Father Is a Bachelor

I've been watching movies on TV from the time I was a teenager and there were no video or DVD players then. Therefore, I remember well the movies that I thought were exceptional. "Father Is A Bachelor" with William Holden was one of them. He plays a drifter (as I remember) and meets up with five (?) orphaned brothers and sisters (children). They don't want to be separated and convince Mr. Holden to be their "father." He reluctantly agrees at first, but soon begins to like his role and the children. He is strict, loving and fair. He meets a young woman and falls in love. I don't want to tell you more: watch the movie! It needs to be taken off Hollywood's shelves and put into a video/DVD format, preferably immediately!

As a fan of William Holden, I can't say this is one of his better films, but it is entertaining enough if you can get past the dubbing of his singing voice. "Born Yesterday" and "Sunset Boulevard" would be released in the same year (1950).

Holden plays Johnny Rutledge, a self-described loafer who says, "The prettiest girl in the world couldn't get me--I'm woman-proof!" But he manages to get hitched to five orphaned siblings and finds himself settling into respectability and facing responsibility.

He does his best to provide for the kids. He even tries to sew a dress for the little girl May (Mary Jane Saunders) with comic results. Eventually, he realizes that a mother figure might be useful in bringing up children.

I think Mary Jane Saunders is one of the highlights of this film. She reminds me of Shirley Temple--cute and bright.

This is very light fare. There's even a scene where a life-altering decision is decided on the flip of a coin.

I`m a huge William Holden fan and I enjoyed this film very much.I like the nostalgic American mid-west turn of the century time setting of the film.Bill Holden has great interaction with the children-his true gentle sweetness when singing "In The Gloaming" as a lullabye to the little girl shines through.The scene with Bill trying to sew the little girl a dress from a pattern is hysterical.Buddy Clark did a wonderful job of dubbing his voice to match Bill Holden`s-if I didn`t know better,I would swear it was Bill singing. A nice family film with great sentimental, turn of the century songs with a wonderful, funny, sweet performance from Bill Holden.Its a shame Columbia has never released this on video or DVD.I obtained my copy from a private collector.

"Father is a Bachelor" is one of those facilely sentimental films that deserves a swift kick in the butt. It's reminiscent of "Pennies from Heaven" a pretty bad Bing Crosby film. But it has some merit, despite being "wholesome".

William Holden was Captain Cynic, a confirmed misanthrope; even his voice sounded world-weary and cynical, regardless of the role. This served him well in "Father Is a Bachelor", keeping the film from veering too far into sentimentality. (Had Bing Crosby starred (another reviewer notes the obvious possibility), it would have gone right over the cliff, bursting into flames before it crashed.)

The story is set in the American South, though whether antebellum or postbellum isn't clear. (I assume the latter.) Five orphaned (and not-icky) children adopt him, and he has to go through the transformation from "I don't care about anyone but me" to "I'm willing to sacrifice for someone else's happiness". The change is played mostly seriously, and is almost believable.

The story's strongest point is that Colleen Gray doesn't fall for Holden because he's good looking, but because she's convinced of his high character. (A similar transformation occurs with the town's plutocrat.) In other words, the story (sort-of) approximates a character-driven drama, rather than a plot-driven melodrama.

The man driving the rich guy's carriage is Hank Worden, probably best-remembered as Mose Harper in "The Searchers".

At the moment I'm watching "Father is a Bachelor" on TCM. I think it is a movie well worth issuing on DVD ... its audience potentially is great ... especially for those parents who would want their children to see an appealing film without gratuitous violence and sex as can be the case even in today's PG films. Who makes decisions about which films to reissue? I would like to find out. One person who previously commented mentioned the person who dubbed the singing. Both the singer and William Holden made it look very real, the singer by matching his vocal quality to Holden's speaking voice and Holden by perfectly matching his mouth and facial expressions to the music. A charming and sweet movie. Not the norm for this star, whose roles hardly ever involved children but were dramatic and sometimes violent. Then there are the children portrayed in the film ... not the pseudo-sophisticated worldly, overly made-up kids that today are often shown as far wiser than their parents. I can truly appreciate those qualities in a movie.