Folle des hommes

For a movie about a mermaid, the special effects are quite basic. All to the better though, really, since it allows the writers to concentrate on their spiffy, silly dialog. The viewer is never made to feel too uncomfortable over the possibility that the mermaid will get caught in her disguise. Any such threatening moments would be pointlessly manipulative of the audience anyway, this being an obvious fantasy flick, so why not just have a good time, right? Where the movie fails to ignite is in the dated chick-flickian rather-fall-in-love-with-a-good-looking-guy drill. It's monochromatic and not terribly involving (so the ending's a bit ho-hum), but it does make way for good, direct, innocent -- and occasionally spicy -- remarks from the mermaid. Watch for great facial expressions from Margaret Rutherford, the nurse, and a good physical workout for the old gal as well!

Quite a nice little film, possibly inspired by the many mermaid fairy tales of old.

Glynis Johns always looked lovely in no matter what film she was in; and Dora Bryan made ample use of her comic talents as Glynis Johns's dotty mermaid companion.

Anne Crawford was also turned in good a performance as Glynis Johns's jealous adversary - it is a pity that such a talented actress died so young. However, I must say that I much better enjoyed its prequel, "Miranda", made 6 years earlier in 1948.

8 out of 10

Miranda is a nice mermaid who speaks perfect English. She meets up with a human who is her exact double. Apparently a distant relative had "relations" with a mermaid and this supposedly accounts for them looking 100% the same (a plot element only seen in movies and "The Patty Duke Show"). This nice mermaid and her nice counterpart decide to let Miranda pose as the other lady for a fortnight--during which time Miranda chases after men with wild abandon.

I am not a huge fan of the first mermaid film starring Ms. Johns (MIRANDA), though it was an amiable time-passer. Oddly, despite it being a very "small" film, a few people on IMDb gave it a score of 10, though I notice that the scores for this follow-up film, MAD ABOUT MEN, were not so inflated. This is really odd as both films are very similar and it's really a coin toss to decide which is the better picture. Interestingly enough, this sequel came 8 years after the original film. Also, while I have not seen it, apparently Ms. Johns made a brief cameo appearance as the mermaid in another film (HELTER SKELTER). So, overall, the film is charming and worth a look--just don't expect magic.

Peter Blackmore scripted this weak whimsical fantasy, a Technicolor sequel to 1948's black-and-white "Miranda" (which had been based upon Blackmore's play). Glynis Johns returns as the romantic-minded mermaid who swims in the waters off Cornwall; she chances to meet her human twin, a distant relative and school-mistress who is about to be married to a stuffy engineer. Blackmore clearly relishes the chance to open up his scenario and throw in some wild bits of humor--and Johns in a dual role is certainly an inspired idea--but most of the warmth from the first film is missing. Miranda's true identity is discovered by a jealous female, who hopes to exploit the siren on-stage during a charity benefit (!), while Caroline, Miranda's twin, has to rush home from a biking trip to save the mermaid from catastrophe. Faintly enjoyable and yet too much of a good thing, what with corny one-liners and Margaret Rutherford overacting like mad in a reprisal of her role as Miranda's eccentric nurse and confidante. Blackmore and director Ralph Thomas raise a big laugh or two, but their chaotic finale is a complete muck-up, and the film's editing and continuity are disappointing. ** from ****

This is quite an enjoyable vehicle for a mischievous Glynis Johns, who doubles up as a gymnastics teacher ("Caroline") who is left a remote house on the Cornish coast, and a mermaid ("Miranda") who lives with her equally cheeky friend "Berengaria" (Dora Bryan) in a cave underneath. The two characters have a common ancestor and look identical, so when "Caroline" heads off on a cycling trip, her mermaid cousin takes her place - and immediately starts to charm just about every man in the village. Many of us who recall later performances from (Sir) Donald Sinden may forget just how handsome he was as he falls for her; as does "Col. Barclay Sutton" (Nicholas Phipps) whose fiancée "Barbara" (Anne Crawford) tires of the endless flirtations and sets about trying to put a spoke in her wheel. Margaret Rutherford is her usual, ebullient, self as the enthusiastically game nurse who is in on the whole thing from the start. It's amusingly suggestive at times, and the dialogue quite witty but the film is way too long, and once the joke has worn off it drags a bit. It is better, I felt, than the rather more rigid, staid original from 1948 however, and well worth a gander.