Lively British comedy which made a star of Glynis Johns whose slightly otherworld nature (that betwitching twinkle in her eye, the sing-song voice) probably made her difficult to cast in leads. She is however an ideal mermaid - especially a man-eating one like this one.
Miranda nabs a doctor (Griffin Jones) who falls overboard while on holiday and whisks him off to her cave full of trinkets. She seduces him - I mean they kiss and there's a fade out and it fades up on them holding each other. In old movie speak that's sex- and the guy is married to Googie Withers. She forces him to take her to London, where she covers her tail by pretending to be in a wheelchair, and chases after Jones, his artist friend John McCallum (who she kisses, leading to a fade out as well... so presumably sex) and Jones' servant David Tomlinson.
Maybe she doesn't have have penile penetrative sex with all of them - McCallum says he's never seen her legs. But it still seems intimate - and she clearly shags Jones because she had his baby at the end. It's totally weird to see an old film where a minxy woman goes and seduces three guys and is the hero.
Googie Withers' smug wife walks around wearing stylish clothes and has lunch - no wonder Jones cheats on her. She doesn't seem too upset by it. McCallum's fiancee Sonia Holm seems mostly interested in hats and style; and Tomlinson's girlfriend Yvonne Owen don't match Johns either.
I should add that the acting is very good by everyone. McCallum is a handsome, virile hero who I was surprised didn't become a bigger star in British films (there were so many wet drips running around). Jones is fine and Tomlinson good. Margaret Rutherford is excellent as a nurse.
There is some solid mermaid humour, like Johns talking to the seals at the zoo and eating seafood.
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