At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

.Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

This hideous "heart-warmer" opens with William Holden in blackface and singing songs (he's dubbed) to sell snake oil to the rubes in turn-of-the-century Kentucky. While his partner (Charles Winninger) is arrested, he escapes to Mudville, where he runs across five orphans living in a shack.Of course he moves in and pretends to be their Uncle Johnny. When a do-gooder (Coleen Gray) comes by, she demands they be sent to school. Slowly, Holden gets sucked into their lives more and more and eventually gets a job as a singing waiter (he's still dubbed) in a beer garden. He's nearly coerced into marrying a local spinster, but you can already guess the ending.Holden had an odd contract deal with Paramount by which Columbia bought half his contract. This is one of the last clunkers he made for Columbia, and it was released a few months before the release of the film that made him a superstar: SUNSET BOULEVARD.Holden is incredibly miscast in this pap. Others in the film include Stu Erwin, Sig Ruman, Clinton Sundberg, Lillian Bronson, Peggy Converse, Willie Best, and Billy Gray with his harmonica.

At the moment I'm watching "Father is a Bachelor" on TCM. I think it is a movie well worth issuing on DVD ... its audience potentially is great ... especially for those parents who would want their children to see an appealing film without gratuitous violence and sex as can be the case even in today's PG films. Who makes decisions about which films to reissue? I would like to find out. One person who previously commented mentioned the person who dubbed the singing. Both the singer and William Holden made it look very real, the singer by matching his vocal quality to Holden's speaking voice and Holden by perfectly matching his mouth and facial expressions to the music. A charming and sweet movie. Not the norm for this star, whose roles hardly ever involved children but were dramatic and sometimes violent. Then there are the children portrayed in the film ... not the pseudo-sophisticated worldly, overly made-up kids that today are often shown as far wiser than their parents. I can truly appreciate those qualities in a movie.

This movie has many charms. It has a fine cast. William Holden, in an atypical role, is fun as the dreamer who sings many standard songs. (It opens with him singing in black-face, though. That is always shocking when encountered today. And I wonder if it wasn't viewed as somewhat inappropriate even in 1950 when this was released.) Coleen Gray makes a charming love interest for Holden. And Charles Winninger is always a welcome presence.The supporting cast is excellent too. Stuart Erwin gets low billing but what a fine actor he as! And the two spinster sisters who are interested in Holden are nicely cast also.It is indeed a pleasure to see Columbia pictures other than the Capra films and those with Judy Holliday (whom I love) turn up. A few with Jean Arthur have been around in the VHS/DVD era but none to compare with the great number to which we were treated in the 1960s and seventies when local TV stations showed old movies.However, the print of this one was terrible. At first I thought it was a nighttime scene. But it wasn't. It was very, very dark.I am delighted at the Columbia movies trickling out again. Now, what about the Republic movies other than the ones that star John Wayne?

I`m a huge William Holden fan and I enjoyed this film very much.I like the nostalgic American mid-west turn of the century time setting of the film.Bill Holden has great interaction with the children-his true gentle sweetness when singing "In The Gloaming" as a lullabye to the little girl shines through.The scene with Bill trying to sew the little girl a dress from a pattern is hysterical.Buddy Clark did a wonderful job of dubbing his voice to match Bill Holden`s-if I didn`t know better,I would swear it was Bill singing. A nice family film with great sentimental, turn of the century songs with a wonderful, funny, sweet performance from Bill Holden.Its a shame Columbia has never released this on video or DVD.I obtained my copy from a private collector.