This is a little gem starring none other than Ginger Rogers and David Niven. It revolves around Polly Parish (Rogers) being mistaken for the mother of an orphan baby boy. Niven plays David Merlin who is willing to help Polly with the child.I have always enjoyed both Rogers' movies and Niven's. Especially Niven because he had a very easy and charming presence. Rogers was at her best when she got to show off her comedic talents (not to say she didn't have dramatic chops, she did win an Oscar for Kitty Foyle [1940] after all). But she'll always be immortalised by being Fred Astaire's best and most frequent partner, a bit of a shame when she was so good.
The film has it's weak points, the close ups are far too frequent and become a little tiresome. This is just my opinion, some people might not really care about close ups. Another flaw was that there were a few plot holes and here and there. Clearly it was no masterpiece. Just an enjoyable screwball comedy with mistaken identities and strange situations. Like most screwballs, why break awat from such a winning formula anyway?
Garson Kanin is the man whom we blame the close ups on, but otherwise he directed the film quite capably. The supporting cast kept the ball rolling with Charles Coburn as a brilliant wet blanket and Frank Albertson as a flimsy and slightly annoying character. Donald Duck is also featured throughout the film. That's right, well, he was there as a mechanical wind-up toy but he was there!
It's no Bringing up Baby (1938) or His Girl Friday (1940) but it was a charming little film. Nowadays we'd call it 'fun but not memorable'. Note that i said 'not memorable' rather than 'forgettable'. Because it's not forgettable, it's more unremarkable. But what would have been a tiresomely unremarkable film was lifted up by the chemistry of Niven and Rogers.
"I dont care who the father is- i'm the grandfather" J.B Merlin (Charles Coburn), Bachelor Mother
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