Technicolor
Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades.
Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...
comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
directed by
Ralph Thomas
Ralph Philip Thomas MC (10 August 1915 – 17 March 2001) was an English film director. He is perhaps best remembered for directing the ''Doctor'' series of films.
His brother, Gerald Thomas, was also a film director, probably best remembere ...
and starring
Glynis Johns
Glynis Margaret Payne Johns (born 5 October 1923) is a South African-born British former actress, dancer, musician and singer. Recognised as a film and Broadway icon, Johns has a career spanning eight decades, in which she appeared in more than ...
,
Donald Sinden
Sir Donald Alfred Sinden (9 October 1923 – 12 September 2014) was a British actor.
Sinden featured in the film ''Mogambo'' (1953), and achieved early fame as a Rank Organisation film star in the 1950s in films including ''The Cruel Sea (195 ...
Margaret Rutherford
Dame Margaret Taylor Rutherford, (11 May 1892 – 22 May 1972) was an English actress of stage, television and film.
She came to national attention following World War II in the film adaptations of Noël Coward's ''Blithe Spirit'', and Oscar ...
. It was written by Peter Blackmore, who also wrote the 1948 film '' Miranda'' which preceded ''Mad About Men''. Johns appears in both films as the mermaid Miranda. However, Rank Films insisted it was not a sequel.
The film was shot at Pinewood Studios and on location at
Polperro
Polperro ( kw, Porthpyra, meaning ''Pyra's cove'') is a large village, civil parish, and fishing harbour within the Polperro Heritage Coastline in south Cornwall, England. Its population is around 1,554.
Polperro, through which runs the River ...
in
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
and Long Crendon in Oxfordshire.''A Touch Of The Memoirs'' by Donald Sinden. Hodder & Stoughton Publ. (1982), pp. 203-4 Filming also took place in Brighton including at the Palace Pier. The film's sets were designed by the art director
George Provis
George Provis (1901–1989) was a British art director who worked on over a hundred films during a lengthy career. He began his career working on quota quickies during the 1930s. After the Second World War, Provis was appointed by Sydney Box to h ...
.
Plot
When gymnastics school teacher Caroline goes on holiday at her family's home in Cornwall, she meets her distant mermaid relative Miranda, who looks exactly like her. She agrees to let Miranda trade places with her, while she goes on a bicycling trip with a friend. Caroline feigns an accident, pretending that this requires her to use a wheelchair for a few weeks, thus providing a cover for the fact that Miranda has a fish tail instead of legs. Nurse Carey, who knows about Miranda nd was in the earlier film is hired to attend Miranda.
Caroline is engaged to Ronald Baker, but when he shows up, Miranda does not like him at all. She decides to make Caroline a better match. She flirts outrageously with two eligible bachelors, Jeff Saunders and Colonel Barclay Sutton, right in front of Ronald. When she discovers that Ronald works in the government sanitation department (and approves of dumping garbage into the ocean), she dumps a tureen of cold soup on his head.
Meanwhile, Barbara Davenport, the colonel's fiancée, takes an understandable dislike to Miranda. While out swimming, she discovers Miranda's secret and arranges for "Caroline" to sing at a charity concert, plotting to reveal her true nature. Caroline reads about the forthcoming concert during her holiday, guesses what Barbara intends, and rushes back to take Miranda's place, foiling Barbara's scheme.
Afterward, Jeff takes Caroline boating. When he tries to kiss her, she resists at first, then willingly gives in, while a somewhat sad Miranda watches.
Cast
*
Glynis Johns
Glynis Margaret Payne Johns (born 5 October 1923) is a South African-born British former actress, dancer, musician and singer. Recognised as a film and Broadway icon, Johns has a career spanning eight decades, in which she appeared in more than ...
as Caroline Trewella / Miranda Trewella
*
Donald Sinden
Sir Donald Alfred Sinden (9 October 1923 – 12 September 2014) was a British actor.
Sinden featured in the film ''Mogambo'' (1953), and achieved early fame as a Rank Organisation film star in the 1950s in films including ''The Cruel Sea (195 ...
as Jeff Saunders
* Anne Crawford as Barbara Davenport
*
Margaret Rutherford
Dame Margaret Taylor Rutherford, (11 May 1892 – 22 May 1972) was an English actress of stage, television and film.
She came to national attention following World War II in the film adaptations of Noël Coward's ''Blithe Spirit'', and Oscar ...
as Nurse Carey
*
Dora Bryan
Dora May Broadbent, (7 February 1923 – 23 July 2014), known as Dora Bryan, was a British actress of stage, film and television.Nicholas Phipps as Colonel Barclay Sutton
* Peter Martyn as Ronald Baker
* Noell Purcell as Percy, a fisherman friend of Jeff
*
Joan Hickson
Joan Bogle Hickson, OBE (5 August 1906 – 17 October 1998) was an English actress of theatre, film and television. She was known for her role as Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in the television series ''Miss Marple''. She also narrated a number ...
as Mrs Forster
*
Judith Furse
Judith Furse (4 March 1912 – 29 August 1974) was an English actress.
Career
A member of the Furse family, her father was Lieutenant-General Sir William Furse and mother
Jean Adelaide Furse. Her brother, Roger, became a stage designer and ...
as Viola
*
Irene Handl
Irene Handl (27 December 1901 – 29 November 1987) was a British author and character actress who appeared in more than 100 British films.
Life
Irene Handl was born in Maida Vale, London, the younger of two daughters of an Austria-born father ...
as Mme. Blanche
*
David Hurst
David Hurst (born Heinrich Theodor Hirsch; 8 May 1926 – 15 September 2019) was a German actor, best known for his role in the film '' Hello, Dolly'' as Rudolph the headwaiter.
Biography
Early life and career
Hurst grew up in a family of ac ...
as Signor Mantalini, a musician
* Martin Miller as Dr. Fergus, a biologist
*
Deryck Guyler
Deryck Bower Guyler (29 April 1914 – 7 October 1999) was an English actor, best remembered for his portrayal of officious, short-tempered middle-aged men in sitcoms such as ''Please Sir!'' and '' Sykes''.
Early life
Guyler was born in Wallas ...
as Editor
*
Anthony Oliver
Anthony Oliver (4 July 1922, Abersychan, near Pontypool, Monmouthshire, Wales—November 1995, London) was a Welsh film, television and stage actor.
Selected filmography
* '' Once a Jolly Swagman'' (1949) - Derek
* ''All Over the Town'' ( ...
as Pawnbroker
* Lawrence Ward as Alphonse
*
Martin Boddey
Albert Martin Boddey (16 April 1907 – 24 October 1975) was a British film and television actor.
He was a founder member of the Lord's Taverners charity. Boddey started acting when he was nearly 40, often portraying irritable authority fig ...
as Marco
*
Ken Richmond
Kenneth Alan "Ken" Richmond (10 July 1926 – 3 August 2006) was an English heavyweight wrestler.
Richmond was born in London. His father abandoned the family when Richmond was 3. Before he got into freestyle wrestling, he was a whal ...
as Zampa
*
Harry Welchman
Harry Welchman (24 February 1886 – 3 January 1966) was an English star of musical theatre. He made several appearances in non-musical plays, but was remembered as, in the words of ''The Times'', "perhaps the most popular musical comedy hero on th ...
Stringer Davis
James Buckley Stringer Davis, generally known as Stringer Davis (4 June 1899 – 29 August 1973), was an English character actor on the stage and in films, and a British army officer who served in both world wars. He was married to actress Mar ...
Gibb McLaughlin
George McLoughlin (19 July 1879 – 30 June 1961), known professionally as Gibb McLaughlin, was an English film and stage actor.
Early days
McLaughlin was born in Sunderland, County Durham, England in 1879. For about 10 years he was a sales ...
as Ticket Collector
*
Dandy Nichols
Dandy Nichols (born Daisy Sander; 21 May 1907 – 6 February 1986) was an English actress best known for her role as Else Garnett, the long-suffering wife of the character Alf Garnett who was a parody of a working class Tory, in the BBC s ...
'' Radio Times'' called the film "outdated hokum, a cliché-ridden story...this is certainly not the equal of the charming original."
AllMovie praised it as a "delightful sequel to the saucy British comedy-fantasy Miranda."