The Bachelor's Daughters

What a cast! Some of the most underrated actresses of the 1940s. Gail Russell is beautiful and endearing. You can see her unrealized potential. Ann Dvorak is lovely and at her wisecracking best. Claire Trevor is gorgeous and hard working dged. Billie Birke us lovable as always.

Movie lovers will recognize the plot. At first it will seem like the forerunner of How to Marry a Millionaire six years later. That film was a bit wittier. This film has more depth and an edge.

I think most people will consider this film time well spent considering the cast alone. The writing and direction punches it up even more.

Billie Burke was a silent movie star, but all she has left of those days is a silver tea service gifted her by her fans. In the days since, she worked at a department store, and has now retired with a pension. Four girls form the various departments -- Gail Russell, Claire Trevor, Ann Dvorak, and Jane Wyatt, come to her with a proposition. If they combine their money, they can rent an estate in the wealthy suburbs and pretend to be a family who has money, with Miss Burke as their mother. Then they can snag rich husbands. To fill in a missing $32.50 per month, they rope in penny-pinching, irascible Adolphe Menjou, and soon have suitable suitors or at least Broadway careers.

Girls in search of rich husbands was not new when writer-director-producer Andrew Stone decided to make this variation, but he fills it up with some real issues and conflicts between the girls, and some good music; one of the suitors is played by concert pianist Eugene List, who can act, but does fill in the time nicely with classical music. Also, Menjou has one of his better roles, as he ranges from a petty bureaucrat to someone who goads Broadway producer Russell Hicks into giving Miss Dvorak a contract by belittling her, to someone who ultimately cares about everything: the girls, the store he works in, and of course, his 20% of Miss Dvorak's contract.

What a surprise. I hadn't seen this film since it played on Million Dollar Movies in Los Angeles in the 50's. I is a rare comedy drama with a bit of music thrown in for good measure. It stars Gail Russell in a role that shows off exactly what she was capable of. A delightful romantic lead and so beautiful as the lead character, Eileen. The cast around her couldn't be better. It has Claire Trevor, Ann Dvorak, Jane Wyatt, Adolphe Menjou and Billie Burke. It is a lost film and can hardly ever be seen anywhere. I got a copy from a collector and was amazed how well it holds up. Four girls who work in a department store adopt a mom and dad so they can share a mansion on Long Island to trap rich husbands. A chestnut of a plot to hang some wonderful performances on. It is a total delight and is a film you should search out. Gail made this film just prior to Angel and the Badman and it is no wonder she was selected to star as the Angel opposite John Wayne. Has there ever been a more beautiful girl on the screen? If there has been, I have never seen her.

Four girls who work at a department store want to get rich boyfriends so they pool their money together to rent a posh house in a swanky neighbourhood. They also pretend to be sisters whilst Billie Burke (Molly) and Adolphe Menjou (Mr Moody) pretend to be their mum and dad. There we have the creation of one wealthy fake family. A cocktail party later and they all have love interests. Mission accomplished.

The film should have been funnier. It loses momentum and gets a bit boring concentrating on the drama of romance rather than the comedic situations that they should have gone to town on. Adolphe Menjou is the best in the cast - you can always rely on him to be funny and he adds his own style of cunning in this effort. He also reminded me of Captain Peacock from "Are You Being Served". Another bonus is the piano playing of one of the suitors. He is good!

Unfortunately, the story starts to drag. Gail Russell (Eileen) gives her usual sad performance, whilst Claire Trevor (Cynthia) is just plain nasty for no reason. Burke has that annoying voice whilst the other two women are of no real interest just as the male suitors contribute little significant input to proceedings.

It's ok to watch but only just about.

The story begins with four co-workers coming up with an unusual scheme...to pool their money and rent an ultra-swanky old place which is just sitting vacant. To afford the place, they also get a couple of older folks from their job to do the same. The plan is for the older two (Adolph Menjou and Billie Burke) to pose as their parents and the four friends will use the house to snare rich husbands!

Surprisingly, my favorite part of the film was actually seeing and hearing Eugene List in his one and only screen appearance. List was a brilliant concert pianist and his performances in the film were amazing...and I can't recall having said that about anyone in any other film.

As for the plot, it's both utterly ridiculous AND enjoyable. The actors did nicely and the script is clever and makes the impossible seem almost possible.