Miranda, a Sereia

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!

Back in the early '60s, when I was a very young lad, there were two television programs that held a great fascination for my young mind. One was the part live/part puppet-animated kiddie show "Diver Dan," which featured the undersea adventures of the titular hero, and showcased one very beautiful blonde mermaid, called Miss Minerva. The other program was one that I have a feeling not too many remember, for the simple reason that it only lasted 13 episodes in the fall of '63. That show was simply called "Glynis," and featured the exploits of its star, Welsh actress Glynis Johns, playing a kooky mystery writer. As a child, I was fascinated by this lovely heroine, with her cracked and husky voice (Glynis' voice has always been as distinctive, in its own way, as that of Jean Arthur, Bette Davis or Katharine Hepburn), and my liking of her only increased over the decades, as I got to see her in such films as "Mary Poppins," "The Court Jester," "The Cabinet of Caligari," "The Vault of Horror" and others. Thus, it was perhaps inevitable that I was predisposed to enjoy Glyins' 1948 film "Miranda," a British fantasy in which she not only appears in the full flush of her beauty, but plays the titular blonde mermaid as well! As charming and delightful a film as could be imagined, "Miranda" was indeed a big hit with the public back when, leading to a belated but equally charming sequel, "Mad About Men," six years later.

In the film, one Dr. Paul Martin (Griffith Jones) decides to take a little fishing vacation in Cornwall, while his wife Clare (the great British actress Googie Withers, who had appeared three years earlier in one of this viewer's favorite films, "Dead of Night") stays at home in London. Martin casts out his line and winds up with the biggest catch of his life: Miranda the mermaid, who drags him over the side of his boat and brings him down to her underwater cave. Miranda proceeds to turn the poor doctor's life upside down (indeed, when we first see her, she is seen upside down, from the doctor's supine POV). She tells him that he is a prisoner there but that she will let him go if he brings her to London with him for a few weeks, so that she can have some fun and look around. Thus, Miranda is brought to the doctor's home, ensconced in a wheelchair with her fin wrapped in a blanket, and Clare is told that the beautiful creature is a convalescent case who needs looking after. Miranda wastes little time enchanting all the men around her, including the Martins' chauffeur Charles (David Tomlinson), much to the chagrin of his fiancée Betty (Yvonne Owen), as well as painter/artist Nigel (John McCallum), who is engaged to the Martins' neighbor, Isobel (Sonia Holm). Dr. Martin also brings in a very eccentric personage to look after her, Nurse Carey (the great Margaret Rutherford, who had starred in another great British fantasy, "Blithe Spirit," three years earlier), while Miranda engages in all kinds of hijinks, including catching fish at the zoo, eating a trayful of cockles being sold by a street vendor, singing her siren song at Covent Garden's Royal Opera House, and, as mentioned, coming close to busting up no less than three relationships....

"Miranda" was adapted for the screen by Peter Blackmore, from his play, and he has just peppered his clever script with an abundance of witty lines. (Thus, "Did you catch any big ones?" Clare asks her husband on his return. And later, as Miranda's behavior becomes increasingly suspicious, Googie mutters "There's something very fishy about this case.") Director Ken Annakin, who would go on to direct such films as "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines" and "Battle of the Bulge," helms his film marvelously, keeping it to a compact 80 minutes. The film is in the best tradition of British cinematic class and quality, and is a fully adult and sophisticated fantasy. (Interestingly, Clare becomes suspicious of Miranda by dint of the fact that there are no panties in her drawer, and the word "panties" is mentioned several times; this, 11 years before the American film "Anatomy of a Murder" mentioned the same word and caused something of a scandal here in the benighted States!) But if there is any one element of the film that can be pointed to as its principal triumph, it is Glynis herself, who is absolutely charming (sorry, can't get away from that word) in the title role. "She's the ultimate catch," proclaimed the film's poster, and very few male viewers would be inclined to disagree. "She's incredibly pretty," proclaims Isobel, to which Clare responds "She's pretty incredible," and again, few would give the two beleaguered ladies any argument. Glynis makes the film one very sweet and enjoyable fantasy, indeed; a film that remains entertaining and winning all the way up to that truly surprising final shot, and the last word that appears on the screen; not "THE END," as might ordinarily be expected, but rather, and hilariously, FIN.

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.

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.