Film Review
With
The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle
(1939) marking the end of her long and fruitful partnership with Fred
Astaire, Ginger Rogers' solo career got off to a flying start with this
good-natured romantic comedy in which the actress is paired with
another much-loved screen icon, David Niven. Up until this point, Niven's
career had been slow to take off, with the actor relegated to
supporting roles in such films as
The Charge of the Light Brigade
(1936),
The Prisoner of Zenda
(1937) and
Wuthering Heights (1939).
Bachelor Mother was Niven's
first lead in a romantic comedy, in the kind of the role in which he
appeared most natural, the perfect beau to play opposite the
effortlessly adorable Rogers.
The film was based on a story by Felix Jackson which had previously
been adapted for cinema as the German film
Kleine Mutti (1935) and would later
be remade as
Bundle of Joy
(1956), with Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher in the lead roles.
The somewhat pedestrian plot was given a new lease of life by
screenwriter Norman Krasna and director Garson Kanin, although most of
the film's irresistible charm derives from the extraordinary on-screen
chemistry between Rogers and Niven (something that the two actors
failed spectacularly to rekindle in their next film together,
Magnificent Doll, 1946).
Charles Coburn livens up the film no end in its final act, and very
nearly steals the film as only he can (despite some stiff competition from
the two charismatic leads and a focus-grabbing toddler).
Bachelor Mother is hardly the most
original of romantic comedies, nor is it the funniest, but it gushes
with charm and is one of Ginger Rogers' most enjoyable films sans Fred.
Garson Kanin directed some other notable films, including the classic screwball comedy
My Favorite Wife (1940).
He also scripted several films featuring Spencer Tracy and
Katharine Hepburn, notably
Adam's Rib (1949)
and
Pat and Mike (1952).
© James Travers 2013
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
Polly Parrish works as a shop assistant in a New York department
store. On the day she learns she is to be dismissed she manages
to get herself mistaken for the mother of a baby that has been
abandoned on the steps of an orphanage. When Polly refuses to
take the baby home with her, the orphanage director persuades her
employer's playboy son, David Merlin, to give her back her job so she
can rear the child. Reluctantly, Polly decides to adopt the
child, but when she and David become romantically involved the latter's
father becomes convinced that the baby is his grandson...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.