Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid (1948), 7- {nm}

While on vacation in the Caribbean with his wife, a middle-aged man unexpectedly finds, and falls in love with, a mermaid.
1h 29min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance | 11 August 1948
Director: Irving Pichel
Stars: William Powell, Ann Blyth, Irene Hervey

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040614/

Rated 7 on 2015-05-06, almost a year after I retired. I won't lower it to 6, but I doubt that I'd call it a 7 today.

It feels more sophisticated than Miranda (1948), 6+ {nm}. We got a lot of Miranda's perspective, since she could talk, and had interacted with humans before. She was rather shallow, wanting 3 men to fall for her, but she was civilized about it, since she didn't set them to compete for her.

Peabody's (WB's) mermaid (AB) cannot talk, stays in the 20-30' deep fish pond on WP's rental property, and only comes up when WP is alone there. (He caught her in the ocean, and brought her home.) So when WP talks to her, it's mostly an internal monologue. He's going through the crisis of reaching 50, and needs a new interest, so she's made to order.

The ending is pretty good, both casting doubt on whether he ever met a mermaid, and yet confirming that he might have. Maybe that's what pushed me to a 7 before. Plus I like WP, and he gets to agonize aplenty here. But it feels more shruggable than recommendable today.

Nunnally Johnson Prod., distr. Universal, dir. Pichel; 7-