Bachelor Mother | Ginger Rogers, David Niven

Bachelor Mother | Ginger Rogers, David Niven | "Keep those ducks in motion!"

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Bachelor Mother

	Bachelor Mother Ginger Rogers, David Niven Turner Home Ent, 1998 average customer review:based on 33 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Ginger Rogers stars as a department store salesclerk about to be laid off after the Christmas holiday, who happens to be passing an orphanage when a woman leaves a baby on the doorstep. The orphanage assumes that Rogers is the mother, despite her protests; when they contact the department store, the owner's son (David Niven) decides to restore her job so that she can take care of the child. Before long, rumors are flying that Niven is the child's father, which fills Niven's father (the great character actor Charles Coburn) with joy. The plot expertly weaves a deliciously funny web of assumptions and denials, with Rogers, Niven, and Coburn turning in topnotch performances--Rogers, who sometimes overplays her comic parts, is brilliantly understated in what is one of her best roles. These great actors are combined with a smart script from Norman Krasna (Mr. and Mrs. Smith, It Started with Eve) and smooth direction from Garson Kanin (My Favorite Wife). Bachelor Mother is one of the most underappreciated gems of the screwball comedy era. --Bret Fetzer

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Warm hearted family movie

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??

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"Keep those ducks in motion!"

Bachelor Mother is an almost perfect romantic comedy from 1939 that's ideal for the holiday season. Ginger Rogers is the shopgirl who loses her job on Christmas Eve and who makes the mistake of holding an abandoned baby outside a foundlings home: from that point on, everyone thinks it's hers, and when boss's son David Niven gets her her job back and gives her a raise to look after the baby, they assume he's the father. Norman Krasna's then-risque script (although remade in 1952 as Bundle of Joy, it's film that wouldn't be easy to remake with today's very different social mores) is sharp, Garson Kanin's direction pitch-perfect and the film full of memorable moments, from David Niven's scornful impersonation of Ginger Rogers' jitterbugging or his attempt to return a faulty Donald Duck toy - Donald Duck plays a large part in the proceedings - at his own store to Rogers pretending to be Svedish at a New Year's Eve party. There's a good supporting cast too, not least Charles Coburn as the determined family patriarch who isn't going to let facts get in the way - "I don't care who the father is, I'm the grandfather!" Great fun, it's perfect for Christmas and the New Year. And remember - "Keep those ducks in motion!"

The French DVD - released as Mademoiselle et son Bébé - offers an acceptable but not outstanding transfer with English soundtrack and removeable French subtitles.

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Why isn't this on DVD yet????

What a wonderful movie this is - Ginger Rogers, David Niven and Charles Coburn at their finest!!
Why isn't this movie available on DVD???
This movie was re-made as Bundle of Joy, starring Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher.
The original is MUCH better!
Hey, let's get this out on DVD soon.....PLEASE!

"I don't care who the father is! I'm the grandfather!" CONTAINS POSSIBLE SPOILER

I just adore this film. I first caught it earlier this year (2007) on TCM (my absolute favorite station) and it was a true joy to watch. I believe TCM was running a Ginger Rogers' birthday marathon, so for me, it was a great opportunity to see her away from Fred Astaire. I have seen nearly all of the Fred and Ginger movies, but was curious about Ginger's success away from those musicals.

Needless to say, this is quite the gem. I was interested in just how a story with this plot would be handled, particularly in the 30s, but everything was kept comedic and the writers didn't take themselves too seriously.

The premise is that Ginger (Polly Parrish) finds a baby left on a doorstep and tries to drop him off at an orphanage. Well, the head of the orphanage tracks her down after finding out she's set to lose her job. He figures that's why she's giving up the baby, and he sets out to see David Niven (David Merlin) so he can be made aware of what she's done and what he can do to help her. Well, David allows Polly to keep her job with an increase in pay, and he tells her that a surprise will be waiting for her when she arrives home. Polly, stunned by his actions, doesn't think that it has anything to do w/the bizarre thoughts that people have about the little guy being hers. When she gets home that night and finds the baby (whom she named John), we see the beginning of some hilarious events that will have you laughing.

I truly enjoyed this movie. I was never bored. It's not very long which is great. Each of the actors, particularly Ginger and Niven, work great together. Nobody was hamming it up.

My favorite scene was with Merlin, Sr. when he founds out that he is a grandfather. Of course, "we" viewers know that isn't true, but to watch him melt over a kid that couldn't possibly be his and already make plans for him as an heir is hilarious. And the looks on Polly and David's faces when they discover what the old man thought are priceless.

I was disappointed to know that this hasn't made it to DVD yet, but here's hoping that it eventually will.

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A Christmas Memory

One of the best Christmas movies around and Turner showed it last night while we were sitting around addressing Christmas packages to my native France. At first I was like, meh, since it stars two of my all time least favorite stars in Hollywood, but you know what? Maybe it was the multiple egg nogs, or the tinsel beckoning on the Dutch elm, but I wound up enjoying both Ginger Rogers and David Niven very much. They were each more talented than I gave them credit for, though to me, and maybe this is just a personal thing, I just don't see Niven as the sort of heartthrob that all the girls in the department store would swoon over (and the guys too, all falling over themselves to butter him up when he deigns to grace the toy department).

In fact although I wound up liking Niven, I wound up disliking his character intensely. In one sequence he takes Ginger Rogers to a high society New Years Eve party, and when she expresses nervousness about conversing with her betters at the dinner table, he doesn't say to her, you're as good as anyone else, he just passes her off as Swedish (unable to speak a word of English). I remember in the Mapp and Lucia books this would often happen--I wonder if Garson Kanin who wrote this screenplay was familiar with the classic comic novels of E F Benson--only difference is if Benson wrote the screenplay Ginger would have been horrified when an actual Swedish speaker came up and tried to talk with her in what he would presume was her native tongue. Anyhow Niven is thoroughly class bound in this inter-class comedy, and if it weren't for the baby it wouldn't have been half as much fun. Who played that baby, anyhow? Probably dozens of little infants, since "John" changes every time a new expression is needed to show on his face, but whoever they were, they were darned cute kids. Probably around 70 now--wonder if any of them are still alive?

Another one who probably watched this movie was Lucille Ball, Ginger's great friend in real life, for one realizes watching it that everything Lucy did on her later TV series, Ginger was doing in this movie. Ginger also has two wonderful dance numbers.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

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