Miranda" was the better of the two films. Although a black and white production, the "special effects" used for the mermaid's tail are still eerily alive in my mind all these years later. Glynis Johns was really funny as the aquatic sea babe. I fully appreciated the more recent Ron Howard film "Splash", in it's own way. I am not at all sure if "Miranda" inspired this modern story, but it's not important, since both stand on their own humorous cinematic merits. I've been wishing, and praying, and hoping to find "Miranda" in the video classic section of my local film rental establishments for years to no avail. I'm not sure if it is available, but it would be a real kick to see it after all these years!