Miranda Doesn't Have to Be a Little Mermaid to Make a Big Splash
Given the longevity of the mermaid myth, one would think there would be a lot more movies about mermaids. Yet apart from 1989’s The Little Mermaid, 1984’s Splash and 2006's Aquamarine, not a whole lot of movies about the subject come to mind.
The British 1948 film Miranda is one such movie and, ay, what a movie it is, indeed. On paper, this movie about a talkative mermaid who ingratiates herself with a British doctor on holiday and ends up producing all sorts of social chaos in his household should come across as being more than a little stupid.
Yet it says something about the charm of the lead actress -- Glynis Johns, who plays the title character -- and the light touch of the script that the movie actually proves to be very entertaining.
It does not hurt that Ms. Johns is backed up by an adept cast and that the script does not necessarily flow in the direction one would expect.
The film starts out with a British doctor discovering the mermaid Miranda while he is fishing. He ends up being kidnapped by her and Miranda agrees to allow the doctor to go back to civilization provided that she be allowed to tag along. The doctor chooses to pass off Miranda as a crippled patient and introduces her to his wife, his servants, and a newly engaged couple who are good friends with the doctor and his wife.
Miranda seems to win over every male she meets and even earns the respect of the eccentric nurse hired to watch over her. She goes sightseeing and even attends the opera, where in one scene she can't resist competing with the local divas. Eventually, her secret comes out but not in the way I expected and even the movie's last scene raises more than a few eyebrows -- as well as raising a question whose answer may or may not be obvious.
As noted, Ms. Johns’ performance goes a long way towards downplaying the potential preposterousness of the storyline, and I got the feeling the film would have been just as interesting if Ms. Johns’ Miranda had been merely a human girl who could not walk. Of course, I could not help raising an eyebrow at Miranda’s rather ironic appetite for fish and at the screenwriter’s repeated uses of the word “fishy.” But the dialogue never grew tiresome and I was actually sorry to see Miranda end.
Of course, when I ponder how a similar story might have fared in the hands of 21st century Hollywood, I am not so sorry that 1948 British filmmakers got a crack at it instead.
Given the longevity of the mermaid myth, one would think there would be a lot more movies about mermaids. Yet apart from 1989’s The Little Mermaid, 1984’s Splash and 2006's Aquamarine, not a whole lot of movies about the subject come to mind.
The British 1948 film Miranda is one such movie and, ay, what a movie it is, indeed. On paper, this movie about a talkative mermaid who ingratiates herself with a British doctor on holiday and ends up producing all sorts of social chaos in his household should come across as being more than a little stupid.
Yet it says something about the charm of the lead actress -- Glynis Johns, who plays the title character -- and the light touch of the script that the movie actually proves to be very entertaining.
It does not hurt that Ms. Johns is backed up by an adept cast and that the script does not necessarily flow in the direction one would expect.
The film starts out with a British doctor discovering the mermaid Miranda while he is fishing. He ends up being kidnapped by her and Miranda agrees to allow the doctor to go back to civilization provided that she be allowed to tag along. The doctor chooses to pass off Miranda as a crippled patient and introduces her to his wife, his servants, and a newly engaged couple who are good friends with the doctor and his wife.
Miranda seems to win over every male she meets and even earns the respect of the eccentric nurse hired to watch over her. She goes sightseeing and even attends the opera, where in one scene she can't resist competing with the local divas. Eventually, her secret comes out but not in the way I expected and even the movie's last scene raises more than a few eyebrows -- as well as raising a question whose answer may or may not be obvious.
As noted, Ms. Johns’ performance goes a long way towards downplaying the potential preposterousness of the storyline, and I got the feeling the film would have been just as interesting if Ms. Johns’ Miranda had been merely a human girl who could not walk. Of course, I could not help raising an eyebrow at Miranda’s rather ironic appetite for fish and at the screenwriter’s repeated uses of the word “fishy.” But the dialogue never grew tiresome and I was actually sorry to see Miranda end.
Of course, when I ponder how a similar story might have fared in the hands of 21st century Hollywood, I am not so sorry that 1948 British filmmakers got a crack at it instead.
Labels: Amores de Sirena, Glynis Johns, Películas Clásicas II, Sirenas
posted by Tonio Kruger at 10:00 AM
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