Excellent but underrated film

A different way of telling a story

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

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

From veteran director Norman Taurog, and far better than his later Elvis movies. A cute romp with Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher.The songs are just O.K. and quite short. It's a nice Technicolor confection. Both Debbie and Eddie do very well singing and dancing, and play well to the camera. The "book" portion of the movie follows the "Bachelor Mother" plot almost scene-for-scene. The storyline should by now be very familiar, as it has been filmed 3 times. An underpaid and overworked Dept. store clerk finds a baby "on a doorstep" and everybody assumes that she is the baby's unwed mother. This allows her to keep her job when she is about to be fired, at Christmastime. Single parenting is so commonplace today, but it was a terrible scandal and disgrace decades ago. Ironically, Debbie was pregnant with Carrie during the filming. Enjoyable if you can sit through those innocuous and predictable songs. Who are "John's parents"? It's hinted that maybe Dan Miller Jr.(Eddie Fisher) actually is the father. The baby looks a lot like him. Is Roxanne Arlen, the blonde bombshell with the pixie haircut, the mom? The character she plays is "bone-headed" enough to leave a baby on the doorsteps of the Arlen Foundling Home. We are never really told, but it's a distinct possibility, and it's all left up-in-the-air. Worth your time and quite likable. A good supporting cast as well. The soundtrack needs to be "re-processed" and contains occasional "noise and chatter". (Therefore, not fully restored.)

Back in the day (1935)Austria cranked out a blend of schmaltz and strudel called Little Mother, it found its way to the private screening rooms in Hollywood and emerged a year or so later as Bachelor Mother, a vehicle for the now non-dancing Ginger Rogers and charm personified David Niven. This is still the definitive version despite and especially in spite of this dire remake - with lacklustre songs yet, from the usually reliable Josef Myrow and Mack Gordon, Saccherine Dabbie Reynolds and prime Redwood Eddie Fisher. Other than name- checking the support, Adolphe Menjou, Una Merkel, there's little more to say about this misguided remake.

. . . like Elvis, or BUNDLE OF JOY star Debbie Reynolds' other non-husbands, it might have been even more delightful to watch. Thanks to Reynolds and the twisty nature of this farcical plot, it's a partial enjoyment, as is. When Debbie's real life hubby Eddie Fisher is singing, viewers occasionally can stop cringing. Another plus is that Eddie is not in as many scenes as Debbie. I've heard somewhere that Elizabeth Taylor took Eddie away from Debbie shortly after BUNDLE OF JOY was shot, guaranteeing that there would be no more Reynolds-Fisher collaborations. Certainly, this is one of Taylor's greatest contributions to cinema history. Her own defection to Richard Burton after BUTTERFIELD 8 might rank second, since Eddie's own top movie accomplishment was siring actress daughter Carrie. Where would we be without Princess Leia?

I first saw this movie when I was 7 or 8 years old in Los Angeles. It was the first movie I ever saw. I am extremely sentimental about it. I love the songs- expertly written by composer Josef Myrow. I thought Eddie Fisher had a beautiful voice, and the chemistry with Debbie Reynolds was wonderful. I especially loved the fantasy scene in the department store at night. I didn't mind that he wasn't an actor. He pulled it off in my opinion. It's very sad in real life the choices he made, but there were a few glorious years where his singing was at it's best and it was very moving to listen to. The sound quality of his voice was so warm and beautiful and he had excellent phrasing. Someone put several performances of his on UTube and I think people will learn to appreciate him once again. Especially in the slow songs. The movie was a fantasy, and for 98 minutes, it brought me into another world. For those 98 minutes, I could forget everything that went wrong after that. Wish they made movies like that today.Barb