You won't be disappointed!

Powerful

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Blistering performances.

Polly Parrish (Ginger Rogers), a clerk at Merlin's Department Store, is mistakenly presumed to be the mother of a foundling. Outraged at Polly's unmotherly conduct, David Merlin (David Niven) becomes determined to keep the single woman and "her" baby together.Is this what they call a comedy of errors? It certainly is funny, as a woman is stuck trying to get rid of a baby who obviously isn't hers, even though her boss and everyone else seems to think it is. Strangely, the child's well-being is a background concern, and it is interesting that the foundling center claims it receives over 500 babies each year -- what was going on? Or was that just how adoption was done in those days? Ginger Rogers is great, and David Niven is excellent. I just love his debonair demeanor. He is always great, but the younger Niven is a special treat.

When a recently fired department store employee (Ginger Rogers) finds an abandoned baby, she does what any good woman would do: she tries to get rid of it. But the orphanage she takes it to is sure she is lying about not being the mother and follows her home to return the baby, refusing to take no for an answer. All of a sudden, she has her job back, and every man she knows is yearning to play papa. But circumstances make it appear that the department store owner's son (David Niven) is the responsible party, and hilarious results ensue.This delicious screwball comedy is a bit more subtle in its humor than classics like "My Man Godfrey", "Libeled Lady" and "Bringing Up Baby", but classic none the less. It focuses more on how a definitely single woman must change her life and how she handles sudden and unwanted motherhood. An amusing scene has Niven and Rogers becoming closer with Niven insisting a baby book he's reading indicates that to feed a baby, you must rub oatmeal in the infant's belly button (or "navel") and his awkward reaction to being corrected.A cute Donald Duck toy causes all sorts of contention in the department store, much like Auntie Mame's roller skates. This duck is used as a metaphor to comment on the way adults sometimes argue, talking over each other and sounding perfectly ridiculous. The wonderful Charles Coburn has a wonderful supporting part as Niven's imperious father who gets to be a bit emotional when he learns that he may be a grandfather. Rogers is hysterically funny in pretending to be a Swedish heiress, making up ridiculous sounding words as she goes along, and finally getting a good dig in at the snooty socialite Niven has dumped for her. An intelligent and witty screenplay (by Norman Krasna, with assistance from director Garson Kanin) helps this rise above the average Hollywood comedy, making it a true classic that you won't want to miss.

Ginger Rogers does well in this domestic romantic comedy as does David Niven. However the one spoiler has a major plot hole which nobody who has written about the movie has brought up. Ginger is supposed to be the mother of a child. OK...BUT...didn't the landlady who saw her every day notice that she was NEVER pregnant? That she never went to the Hospital? That she never saw the baby during it's first few months? All of a sudden Ginger shows up with a 6 or 7 month old baby. Where was the baby supposed to be during those first months? Just doesn't make sense. And how convenient that the landlady is always available to take care of the baby, day and night!!! Aside from this major story line, BACHELOR MOTHER is still a fun sit through, although the ending is quite confusing. Doesn't the David Niven character care that Ginger was never married and is supposed to have had the baby out of "wedlock"? Oh, and Charles Coburn was quite wonderful in his few scenes.

This is yet another Depression Era take on Cinderella - not for nothing is is the David Niven character named Merlin - designed to take people's minds off both the recent austerity and the global war waiting in the wings. What comes across strongly is the sheer professionalism from all Departments, Script, Directing, Acting, that almost succeeds in preventing awkward questions - the film begins on what Americans insist on referring to as 'the day before Christmas', known to the rest of the world as Christmas Eve, with Ginger Rogers being made redundant from her temporary salesperson position at Merlin's Department Store; due to plot machinations the son of the owner of the store (David Niven) is moved to reinstate her and the continuity implies that she goes back to work the next day (Christmas) - etc. The character played by the reliable and prolific Frank Albertson (so memorable in It's A Wonderful Life) fluctuates between up and down like a dysfunctional yo-yo but it's a safe bet that no one in 1939 noticed any of this and were content to bask in the high Enjoyment factor. Even today it holds up pretty well if only perhaps for one first-time viewing.