The Bachelor Father

Sir Basil Algernon Winterton has gathered his three grown illegitimate children back to his estate from around the world. They don't really know him if they even have met him before. American showgirl Antoinette 'Tony' Flagg (Marion Davies) doesn't even know what he looks like. She meets the other two, Geoffrey Trent (Ray Milland) and Maria Credaro.

This is a pre-Code film based on a play. All the old mansions are looking the same from this cinematic period. This is missing that modern movie flair. That's why Marion Davies' high energy work makes her stand out. This comedy works best with her.

I'd only seen Marion Davies in "Polly of the Circus" and that wasn't an impressive movie at all. This movie, however, was very impressive. This movie was a Marion Davies production and she should be proud to have her name on it.

An old Englishman by the name of Sir Basil Algernon Winterton (C. Aubrey Smith) was rich, unmarried, and totally content. He was settling in one evening in the company of his doctor, Dr. Frank 'Mac' MacDonald (David Torrence) and his lawyer, John Ashley (Ralph Forbes), when the topic turned to his predilection towards self-indulgence. He glibly mentioned that he had no wife and no family so what else was he to do. When Mac asked about any children Sir Basil braggingly stated that he had three children scattered about the world. "Anybody can do it," he dismissively stated.

When Mac stated that Sir Basil's children wouldn't be able to stand his drinking, temper, and overall behavior he defiantly told John to look up his children to have them all brought to his home, the Rooksfold Manor in Surrey, England. "You are to go to the various corners of the earth, collect my stray offspring, and bring them to their father," Sir Basil ordered. John then set about finding Sir Basil's two daughters and one son.

John was able to collect Geoffrey (Ray Milland), Maria (Nina Quartero), and Antoinette 'Tony' Flagg (Marion Davies) and bring them back to England. What no one knew except Tony's guardian was that she wasn't Sir Basil's daughter, still her aunt Molly (Elizabeth Murray) allowed Tony to go to England in hopes she would have a better life.

The union between the stuffy old Sir Basil and his three offspring was pure comedy led by Tony. She was the de facto ringleader and she was a cut up. "The Bachelor Father" was hilarious. Sir Basil's stuffiness was brilliantly paired with Tony's zaniness, yet it wasn't slapstick silly with breaking things and bafoonish behavior. I'd say Tony's part was perfect. She was just playful and silly enough to contrast against Sir Basil's uptight behavior, yet not so silly where it was plain foolish. I really enjoyed this movie and it reminded me of many movies that came later in which a person willingly or unwillingly enters someone else's life then becomes indispensable. "The Bachelor Father" could be seen as the mold for such movies because it was so expertly done.

Free on Odnoklassniki.

The premise to this film is pretty unique, and clearly pre-Code. An old British gentlemen boasts to his doctor that he's had affairs with women all over the world, resulting in adult children he's never met. While irascible, he's perfectly happy with his life and doesn't want to "fill this place with a lot of noisy ill-bred brats," but is persuaded to summon three of them to his manor.

One of the kids is a plucky American girl played by Marion Davies, who sasses her father and gradually softens him in spite of himself. C. Aubrey Smith is the dad and fun to watch, as his strong appearance and mannerisms are perfect for the role. The other two kids are played by Nina Quartero and a dapper 24-year-old Ray Milland; both are engaging, but their roles are small. After doing things like dance around the place with her siblings, Davies agrees to call their father Chief, because after all, "We're all out of the same firehose," which was funny and eyebrow-raising at the same time.

The film is a little creaky in places, with poor sound quality and clearly based on a stage play, so it's far from perfect and requires patience. It attempts comedy, romance, and drama, and I can't say it does a great job at any of them, though the moment with the airplane towards the end is pretty good, and on the strength of Davies' endearing performance, it's decent enough. My favorite lines from her: "You said you loved me, and so did John. But as soon as I do something wrong, I'm out. That isn't the way I love. When I love somebody, no matter what the other party does, I go on loving them just the same. That's the way I am."

A grumpy old baronet, happily unmarried, decides to send for his three grown-up illegitimate children and provide them a home at his manor. To his surprise, he finds himself bonding with his uninhibited American daughter. Can he find satisfaction in his new role as THE BACHELOR FATHER?

This 1931 film, in which he gives a robust performance, marked the arrival at MGM of elderly Sir C. Aubrey Smith, very soon to be one of Hollywood's most valuable character actors. With his great hooked nose & beetling brows, Sir Aubrey looked every inch the part of the duke or general or statesman he would play so often. The acknowledged leader of the British community in Hollywood, Sir Aubrey would also champion the game of criquet in Southern California. He would remain very much in demand in studios all over town, right up to his death in 1948.

The film's top-billed star is Marion Davies. Best remembered today as the mistress of media mogul William Randolph Hearst & the chatelaine of Hearst Castle, the most fabulous residence on the West Coast, she was actually a very talented & pretty comedienne. For a few years, Hearst attempted to make her the queen of MGM (with her own production company & a huge bungalow-dressing room) but the studio already had several other queens - Dressler, Garbo, Shearer, Crawford - and he eventually moved her to Warner Bros. Here Miss Davies gets a chance to joke & clown and her scenes with Sir Aubrey are entertaining.

Her love interest is played by Ralph Forbes, a handsome young British actor who was just starting to find good films (THE TRAIL OF ‘98) as the silent days ended. He had all the qualities for major stardom, but sadly it was not to be. Celebrity would come to Ray Milland, here making one of his first screen appearances. Halliwell Hobbes & Doris Lloyd also appear to advantage.

Although a casual viewing might have one concurring on the children being born out of wedlock, there is at least one mention later in the movie about a divorce. If one divorce is in place, three can be fairly assumed, and thus, of course, three marriages. // My real complaint is not about this movie at all, but rather, about a much more well-known and acclaimed movie: Orson Wells' "Citizen Kane". Kane, assumed by all to be a fictionalized William Randolph Hearst, marries an untalented girl, and uses his money and power to promote her career, to the embarrassment of all concerned. The closest this wife character comes to a real-life person is Marian Davies. By the time someone is reading this, they are fully aware that Ms Davies is actually very talented, but because Orson Wells' film is so much more well known than the entire output of Ms. Davies, there is virtually a sub-culture with a completely wrong idea of Marian Davies and her talent.