Mãe por Acaso

I recently caught this movie on TV one Saturday morning, and was it ever a delight! The story is based on a series of comedic errors, but unlike more recent films, the top-notch acting leads you to believe that yes, it could really happen that way! (I'm used to films veering way too far into the slapstick so that I'm just rolling my eyes and suspending my belief -- here I was just chuckling away.)

Ginger Rodgers and David Niven give fabulous performances, and the head of the Foundling Home plays his part without flaw. I finished the film with a warm, happy glow that I carried into the day. I will enjoy revisiting it in the future.

Bachelor Mother finds Ginger Rogers as a shopgirl working for the large department store that Charles Coburn owns. When she's let go at Christmas time she's going to have to worry where the next meal for her is coming. No position to be taking on dependents.

Which is why when she finds a baby left on her doorstep she takes it to a foundling home where everyone assumes it's her's. When she tells her story about being let go, they're moved to do something about it. She gets her job back with a raise, but Ginger's a most unwilling mother.

Of course the speculation gets going as to who the dad is and the playboy son of Charles Coburn seems a real likely possibility. Especially when you've got David Niven as the playboy.

Garson Kanin directed the Felix Jackson original story in the film that became Bachelor Mother. The original screenplay was nominated for an Oscar in that category, but lost to Mr. Smith Goes To Washington.

I saw the musical remake that RKO did 17 years later with Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds and it was clear just how superior this film is to that one. Eddie was playing David Niven's part and while the man could sing, he hadn't a tenth of Niven's charm. To be perfectly fair though, there were few men as charming as David Niven, he carried more films on the strength of that charm than anyone else I can think of.

Ginger Rogers was doing a great variety of dramatic roles now at RKO in between her films with Fred Astaire. She was really kicking her career into high gear at this point and would win an Oscar next year for Kitty Foyle. Hard as she struggles in this film to convince everyone she's not the mother it gets easier to just go with the flow. When you see where the film is flowing you'll agree.

Bachelor Mother is a bright and witty comedy, not quite of the screwball variety, but still holding up quite well after more than 70 years.

How many of us can sympathize with this? Your job is hanging precariously, your social life is not what it could be, and customer service won't let you return a malfunctioning Donald Duck toy without a receipt in triplicate.

This is the irresistible comic situation for the forgotten classic "Bachelor Mother". A young, urbane department store worker happens to run across a baby left on a social office's doorstep. Under the circumstances she is confused as the mother of the baby. She flatly denies this but no one will believe her including her boss, a wealthy, prim David Niven. Following a comedy of errors reminiscent of a Shakespeare play these two are thrown together and Niven is then assumed to be the baby's father by his own father, the inimitable Charles Coburn. The movies dances dizzyingly from one comic scenario to another, including a scene where Niven misdirects Rodgers to rub baby food into the baby's navel, and the cathartic comic moment where Niven, the store manager disguised a customer, demands to have his Donald Duck toy returned, to no avail.

Niven: "What is wrong with our Sales Return desk?"

Rodgers: "They don't return anything!"

Filled with scintillating wit, bubbling chemistry and a feel-good plot it is the perfect comedy to enjoy over and over again.

One of the best Ginger Rogers' movies....She proves to be a complete actress indeed, not only just a dancer (even if she was so talented!). The story and the script are witty and they work, not a bit of boredom, counting on the fact that certain things weren't quite disputable then. A "solo" mother was rather to blame....the movie brings in to question a tabù and it's done with class. It keeps a particular far-sighted way of seeing things they had in the late 30s....on my opinion of course. But they lost it after the war. Anyway about Rogers...well, she's great! Niven is one of my favourite actors and together they make a very fine couple....unusual but fine. Must see it! I highly recommend it

For some reason that completely baffles me, TCM rarely broadcasts this wonderful, romantic comedy of errors, but frequently shows the lame musical remake, Bundle of Joy. Which cast would you rather watch - Debbie Reynolds, Eddie Fisher and Adolphe Menjou, or Ginger Rogers, David Niven and Charles Coburn? For me, every member of the cast in this original version is far better than his/her counterpart in the remake. The original cast delivers a film with risqué overtones (with a wink to the Hays Office), while Reynolds and (especially) Fisher turn the remake into 1950's milk and cookies.

In Bachelor Mother a beautiful, young Ginger Rogers is at her peak. She portrays a wonderfully sympathetic character. She is strong and feminine; exasperated yet determined. David Niven delivers perfectly as a somewhat spoiled, sophisticated and yet befuddled scion of a wealthy department store magnate. And I always love to see Charles Coburn - in top form here as the blustery, but good-hearted department store magnate who desperately wants a grandson.

I like Debbie Reynolds fine, but Debbie doesn't deliver as nuanced a performance as Ginger Rogers. Eddie Fisher as an actor - No Way! The only time he is not completely painful to watch is in Butterfield 8 - where, incidentally, he doesn't sing. Adolphe Menjou is okay.

I get angry at TCM for showing the remake more frequently than this delightful original. I get angrier still that some Hollywood boob thought it would be a good idea to remake Bachelor Mother, filling it with some lame songs that only serve to interrupt the flow of the story.

For a terrific romantic comedy, accept no substitutes: check out Bachelor Mother. And tell TCM which film you prefer. Maybe it will start showing this film more often.