Tuesday, March 30, 2010

He can quote the first line of Gunga Din!

Okay, so last Wednesday, I rushed (safely!) home from work, skipped the grocery store trip I had planned to make, quickly whipped up some dinner, and then sat down to watch Vivacious Lady. There were several movies last Wednesday night that I was dying to see. First, I have to say that I really liked Vivacious Lady. I have to make that disclaimer because this post is not about it. But I did really like it and I really want to own it! No, this post is about the next movie on my count-up:

#22 Bachelor Mother (1939)


First, let's start with the plot: Polly Parrish (Ginger Rogers) has just been fired from her job as store clerk at Merlin & Son's Department Store. On her way home, she passes by the Foundling Home and witnesses a lady dropping a baby on the doorstep. As the baby starts to cry, Polly picks the baby up to comfort it, just in time for the door of the Foundling Home to open. The people in the home don't believe Polly isn't the mother, no matter how insistent she is, and they go directly to her boss, David Merlin (David Niven) to ask him to rehire her so that she can care for the child. Now, she's stuck with a strange baby but when David threatens to take her job away if she doesn't care for the child, Polly finds herself a mother. This is a romantic comedy, so the complications add up when she and David fall in love. (I am refraining from adding "Further complications arise when..." because I don't want to spoil it!)


I didn't watch this movie for the longest time, in fact, I sort of avoided it, for the silly and simple reason that I thought it was a drama. I read the title and decided I didn't want to watch Ginger Rogers struggling through motherhood. Well, I finally read some summaries of the film, realized it wasn't a drama, and decided to watch it. And am I glad I did! I laughed for the majority of the film! I was doubled over with laughter - it was that funny!! Now, I really, really want to own this film so that I can show it around to everyone. I'm a little nervous, though, because I know I'm going to build it up to be this amazingly fantastic comedy (which it is) and then my friends and family will watch it and say, "It was cute." In any case, I will have to get my hands on it so that I can watch it again, if nothing else! What can I say? A new favorite!

4 comments:

  1. I really want to see this movie, but can't seem to find it anywhere. :-(

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  2. Great review! I haven't seen the film in such a long time, I think I might rewatch it again...if I could only find the tape. Oh I think I've seen Vivacious Lady but for some reason I cannot recall what the film was about!

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  3. I'm so glad you liked it! Really, I think that everyone should watch it, but I am biased because it's one of my favorites. I've decided to take your advice and review it soon on my blog.

    By the way, I watched Dodge City yesterday and it was marvelous. Errol Flynn is wonderful as usual, and the love story with Olivia is as sweet and great as ever. I think you'll really like the movie.

    - Amanda

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  4. Great review, Sally! WHY this one has never been on DVD is a major mystery... maybe somebody somewhere is restoring it to release... honestly, a Ginger box set (or 2, or 3...) is WAAAYYY overdue...
    Anyway, glad you enjoyed it! After watching this one and 'VL' back-to-back, yep - this one is the better of the two, although I love VL!

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