‘Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid’ vs ‘Miranda’: Sirens From Opposite Shores

"Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid" promo shot. MovieStillsDB

Commentary

Summer is nearly over, and there may not be many more opportunities to take a classic summer vacation at an attractive location by the sea. However, if you couldn’t enjoy a nautical holiday this season, you can still escape to the beach through a movie. For a summer holiday double feature, I recommend two classic comedies about men who get a lot more than a tan during their seaside vacations.

These two movies are “Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid” and “Miranda,” both released in 1948. The first was a Hollywood production starring William Powell, Ann Blyth, and Irene Hervey, while the second was a British film featuring Glynis Johns, Griffith Jones, and Googie Withers. Each of the stories includes a mermaid, played by an actress wearing a tail.

It’s no coincidence that the two main classic movies about mermaids were released the same year. In 1947, the Weeki Wachee Springs mermaid show opened in Florida, delighting visitors ever since with trained swimmers in tails. “Mr. Peabody” utilized Weeki Wachee and some of its mermaids to film its underwater sequences, and “Miranda” was rushed into production to compete with the American mermaid picture.

"Miranda" publicity still. MovieStillsDB

The basic premises are extremely similar. A married man goes on vacation by the ocean. While fishing, he catches a beautiful mermaid, and they fall in love. He ends up bringing her to his home, buying clothes for her, and putting her in the bathtub, as his wife grows increasingly suspicious. The two films’ plots differ besides that, although each ends with the mermaid swimming back to her aquatic home while the man returns to his wife.

A Tale of Two Tails

“Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid” is mainly an extended flashback as Arthur Peabody (Powell) recounts his strange experience to a New York psychiatrist. After his long illness, Arthur and his wife, Polly (Hervey), took a second honeymoon to a Caribbean Island. On the first morning, Arthur gets depressed when Polly mentions his impending fiftieth birthday. However, his spirits lift when he hears a mysterious voice from a nearby island. He solves the mystery the next day while fishing when he reels in a beautiful mermaid (Blyth), whom he names Lenore. He brings her back to their rented house, but Polly thinks he has drunken illusions about an ordinary fish. Instead of releasing the mermaid, Arthur decides to keep her in their huge pond. Polly suspects Arthur is infatuated with a pushy fellow American on vacation there, Cathy Livingston (Andrea King). Is Peabody a madman, or has he really fallen in love with a mermaid?

Publicity photo of actress Glynis Johns in 1952. She plays Miranda in the 1948 film "Miranda." Public Domain

“Miranda” begins with Dr. Paul Martin (Jones) and his wife, Claire (Withers), deciding that he should go fishing alone in Cornwall. During the trip, he gets pulled out of his boat while fishing, only to wake up in the cave of beautiful mermaid Miranda Trewella (Johns). The lovesick siren agrees to release Paul when he promises to take her with him to London as his invalid patient. She stays at the Martins’ flat for a few weeks, disguising her tail in long dresses. The eccentric Nurse Carey (Margaret Rutherford) is the only person who knows Miranda’s secret. The fish out of water has soon hooked the Martins’ chauffeur, Charles (David Tomlinson), and their painter friend, Nigel (John McCallum), to their fiancées’ chagrin. Hilarious adventures ensue as Miranda strings along the three men, including Paul, but Claire suspects that something fishy is going on.

The biggest difference between the two films is the mermaids themselves. Miranda is just a woman with a fish’s tail; she speaks English with a British accent, reads magazines from ships, and enjoys wearing fashionable attire. In contrast, Lenore is far more fish than woman; she can’t even talk, although she seems to understand when Arthur speaks to her. She does, however, wordlessly sing, laugh, and cry. While Miranda is the British mermaid’s real name, Arthur names his catch Lenore because she can’t tell him her name. Miranda comfortably gallivants out of water for hours on end, but Lenore spends most of the film in water. Besides a few fishy things about Miranda, such as sleeping in a cold bath, eating raw fish, and drinking salt water, she seems very human. However, everyone thinks that Peabody’s mermaid is some large fish, not having seen her womanly upper half. You see Lenore’s tail in all of her scenes as a constant reminder of her waterborne identity. However, after leaving Cornwall, Miranda’s tail is only visible in two brief instances until the end, so one can almost forget she is a mermaid.

Tossed by Different Tides

While one of these movies is a fun family film, the other relies on racy humor. Casual watchers of “Miranda” might be surprised by some of its content, considering that it was made in 1948. The suggestive dialogue and near-nudity are tame by today’s standards, but most people have at least a vague idea that movies were clean in the “good old days.” Anyone expecting every 1940s movie to be wholesome and pure has clearly only seen old Hollywood movies. Classic films from other countries didn’t live up to the squeaky-clean standard of American movies, which were consistently decent because they alone were self-regulated by the Motion Picture Production Code, commonly called the Hays Code. The Code’s influence is dramatically illustrated by comparing an American film like “Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid” with the very similar British picture “Miranda.”

"Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid" publicity still. MovieStillsDB

Each mermaid begins her respective film topless. Because of the Code, we never see Lenore’s undressed torso; we just learn that she is unclothed through delicate dialogue from Arthur, who quickly procures a swimming top for her. On the other hand, we clearly see Miranda full-length early in the film, with nothing but her long, curly hair covering her chest; although merely suggestive when her hair is dry, it becomes very indecent once her hair gets wet. Apparently, Miranda needs Mr. Peabody’s speech on modesty just as much as Lenore!

Miranda has the desires of a very amorous woman but lacks the restraint of manners or morals; she is outspokenly attracted to every man she sees! I suppose her animalistic one-track mind is due to her being half fish, but her thoroughly human behavior otherwise makes her seem more immoral than amoral. On the other hand, Lenore is a simple, naïve creature straight out of a fairytale. She seems fond of Arthur from the beginning, but she isn’t a sophisticated siren. She grows to love him as a wild animal loves a person who cares for it. Since she is mute, she is incapable of saying risqué dialogue like Miranda’s lines about going to men’s bedrooms.

Promotional photograph of actor Ann Blyth in 1952. She plays Lenore in the 1948 film “Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid.” Public Domain

The relationships between the mermaids and their captors are difficult, since both gentlemen are married. Both fellows unmistakably develop attractions for the beautiful sirens they meet, but the relationship in the American film seems far more wholesome. Whereas Paul and Miranda are about the same age, Arthur is many years older than Lenore. The age difference actually transforms the romance into a middle-aged man’s fantasy during a midlife crisis, as opposed to the torrid affair which Paul is implied to have with Miranda in her cave and even back in London, to a degree. At times, Arthur almost seems fatherly toward Lenore. Paul and Miranda kiss very lustfully throughout the film, with one kiss suggestively fading to black. Conversely, Arthur teaches Lenore about kissing, and all their kisses are extremely gentle and puckered with lips barely touching. Arthur is more serious about Lenore than Paul ever is about Miranda, since Peabody considers staying with his mermaid on a remote island, while the doctor wants to return to London after his bachelor’s holiday. Although Arthur loses his head temporarily, the characters in “Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid” generally want monogamous, love-based relationships, while Paul enjoys having a casual affair with a mermaid before returning innocently to his wife.

Two Fun Films

“Miranda” and “Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid” are both very enjoyable films. It’s unusual to see such whimsical topics in movies from the 1940s, which makes these two pleasantly surprising and unique. Each one has a lot to offer its viewers. They both feature great casts of well-known actors. Even if you aren’t familiar with a lot of old British movies, you’ll recognize David Tomlinson and Glynis Johns, who played Mr. and Mrs. Banks in Disney’s “Mary Poppins” years later! The black-and-white cinematography is very nice in both, although there is superior underwater footage in “Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid.” Both productions featured impressive tails for their mermaids, with “Miranda” using two separate rubber tails from Dunlap tire company so she would look good in the water as well as out.

I recommend you watch both movies and decide which is your favorite. Do you like “Miranda” as it is, or would it have been a better movie as a Code film, too? Either way, I’m sure you’ll find these two films a delightfully fishy double feature!