This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Memorable, crazy movie

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

This hideous "heart-warmer" opens with William Holden in blackface and singing songs (he's dubbed) to sell snake oil to the rubes in turn-of-the-century Kentucky. While his partner (Charles Winninger) is arrested, he escapes to Mudville, where he runs across five orphans living in a shack.Of course he moves in and pretends to be their Uncle Johnny. When a do-gooder (Coleen Gray) comes by, she demands they be sent to school. Slowly, Holden gets sucked into their lives more and more and eventually gets a job as a singing waiter (he's still dubbed) in a beer garden. He's nearly coerced into marrying a local spinster, but you can already guess the ending.Holden had an odd contract deal with Paramount by which Columbia bought half his contract. This is one of the last clunkers he made for Columbia, and it was released a few months before the release of the film that made him a superstar: SUNSET BOULEVARD.Holden is incredibly miscast in this pap. Others in the film include Stu Erwin, Sig Ruman, Clinton Sundberg, Lillian Bronson, Peggy Converse, Willie Best, and Billy Gray with his harmonica.

If you watched this film and knew nothing about William Holden, you'd likely be shocked to learn that he become a mega-star only a few years after making "Father is a Bachelor". Now I am not saying this because the film is bad...but it is very slight and the sort of film that seems to have nothing to do with Holden's later, grittier films (such as "The Bridge on the River Kwai" and "Stalag 17") seem so incredibly different and earthier. Instead, this film is almost like a Disney family film of the 1960s.The movie begins with Johnny (Holden) singing. However, it's obviously not him singing...and he's in black face!! He's apparently part of a traveling medicine show and they are shysters. But when they run out of town with the law behind them, the law doesn't recognize Johnny without his makeup and he gets away and takes up refuge with some orphan kids. Their parents recently were killed and they have been able to scrape by...but how much longer will it be until the law also looks at them? And, what will happen when Johnny finds he's actually falling for the kids and wants to do right by them? This is just a nice and cute film....nothing more and nothing less. Light, easy viewing and a movie that's hard to hate.

Father Is A Bachelor is a movie best appreciated by the baby boomer generation and by those who love the old black and white sappy type movies. The opening song creates the mood for the entire movie. William Holden is okay. I am used to see him in more challenging roles and doing a great job. The movie has a slightly different romantic twist about it though. This is a good movie for those late night insomniacs or the rainy day afternoon crowd. The movie has a slow pace so for those late night watchers, you might want to drink some coffee or other caffeinated beverage to stay awake to finish the movie. I give the movie two thumbs up.

This movie has many charms. It has a fine cast. William Holden, in an atypical role, is fun as the dreamer who sings many standard songs. (It opens with him singing in black-face, though. That is always shocking when encountered today. And I wonder if it wasn't viewed as somewhat inappropriate even in 1950 when this was released.) Coleen Gray makes a charming love interest for Holden. And Charles Winninger is always a welcome presence.The supporting cast is excellent too. Stuart Erwin gets low billing but what a fine actor he as! And the two spinster sisters who are interested in Holden are nicely cast also.It is indeed a pleasure to see Columbia pictures other than the Capra films and those with Judy Holliday (whom I love) turn up. A few with Jean Arthur have been around in the VHS/DVD era but none to compare with the great number to which we were treated in the 1960s and seventies when local TV stations showed old movies.However, the print of this one was terrible. At first I thought it was a nighttime scene. But it wasn't. It was very, very dark.I am delighted at the Columbia movies trickling out again. Now, what about the Republic movies other than the ones that star John Wayne?