Bachelor Mother, starring Ginger Rogers, David Niven, and Charles Coburn, is one of those charming, silly, feel-good, funny movies Hollywood used to excel at making. Rogers plays Polly Parish, a temporary Christmas employee at Merlin's Department store (think: Macy's), who is mistaken for the mother of an abandoned child. The foundling agency convinces David Merlin (Niven), son of the store's owner, to let Polly keep her job so she can keep "her" baby. Desperate for a job, it's during the Depression after all, Polly opts to take in the baby instead of losing her job and her reputation. A few more misconstrued events, and soon David's father (Coburn) thinks that David is the baby's father and he, John, is over joyed to be a grandfather.
There are some wonderfully funny scenes...Niven trying to return a broken Donald Duck to his own store, the New Year's Eve party (see below), the dance competition, Coburn's spoon tossing, one baby...but three fathers, etc. And some great lines:
John B. Merlin (Coburn): I don't care who the father is; I'm the grandfather!
**********
Employee 1: I know where the body's buried.
Employee 2: Good, why don't you crawl in with it.
**********Dared by his neglected girlfriend to find a last-minute date, David takes Polly to a high society New Year's Eve party. Since Polly's nervous, they spend the evening pretending she only speaks Swedish. As they leave the party, the ex-girlfriend takes a jab at Polly:
David speaking to ex-girlfriend, Louise: So, how'd you like her? (gestures at Polly)
Louise: She's not bad for a fill in. Personally I'd just as soon go stag.
Polly (with a sweet smile): You could too with those shoulders.
There are several other lines I'd love to share here, but not enough time. Sigh. The trailer is supposed to be available here, but I can't get it to work (I think it's my connection, not the site). Unfortunately, the movie is not available on DVD and the videotaped edition might be hard to find also. I have it on laserdisc, so feel free to pop in; or check for it on Turner Classic Movies (TCM).
The movie was remade as as a musical called Bundle of Joy starring Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher. The studio wanted to cash in on Fisher's popularity as a pop singer and his recent marriage to Reynolds. Too bad they didn't bother to check if Fisher could act...he couldn't. Skip the remake.
Oh, this is a good one! The Swedish bit at the party is Ginger at her best. She was brilliant at everything -- comedy, drama, dancing. I saw just a scene of this last night (hubby watched it while I was working) -- made me smile just being reminded of it.
Posted by: Laura | August 24, 2006 at 12:50 AM