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| Syd |
 Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 12:38 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
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Miranda: 1948 English comedy in which a doctor takes a fishing trip away from his wife, and catches and is caught by a mermaid (Glynis Johns), who takes him to her (strangely well-lit) underwater cave and won't release him until he promised to take her on a one month tour of London. So she's disguised as a paraplegic, which gives her the chance to be carried by muscular young men, none of whom catch on that there's something fishy about her. (The maid finds it odd that Miranda sleeps in a cold bath.) The doctor realizes he's going to need someone else to help, so hires eccentric nurse Margaret Rutherford, letting her in on the secret, which the nurse takes in stride. Soon Miranda is winning young men and infuriating their young women.
This is reasonably funny, and Johns is really beautiful and flirty as Miranda. Johns and Rutherford are particularly good together. I would like to have seen more of them, and apparently other people felt the same, because they were reunited in the sequel to the movie. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 1:15 am |
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| Glynis Johns, 1948: 
Although in the film, her hair is long enough to cover her boobs, because this was 1948 and mermaids don't wear clothes when they're in the sea.
To me, Glynis Johns is Desiree Armfeldt in A Little Night Music. I've seen it on stage several times, and I have it on vinyl, and Johns is the definitive Desiree. |
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Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 9:28 am |
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| I always loved her. And loved her voice as well as her looks. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 11:52 am |
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Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| I knew her by her voice before I realized I'd seen her in movies. |
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Rocky Laocoon foretold of Troy's doom, only to find snaky water. They pulled him in and Rocky can't swim. Now Rocky wishes he were an otter! |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 2:23 pm |
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| I think it's called a plummy voice. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 3:42 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Houston
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| Wow. I only know her from Mary Poppins and A Little Night Music. Quite a difference. I agree with Syd about her being the definitive Desiree. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 5:01 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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Sounds like somebody watched Blue Like Jazz too many times.
The pube-shaving is a nice touch though ... |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 7:59 pm |
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marantzo wrote: I think it's called a plummy voice.
A similarly sexy--and even plummier--voice is that of the amazing Joan Greenwood.
Glynis Johns is great in The Court Jester opposite Danny Kaye. That's probably my favorite GJ perf. Never been a huge fan of A Little Night Music. Never seen--or even heard of--Miranda. Sounds like a keeper.
Johns's father Mervyn is one of the best things about the great horror film Dead of Night. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Tue Apr 30, 2013 10:12 pm |
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Yeah, The Court Jester was my favourite Johns' role also.
Greenwood was in one or more Carry On...movies wasn't she. I seem to remember her in at least one of them where she played a a delicious vixen. That's a long time ago. I seem to have been captivated by a lot of British actresses. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 10:10 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Captivated by British actresses...an experience I'm unfamiliar with.
Saw the very first episode of the Twilight Zone last night, "Where is Everybody?" A seeming amnesiac man wanders into a town that is completely empty, where it seems everyone has just recently departed. Turns into a reality-bender that made me think of "Source Code," esp. the ending. The show really bursts out of the starting gate with this one, and I like the more extended intro at the beginning, which they later shortened a bit. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 5:07 pm |
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marantzo wrote:
Greenwood was in one or more Carry On...movies wasn't she.
Don't think so. Her most famous credit was Kind Hearts and Coronets, and she also scored in Tom Jones. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 5:29 pm |
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I must be mixing her up with another actress.
Bart, if the town is Las Vegas, it's a story by Bradbury. Though I can't remember if there is no one left in the town or if they are just all dead. I think no one was left. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 5:31 pm |
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Serling said he got the idea for the initial episode when he walked through a studio backlot and saw a set of a typical small town. Empty, it seemed rather idyllic and creepy at the same time. And he started thinking how weird it would be for someone to be there and not find anyone else.
Ironically, for the Twilight Zone pilot, the network insisted that the story be realistic and didn't want anything supernatural or impossible. Which is why Serling added the end where it all turns out to be a military experiment. They contemplated adding a trippy little bit so that when the guy who cracks up gets carted away on a stretcher, he drops the page which he tore out of the phone book (in the empty town in his imagination). But the network didn't want to truck with anything fantastic -- which is funny given the nature of the rest of the series.
I really like when the lone man rushes out of the projection booth in the movie theater and crashes into the large wall mirror. That is really well done, and disorienting. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 5:45 pm |
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| Oh, in the Bradbury story the guy comes into Las Vegas after he has been in a gold mine for quite awhile and is now coming to gamble with the gold he has mined. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 6:16 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Houston
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gromit wrote: Serling said he got the idea for the initial episode when he walked through a studio backlot and saw a set of a typical small town. Empty, it seemed rather idyllic and creepy at the same time. And he started thinking how weird it would be for someone to be there and not find anyone else.
Ironically, for the Twilight Zone pilot, the network insisted that the story be realistic and didn't want anything supernatural or impossible. Which is why Serling added the end where it all turns out to be a military experiment. They contemplated adding a trippy little bit so that when the guy who cracks up gets carted away on a stretcher, he drops the page which he tore out of the phone book (in the empty town in his imagination). But the network didn't want to truck with anything fantastic -- which is funny given the nature of the rest of the series.
I really like when the lone man rushes out of the projection booth in the movie theater and crashes into the large wall mirror. That is really well done, and disorienting.
When Serling published it later as a story, he had the guy reach into his pocket after he's revived at the end, and the ticket stub from the movie house was still there. |
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