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Friday, August 25, 2017

BACHELOR MOTHER (1939)

It's a set-up for one of those Hollywood farces that keep things going by force-feeding a simple misunderstanding with dumbed-down laughs, but this time done right. Sharp & consistently funny, with a sweet payoff that’s earned rather than stuffed into place. Ginger Rogers, in peak form, is the laid-off Christmas employee who spots a foundling outside an orphanage, then can’t convince anyone she’s not the mother. David Niven, super in his first above-the-title lead, is the department store scion who lets her stay on at work if she’ll keep ‘her’ baby. And Charles Coburn is Niven’s store-owning father, thrilled to have a grandchild . . . no matter the circumstances. (In a surprising subversive touch, the question of illegitimacy hardly causes a reactionary ripple. Nice.) Everything really comes together on this one, with Felix Jackson’s story getting most of the credit (even an Oscar® nom.), but probably more due to Norman Krasna’s beautifully structured, often very funny script, and Garson Kanin’s streamlined direction, done in a neat eighty minutes.* A semi-forgotten treat.

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY/DOUBLE-BILL: *Before his war service, Kanin directed seven good-to-excellent pics from ‘38 to ‘41. His last, also with Rogers, TOM, DICK AND HARRY/’41, is exceptional; a prime candidate for musical remake. But while he continued to write for film, he pretty much gave up helming them. (Though not on B’way with 20+ directing credits.) Why he stopped is something of a mystery. Was it an anti-L.A. thing? Something involving wife/actress/writing partner Ruth Gordon? Or was he just happy to let their regular Hollywood director George Cukor deal with the film biz aggravation?

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *The script works in a couple of dance segments for Ginger who stays completely in character out on the parkay. Delightfully so!

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