Product Details

• Format: NTSC
• Original language: English, French

Amazon.com essential video
Ginger Rogers stars as a department store salesclerk about to be laid off after the Christmas holiday, who happens to be passing an orphanage when a woman leaves a baby on the doorstep. The orphanage assumes that Rogers is the mother, despite her protests; when they contact the department store, the owner's son (David Niven) decides to restore her job so that she can take care of the child. Before long, rumors are flying that Niven is the child's father, which fills Niven's father (the great character actor Charles Coburn) with joy. The plot expertly weaves a deliciously funny web of assumptions and denials, with Rogers, Niven, and Coburn turning in topnotch performances--Rogers, who sometimes overplays her comic parts, is brilliantly understated in what is one of her best roles. These great actors are combined with a smart script from Norman Krasna (Mr. and Mrs. Smith, It Started with Eve) and smooth direction from Garson Kanin (My Favorite Wife). Bachelor Mother is one of the most underappreciated gems of the screwball comedy era. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews

The Magic of Ginger
Garson Kanin directed this Norman Krasna screenplay and if you ever doubt the magic of Ginger Rogers you have only to watch this film for absolute proof. The always loveable Charles Coburn and a young, dashing and very funny David Niven help this become a true classic. Ginger gives a sweet and comical performance that is a reminder of just how great she really was.

Ginger plays Polly Parrish, temporary Christmas help at Merlin & Son's department store. Charles Coburn is J. B. Merlin and David Niven is his footloose son David. Ginger is given her pink slip along with the other Christmas help and upon leaving the store comes across an old woman leaving a small baby on the steps of an orphanage. Ginger of course picks the baby up as the door opens and from here on in everyone assumes it's hers!

When she leaves the baby there it is traced back to her former employer and Niven agrees to keep her on so she can keep her baby! Ginger gets tired of explaining how it's not her baby and since she is slowly but surely becoming the baby's mother anyway she gives in. A very funny Niven keeps stopping buy to "help" and he and Ginger have some truly nice moments together.

When Niven is stood up on New Year's Eve he stops by to get Ginger and once the clothes and fur coat arrive they are off to rub it in the face of the stuffy girl who stood him up. To Ginger's shock he introduces her as a Swedish girl who can't speak a word of english! It's hilarious as they make up a language that's anything but Swedish and Ginger is the toast of the party, dancing with everyone. The scene after the date, as Ginger talks to her baby about it will make you fall in love with her.

When a disgruntled employee tells Coburn that the baby is his son's, he is overjoyed to have a grandson. The attempts of Niven and Ginger to convince him otherwise turns to hilarity when they both produce the actual "father" of Ginger's baby, at the same time! The baby really is Ginger's by now and Niven, of course, realizes he loves both of them.

Ginger Rogers was a wonderful light comedic actress and along with "Lucky Partners" with Ronald Coleman, "Fifth Avenue Girl," and her Oscar winning "Kitty Foyle," this is one of her finest films. This is a great comedy you'll watch more than once. Ginger Rogers was the sweet American girl next door. She was never prettier than in this film and simply exudes a luminous charm in every scene. This might just be her finest performance.

This is a movie that will have you laughing or smiling all the way through. Anyone who ever questions the importance of Ginger Rogers in American cinema need only be reminded that in the tiny annex where Anne Frank spent so much time, where every inch of space was precious and guarded, was a torn out picture from a movie magazine---- of Ginger Rogers.

LOVED THIS FILM!!!!
One of my favorite black and white films. Very cute comedy. Ginger Rogers' character is funny, beautiful, gorgeous, what can I say more? David Niven is also very funny. The film also features a wonderful heartwarming plot (but not intense).

A True Classic, enjoyable for all ages
I have watched this movie every year around the holidays since I can remember. It is innocent enough for children yet entertaining for adults.

During her lunch our, Polly Parish finds her life will never be the same as she finds herself is a comical chain of circumstances, with all fingers pointing to her as the mother of an abandoned child. After trying to convince everyone around her that she is not the mother, she finally accepts responsibility for this bundle, eventually becoming so attached to the child that she fights to keep him.

Ginger Rogers is delightful as always, with David Niven fitting in his role like fingers in a glove. A must-see classic!