Mad About Men (EOTWS)

End Of The Week Shorts #25 extract: Mad About Men (1954)

A 50s British comedy and a very dodgy morality tale, Mad About Men is a fantasy about a jaded fiancée who, on holiday, finds her identical mermaid cousin (a metaphor for a darker, more sexual female persona) in the bottom of her summer house, and decides to swap positions with her. What ensues is a plethora of screwball hijinks surrounding the mermaid liberating herself from her dumb-as-nails fiancé whilst leading another other dumb-as-nails husband on a wild goose chase. 

As could be expected, a shadowy alpha-male, the richest man in town who walks among the peasants as a humble fisherman, emerges and catches the mermaid's attention. With the mermaid making it her goal to set her 'cousin' up for a choice between new potential love interests, this movie is a comedic and hyperbolic depiction of female liberation and empowerment. But, whilst this may be a picture that would resonate with others, it is unfortunate that this has no backbone and simply relies on weak comedy. 

Not particularly fun or engaging, just transparent and dumb, Mad About Men is not worth a watch in my view.