Customer Reviews

Bachelor Mother [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - France ]

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Garson Kanin directed this Norman Krasna screenplay and if you ever doubt the magic of Ginger Rogers you have only to watch this film for absolute proof. The always loveable Charles Coburn and a young, dashing and very funny David Niven help this become a true classic. Ginger gives a sweet and comical performance that is a reminder of just how great she really was.

Ginger plays Polly Parrish, temporary Christmas help at Merlin & Son's department store. Charles Coburn is J. B. Merlin and David Niven is his footloose son David. Ginger is given her pink slip along with the other Christmas help and upon leaving the store comes across an old woman leaving a small baby on the steps of an orphanage. Ginger of course picks the baby up as the door opens and from here on in everyone assumes it's hers!

When she leaves the baby there it is traced back to her former employer and Niven agrees to keep her on so she can keep her baby! Ginger gets tired of explaining how it's not her baby and since she is slowly but surely becoming the baby's mother anyway she gives in. A very funny Niven keeps stopping buy to "help" and he and Ginger have some truly nice moments together.

When Niven is stood up on New Year's Eve he stops by to get Ginger and once the clothes and fur coat arrive they are off to rub it in the face of the stuffy girl who stood him up. To Ginger's shock he introduces her as a Swedish girl who can't speak a word of english! It's hilarious as they make up a language that's anything but Swedish and Ginger is the toast of the party, dancing with everyone. The scene after the date, as Ginger talks to her baby about it will make you fall in love with her.

When a disgruntled employee tells Coburn that the baby is his son's, he is overjoyed to have a grandson. The attempts of Niven and Ginger to convince him otherwise turns to hilarity when they both produce the actual "father" of Ginger's baby, at the same time! The baby really is Ginger's by now and Niven, of course, realizes he loves both of them.

Ginger Rogers was a wonderful light comedic actress and along with "Lucky Partners" with Ronald Coleman, "Fifth Avenue Girl," and her Oscar winning "Kitty Foyle," this is one of her finest films. This is a great comedy you'll watch more than once. Ginger Rogers was the sweet American girl next door. She was never prettier than in this film and simply exudes a luminous charm in every scene. This might just be her finest performance.

This is a movie that will have you laughing or smiling all the way through. Anyone who ever questions the importance of Ginger Rogers in American cinema need only be reminded that in the tiny annex where Anne Frank spent so much time, where every inch of space was precious and guarded, was a torn out picture from a movie magazine---- of Ginger Rogers.

I have watched this movie every year around the holidays since I can remember. It is innocent enough for children yet entertaining for adults.

During her lunch our, Polly Parish finds her life will never be the same as she finds herself is a comical chain of circumstances, with all fingers pointing to her as the mother of an abandoned child. After trying to convince everyone around her that she is not the mother, she finally accepts responsibility for this bundle, eventually becoming so attached to the child that she fights to keep him.

Ginger Rogers is delightful as always, with David Niven fitting in his role like fingers in a glove. A must-see classic!

One of my favorite black and white films. Very cute comedy. Ginger Rogers' character is funny, beautiful, gorgeous, what can I say more? David Niven is also very funny. The film also features a wonderful heartwarming plot (but not intense).

I'll just add to what others have said: this film is a heck of a lot of fun. Ginger has never been more delightful. Charles Coburn is his usual magnificent self (and gets off the movie's best line: "I don't care who the father is, I am the grandfather!" And David Niven, who I have always found likeable but inexplicably overrated, is much more agreeable than usual.

Although my favorite Ginger Rogers films are those she made with Herr Astaire, she would have been one of my favorites merely by the quality of such films as this one and THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR.

The citizens demand a restored, remastered copy of this superb movie on DVD! Nearly every other movie you can think of has received the restoration and re-release treatment. When are we going to get this one? It'll sell guys. Just look at the reviews...

In Ginger Rogers' movies with Fred Astaire she often comes across as a true comedienne. But in this movie with David Niven she is a sheer delight as the urban woman who is suddenly landed with a baby. It is loaded with magnificent one-liners and quirky situations between Ginger Rogers and David Niven, not to mention Charles Coburn as her boss, who is not often remembered, though he was truly great. The chemistry between G.R and D.N. reminds me of the worlds funniest married couple, William Powell and Myrna Loy of "Thin man"-fame. Garson Kanin directed a number of comedies and this is definitely his best together with "His favorite wife". I recommend this movie highly.

This is a hilarious comedy of assumptions with a very strong cast. Ginger Rogers, David Niven and Charles Coburn all star in this delightful comedy.

Ginger Rogers is a store clerk who happens to see a woman leaving a baby at the door of a church. She rushes forward to tell the woman not to do such a thing when suddenly the woman flees and the door opens. Ginger is assumed to be the mother of the baby and the priest insists that she keeps the child. And from there the story springs.

The Church, in their role of helping, interferes at the store to make sure Ginger keeps her job so that she can raise the child. This brings her to the attention of her boss. Fascination and romance follow.

Ginger is like a rider on a roller coaster. She can not get off or change things. She must hold on as best she can until the ride ends.

This movie is wonderful and delightful, but only really works if one accepts the innocent nature of films of the day. Ginger is accused of having a baby. Even the people she has worked with every day believe it. All this despite that fact that in the movie Ginger has a waist of about sixteen inches and there is no way she could have been pregnant without everyone seeing her condition. But that aside, it is a truly wonderful film.

Wonderful movie, I have watched my copy at least 20 times over the years! I love the sassy verbage used, and the lovely clothes! This movie is not one of her dancing musicals however, it is funny and superb! This is one of my few all time favorite movies ... great movie to watch with your family on a rainy day with some cocoa!

A warm-hearted family movie that makes you laugh. In the era of Hollywood where they did not need overt sexual activity to entertain, but relied upon the skills of the actors, this is another of those classic movies you can enjoy with the whole family. David Niven and Ginger Rogers are wonderful together. The banter is quick and witty, though enough is there for kids to enjoy, if those kids are used to seeing movies that are not "dumbed down", as most are today.

No spoilers here: the best scene is New Year's Eve party where Ginger Rogers pretends to know no English.

Where is the US DVD release of this fine movie??

Polly's friend (staring at the baby): "Where did it come from?"
Polly: "I got it for Christmas."
Polly's friend: "This Christmas, or last Christmas?"

Lovely and multi-talented, and a best actress Oscar winner, Ginger Rogers might be chagrined to find that, today, she's still best known as Fred Astaire's dancing partner. But there's no denying Ginger's skills. A wonderful comedienne and an accomplished dramatic actress, the girl can sing and dance and, brother, she can even act. Her star ascended with Astaire, but after nine very successful but rigorous films with him, Ginger took a break from musicals. Her very next project was 1939's sparkling romantic comedy BACHELOR MOTHER, made at the peak of her career. We all know how many all time classics were filmed in that fabled year, so the fact that this picture was a tremendous box office hit speaks for itself. This movie was remade in 1956 by RKO as Bundle of Joy (VHS), starring Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher. While a good comedy in its own right, it's not as well regarded and doesn't quite measure up to BACHELOR MOTHER.

It's Christmas time in New York City, and department store salesgirl Polly Parrish (Rogers) has just been notified of her end-of-the-day sacking. Departing from work she strolls by an orphanage and witnesses a woman abandoning a baby at the front steps. With the woman having fled, Polly picks up the baby as, moments later, the door to the orphanage opens, and here comes the mistaken identity. Now no one believes that Polly's not the mother. Her department store, Merlin's, comes to her aid, reinstating her in her salesgirl position. Even young David Merlin (David Niven), heir to the business, drops by to give unsound baby advice. What's a girl to do?

BACHELOR MOTHER is a feel good movie, simply ideal for the holidays. The movie does a good job of balancing its sentimental sappiness with a playful sense of humor. There's even a dig at the stuffed shirt bureaucracy of businesses like Merlin's. The top notch cast manages to keep everything grounded and plausible, in spite of the zaniness which colors the film. With BACHELOR MOTHER Ginger again shows that she does have drawing power without Fred Astaire. As the working class bachelorette who has motherhood abruptly thrust upon her, Ginger's never been more engaging or funny. Her performance is nicely subdued and reveals a tender and vulnerable side. While it's wholly understandable that her young and fancy free character would rebel at being saddled with a strange infant, it's not too farfetched that she soon falls in love with the kid. Ginger is very good here. And she even gets a chance to do some hoofing in a dance competition.

Classy David Niven turns in a performance which shouldn't be short-changed. After various solid supporting roles, this is where he graduated to his first romantic comedy lead, and he proves to be a natural. Chemistry is never guaranteed, but David and Ginger prove to have it in bunches. They make a charming couple, and I truly relished their back and forth patter and how they played off each other. Meanwhile, a movie can't ever go wrong by featuring Charles Coburn. He's up there on my list of all-time character actors, along with, let's say, Claude Raines, Edward Arnold, Eugene Pallette, S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall, and Walter Brennan. As David's father who longs for a grandson, Coburn brings instant onscreen credibility. And, of course, one must never, never underestimate the cuteness of a baby.

In the Apropos of Nothing Department: What are the odds that I'd pop in two old comedies in a row and hear Donald Duck noises from both? First, in the entertaining 1938 screwball comedy JOY OF LIVING. And, now, in BACHELOR MOTHER. Coincidence? Well, yeah, probably.