the audience applauded

Simply A Masterpiece

Crappy film

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Director: GARSON KANIN. Screenplay: Norman Krasna. Story: Felix Jackson. Film editors: Henry Berman, Robert Wise. Photography: Robert de Grasse. Art directors: Van Nest Polglase and Carroll Clark. Set decorator: Darrell Silvera. Miss Rogers' costumes designed by Irene. Make-up: Mel Berns. Music: Roy Webb. Music orchestrated by George Parrish. Choreographer: Hermes Pan. Stills: John Miehle. Special effects: Vernon L. Walker. Publicity: Nan Blake. Assistant director: Edward Killy. Sound recording: Richard Van Hessen. RCA Sound System. Producer: Buddy G. DeSylva. A Pandro S. Berman Production. Copyright 6 July 1939 by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 29 June 1939 (ran two weeks). U.S. release: 4 August 1939. U.K. release: 31 August 1939. Australian release: 19 October 1939. 82 minutes. SYNOPSIS: On the day before Christmas, a department store salesgirl innocently picks up a baby on the steps of a foundling home.NOTES: Hollywood obviously thought there was something especially catchy about the word bachelor, for it is used in the title of a whole heap of movies including Bachelor Father, Father Is a Bachelor, Bachelor Daddy, The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, Bachelor Apartment, Bachelor Bait, Bachelor in Paradise, The Bachelor Girl, Bachelor Party, The Bachelor's Affairs, The Bachelor's Daughters, Bachelor's Folly, Bachelor Flat, etc. There's even another movie called Bachelor Mother. Produced and released in 1932 by Hollywood Pictures, it starred Evelyn Knapp, James Murray, Maragret Seddon, Paul Page, and Astrid Allwyn. The screenplay by Paul Gangelin, Jack Natteford, Luther Reed and Jack Townley was based on a story by Al Boasberg. The movie was directed by Charles Hutchison.Felix Jackson, who penned the story for this one, was nominated for the year's top writing award, but lost out to Lewis R. Foster's "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington". COMMENT: Although disguised by a typical exploitation picture title, "Bachelor Mother" actually turns out to be a very classy "A" romantic comedy with a top cast and high production values. Mind you, there are no comedic belly laughs but plenty of chuckles and lots of charm. The story no doubt deserved its award nomination, but Krasna's ingenious screenplay adds many piquant details to take the fun much further and even manages to weave Donald Duck into playing a key role in the proceedings. Indeed the whole business with Mr. Duck is quite funny, including a clever montage and a brilliantly satiric scene in which Niven attempts to get a faulty Donald exchanged. We love the reprimand: "You're a disgrace to the Toy Department!" All the players are faultlessly cast, from stars down to the smallest bits. Krasna even provides some nice bits of business for favorite character actors like Chester Clute (as the little man at the water fountain in the park), Horace McMahon (as a tuxedo-suited bouncer), Barbara Pepper (as Niven's willing/unwilling dance partner), Alec Craig (as a mink-coat-gathering night watchman), and above all, June Wilkins, the snooty society girl who stands Niven up and is then neatly put into her place by a delightfully acerbic Ginger Rogers.

Directed by Garson Kanin, with a screenplay by Norman Krasna, this above average romantic comedy earned Felix Jackson his only Oscar nomination (Original Story).Polly Parrish (Ginger Rogers) was hired as a seasonal employee by the (John) Merlin (Charles Coburn) department store. However, the three week Christmas sales period has ended and Polly receives her termination notice on Christmas eve morning. During her lunch break, she visits an employment agency and, on the way back, sees a woman leaving a baby on the steps of a foundling agency. After confronting the woman who hurries away, Polly decides to carry the infant inside so that it doesn't fall down the steps. After giving her name and place of employment, Polly explains what happened, but the agency's employees are dubious. Reading their expressions, Polly insists that the baby is not hers and rushes out. Back at Merlin's, Polly is approached by a store inventory clerk, Freddie Miller (Frank Albertson), who offers her half of a sure $50 prize at a dance contest that night if she'd only agree to be his partner. Needing the money, she agrees.The foundling agency's investigator (Ernest Truex) visits Merlin's and discovers that Polly has just been let go. So he calls on the store's management and gets a meeting with David Merlin (David Niven), who usually shows up late or infrequently at work due to his social life. The investigator believes that Polly abandoned "her" child because she'd lost her job and David, who's instantly concerned, summons her to his office. She is surprised to learn that her job has been restored and that she's to receive a $5/week raise retroactively. She is also promised a Christmas gift, which she's to receive later. At her apartment that evening, the investigator arrives with her 'package', the baby. He isn't happy about her attitude, she still insists it isn't hers and doesn't want it, but is able to leave without taking the baby with him after he explains the baby is the reason she'd gotten her job back. When Freddie arrives, Polly has an idea - on the way to the dance contest, she has him drive her by the Merlin home. Freddie then overhears her as she leaves it with the Merlin's butler (E.E. Clive) and says "it's his responsibility". Naturally, Freddie gets the wrong idea.After Polly departs, David learns from the butler what transpired. He picks up the baby and the two of them follow Freddie and Polly to the dance contest. However, David is soon thrown out of the dance hall for his behavior while Freddie and Polly are disappointed to win the contest, getting a trophy instead of the $50 they needed. Freddie takes Polly home and tries to make advances while David waits inside with the baby. Before he departs, Freddie's belief that David is the father of the baby is solidified. After a discussion of her circumstances with David, Polly decides to admit that the baby is hers and accept the responsibility for raising it. The 'playboy' seems to grow up a little too; he'll help her with Johnnie. After David leaves, Polly's landlord Mrs. Weiss (Ferike Boros) tells Polly that she would be happy to help by taking the baby while Polly works.The next day, Freddie asks Polly to "wink, wink, use her influence" to get him a better job as a floor manager. Without Polly doing anything, Freddie is promoted within minutes after he sees David visiting Polly's sales counter, where she sells Donald Duck toys. Later, David shows up at Polly's apartment to help her with the baby. He's brought a book from some expert and proceeds to read some nonsense about how to feed it. He also breaks a toy duck, but promises to return it for a replacement the next day. Polly laughs, telling him that you can't return anything at Merlin's. As the executive second only to his father, David insists that he can. But the next day, dressed incognito, David learns otherwise. Upset, he goes to the sales counter where he breaks several of the ducks before he puts a working one in his pocket. Of course, Freddie sees this and tackles him before he sees who he's just accosted. Naturally, David demotes him back to his old job.For revenge, Freddie decides to write a note to David's father, telling him he's a grandfather. So, John has his chauffeur follow David, who joins Polly and Johnnie at the park. The previous evening, New Year's Eve, David had been stood up by his girlfriend Louise (June Wilkins); he'd been neglecting while helping Polly. David finds a replacement date in Polly. While Mrs. Weiss watched Johnnie, Polly and David had a wonderful evening together. At the stroke of midnight, they shared their first kiss, a particularly long one. The next day in the park, John finds them. He sees a resemblance and learns the baby's name is Johnnie which, in his mind, confirms that he's holding his grandson. After John's left, Polly and David simultaneously figure out why John had been teary eyed. David chases after his father while Polly laughs that he is in the same predicament that she was regarding the baby's mistaken parentage.When Polly learns from David that his father will use lawyers to gain custody of Johnnie, she discusses it with Mrs. Weiss who suggests that her son Jerome (Leonard Penn) pretend to be the father. Meanwhile, David has tracked down Freddie and convinces him to do the same. Hence, at the Merlin home, right after Polly and Jerome have all but convinced John that the baby is theirs, David arrives with Freddie to ruin the ruse. Eventually all is resolved as David proposes to Polly and they 'admit' to his father that the baby is his.Later remade as the musical Bundle of Joy (1956).

Ginger Rogers almost made the mistake of her career, when she flatly refused to appear in "Bachelor Mother". Pandro S. Berman forced her to do it and when released she was at last recognised as one of Hollywood's top comediennes. I love this film!!!!!Polly Parrish (Ginger Rogers) has just been given a pink slip from Merlin's Department Store. After being forced to listen to quacking toy Donald Ducks all day the last thing she needs is a baby!!!! While on lunch she finds a woman abandoning a baby at a foundling home. When Polly is caught holding the baby she can convince no-one that the baby isn't hers. The foundling officers contact her boss David Merlin (David Niven) and she is given her job back plus a bonus. She still can't convince anybody that the baby isn't hers.One of the funniest sequences is when she and Freddie (Frank Albertson) enter a dance competition and David comes to the night club with the baby in tow. Another funny sequence is when Niven tries to return a faulty Donald Duck (ha!ha!) incognito and finds the staff less than helpful. Then there is the part where he takes Polly out to party with his rich friends and she impersonates a Swedish girl who can't speak English.When "a friend" sends a note to David's father (Charles Coburn) implying that David is the father then the shoe is on the other foot.Charles Coburn is wonderful as the grandfather (he thinks!!!) "I don't care who the father is - I'm the Grandfather!!!" It is a very funny film and at the end a few men stand up to claim paternity.Ginger was never better than in these type of working girl roles.

For some reason that completely baffles me, TCM rarely broadcasts this wonderful, romantic comedy of errors, but frequently shows the lame musical remake, Bundle of Joy. Which cast would you rather watch - Debbie Reynolds, Eddie Fisher and Adolphe Menjou, or Ginger Rogers, David Niven and Charles Coburn? For me, every member of the cast in this original version is far better than his/her counterpart in the remake. The original cast delivers a film with risqué overtones (with a wink to the Hays Office), while Reynolds and (especially) Fisher turn the remake into 1950's milk and cookies.In Bachelor Mother a beautiful, young Ginger Rogers is at her peak. She portrays a wonderfully sympathetic character. She is strong and feminine; exasperated yet determined. David Niven delivers perfectly as a somewhat spoiled, sophisticated and yet befuddled scion of a wealthy department store magnate. And I always love to see Charles Coburn - in top form here as the blustery, but good-hearted department store magnate who desperately wants a grandson.I like Debbie Reynolds fine, but Debbie doesn't deliver as nuanced a performance as Ginger Rogers. Eddie Fisher as an actor - No Way! The only time he is not completely painful to watch is in Butterfield 8 - where, incidentally, he doesn't sing. Adolphe Menjou is okay.I get angry at TCM for showing the remake more frequently than this delightful original. I get angrier still that some Hollywood boob thought it would be a good idea to remake Bachelor Mother, filling it with some lame songs that only serve to interrupt the flow of the story.For a terrific romantic comedy, accept no substitutes: check out Bachelor Mother. And tell TCM which film you prefer. Maybe it will start showing this film more often.