How to Get a Good Version of Miranda (1948)

[AptaMer]

Many people don't realize that the classic English mermaid movie Miranda from 1948 is out of copyright, and it's perfectly legal to download it.

The UK's J. Arthur Rank film companies were failing, its assets were sold off in 1995, and copyright was not renewed for Miranda. Carlton Television (since merged with ITV London) bought Rank's film library, and presumably this is where prints of Miranda have been sourced for broadcast on TV. I don't know whether Original footage or a master negative still exists that could be remastered for a high-quality video release, and ITV London's owners London Weekly Television have never released an official DVD of the movie. All the copies you can obtain now are captured broadcast videos. (Even the DVDs you can buy on eBay from the UK are just video captures copied onto DVD-R discs in PAL DVD-video format.)

Well, I've found a place that has the best copy I've seen yet

https://free-classic-movies.com/movi...anda/index.php

better than the DVD-R from eBay.

So if you want to get the best copy of Miranda, head on over to Jimbo Berkey's site and download either the standard definition version or the 992x720p high definition version. His site also has gazillions of other out-of-copyright movies, starting with a film by Georges Melies from 1896.

[Keiris]

The sequel to this is pretty grand too!

[MermaidAine]

I never knew there was a sequel.

[AptaMer]

@MermaidAine,

I never knew there was a sequel

Yes, it's called Mad About Men, from 1954. This time Glynis Johns appears in her gorgeous, real tail (CGI wasn't a thing in 1954) in full colour and widescreen, devastating men with her siren powers and confounding everyone with her massive appetite for seafood.

You can get it in a good DVD release here:

https://www.amazon.com/Mad-About-Men.../dp/B00HRUQAI2

But beware, there are some other DVD editions that are terrible, in particular there's a thing called "Mermaid Double Feature" that contains both movies, but they're both in a really crappy, fullscreen format. You'll do better to download the good edition of Miranda, and buy the good DVD edition of Mad About Men by itself.

Also, as an aside, a little detail few are aware of is there's a reason Miranda's home was set in Cornwall.

Cornwall is the UK's capital of mermaid-dom, and Miranda's full name is Miranda Trewella, the same family name as Matthew Trewella, the singer who went live under the sea with Morveren, the Mermaid of Zennor.

https://www.transceltic.com/cornish/...mermaid-zennor

Writers in the UK love to include authentic details like this . . .

[MermaidAine]

@AptaMer thank you so much for the info! I was just reading about the Mermaid of Zennor yesterday.