The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Irving Reis

Writers:

Sidney Sheldon (story)
Sidney Sheldon (screenplay)

Release Date:

1 September 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

Rollicking Romantics!

Plot:

A high school girl falls for a playboy artist with screwball results.

Plot Keywords:

Artist | Jail | Crush | Playboy | Judge

Awards:

Won Oscar.

Cast

Cary Grant	...	Dick
Myrna Loy	...	Margaret
Shirley Temple	...	Susan
Rudy Vallee	...	Tommy
Ray Collins	...	Beemish
Harry Davenport	...	Thaddeus
Johnny Sands	...	Jerry
Don Beddoe	...	Joey
Lillian Randolph	...	Bessie
Veda Ann Borg	...	Agnes Prescott
Dan Tobin	...	Walters
Ransom M. Sherman	...	Judge Treadwell (as Ransom Sherman)
William Bakewell	...	Winters
Irving Bacon	...	Melvin
Ian Bernard	...	Perry

Also Known As:

Bachelor Knight (UK)

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #11849) | Canada:G (video rating) | USA:Approved (National Board of Review) | West Germany:16 | Finland:S | Australia:G | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Beverly Hills High School - 241 Moreno Drive, Beverly Hills, California, USA

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

Myrna Loy was only twenty-three older than her on-screen sister Shirley Temple .

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: Reflection of boom mic visible in black car when it pulls up to the airport.

Quotes:

Agnes Prescott: Now there's a guy who never goes out of a girl's mind. He just stays there... like a heavy meal.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Labyrinth (1986)

Soundtrack:

Happy Birthday to You

Enjoyable Light Comedy

With three appealing stars and a silly but interesting story, this is an enjoyable light comedy that moves at a good pace and makes you feel at home with its offbeat characters. Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, and Shirley Temple all get plenty to work with, as each of their characters is pretty well-suited to their talents. They make their characters believably flawed and engaging at the same time.

The story makes it clear early on that it should not be taken too seriously, yet it is told well enough that it is easy to set aside any plausibility issues. The early misadventures set up the amusing arrangement that the judge (Loy) agrees to, in the hopes of keeping the others out of trouble, and this in turn sets up a new series of outlandish events. Harry Davenport and Ray Collins head up a pretty good supporting cast, and the situation builds pretty well, leading up to a complicated, entertaining set of tangle-ups.

While there is nothing remarkable about it, "The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer" is the kind of pleasant silliness that takes the right touch to make it work. It makes for an enjoyable way to spend an hour and a half.