MR. PEABODY AND THE MERMAID and MIRANDA
A film review by Matthew Ignoffo
Copyright 1997 Matthew Ignoffo
These are the two classic mermaid movies. The British film MIRANDA made Glynis Johns a star and was so successful that it caused the American film studio Universal-International to create its own mermaid in the form of 20 year old Ann Blyth who had gained recognition as Joan Crawford's daughter in MILDRED PIERCE.
At the time neither film was considered a great work of cinema. But over the years, the two have gained in stature. MIRANDA can now be looked at as an allegory of man seeking to escape from the Victorian rigors of proper London society -- and society in general. The Doctor in the film has a chance to live with an aluring, naked mermaid in her sea-cave. His only chance of returning to formal society is if he will bring Miranda back with him. She is depicted as a worldly-wise, seductive fish-woman who bats her almond-shaped eyes at men and knows exactly what effect she is having on them. As a result, she becomes the embodiment of everything sensual and seductive -- she is the enchantment of the feminine sea itself calling man back to his more primitive instincts.
Lenore, the young mermaid in MR. PEABODY AND THE MERMAID, is naked too when Mr. Peabody catches her. Yet she is much more innocent than Miranda. Lenore is falling in love for the first time, whereas Miranda, even though she tells the Doctor he is her first man, may be carving notches in a seashell someplace. Lenore, thus, represents a completely different quality of the sea and of woman -- the innocence and the pure beauty that draw us to the water. Though the film was viewed as a vapid farce when it first came out, it now can be viewed as a story about man dealing with age and loss of youthful vigor. Mr. Peabody has just turned 50 which he describes as the youth of age and the age of youth. Catching Lenore may be seen as an allegory of his attempt to reassert his manhood in the face of oncoming age.
In both films, the men must give up their lovely mermaid lovers, but each man learns something about himself and life from the encounter with these mysterious creatures of the sea. The Doctor learns that he is not quite as adventurous as he thought he wanted to be, and Mr. Peabody learns that he can grow old gracefully and still keep his manly charm.
Though MR. PEABODY AND THE MERMAID is readily available on tape, MIRANDA and its 1954 sequel MAD ABOUT MEN are hardly to be found anywhere. They are not on tape and are seen only rarely on television. This is indeed a pity because the two "mermaid movies" as Ms Johns refers to her two mermaid films are charming and really did establish her as a star.
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