Night at the Theater

The Bachelor Mother

Baby’s daddy? Better yet Baby’s Mommy?

“The Bachelor Mother” is a romantic mystery that goes through numerous obstacles that lead Ginger Rogers (Polly Parish) in a life changing experience. She becomes very close with David Niven (David Merlin) after a very humerus mistake that Polly is a mother of an unknown child. It takes place back in the 1930’s in a small little downtown area.

The movie opens with the very poor Polly Parish having just been cut from her job at the toy store after the holiday season. On her walk home one day she discovers a baby left on the doorstep of an orphanage. As she goes to make sure the baby does not roll down the stairs, the orphanage opens the door and assumes the baby is hers. After a long chain of messengers, the owner of the toy store offers Polly her job back. The only catch is everybody thinks the baby is hers and she can only have her job back if she takes the baby. The toy store manager checks in on her and the baby numerous times and after a while he starts going there not just to check in. Everyone is wondering who the baby’s daddy is and when multiple men confess to being the dad, Polly’s only concern is making sure the baby she did not want in the first place, now does not get taken away from her. Does Polly fall in love in the mix? Well you are just going to have to watch the movie to find out.

Ginger Rogers performance in this movie is outstanding. She is a beautiful young actress with a lot of talent and she uses all of it in this film. Although her role may be very different from her previous movie “The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle” she pulled it together and did a magnificent job. She worked with Fred Astaire her last ten movies and people wondered whether she could shine without him. Well she proved it to all her fans that Ginger Rogers can shine on her own. She plays her part as the poor “mother” well and makes it seem as if she really was the mother of the baby left on the stairs. With her looks, humor, and strong personality, anybody would believe just about anything she says.

The picture in the Bachelor Mother is unlike any movie I have ever seen before, simply because I have never seen another movie in black and white. The black and white look gave it a very traditional effect. It made me think of in the beginning of the Wizard of Oz, when the picture was not in color. It suits the movie very well because it was made in 1939 and back in the day they did not have color on their televisions. I actually enjoyed seeing the movie in black and white because you pay more attention to the film then the surroundings and picture of the movie.

The costume design is hilarious to me because it is from back in the day. When you see all the ladies coming in with ankle length skirts, button down collared shirts, hair all big and curled you know you are not in present day. The men all wear slacks, their hair is very gelled and mustaches seem to be in back then. Their costumes match the time and setting of the movie , which is in the 1930’s. My favorite part in the movie is when David Merlin takes Polly to the New Years Eve Party and dresses her up because she has nothing to wear. She comes out in a beautiful long gown and looks absolutely stunning. The gown is not like long gowns from now a days. It is very elegant and does not fit to her body well.

I am not going to lie when I first started watching the film I thought I was going to be bored out of my mind, but as the film went on I found it quite enjoyable. Since the film is in black and white and was made in 1939 the quality of the film was not very good. The screen would buzz in and out a couple of times, and at one point the movie even shut off for a minute. Nothing was too drastic though and we did get to finish the movie all in one sitting. I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys the “oldies” or anyone over the age of 55. (Mainly because everyone in the theatre was over the age of 55) The film attracts to older people and to those who enjoy oldies because they have seen black and white movies when they were younger so they do not mind them. Once you see a movie in color, you do not usually ever want to go back.

If the movie ends with somewhat of a surprise do not be shocked. With a missing mom, a missing dad, a pretend mom, 3 pretend dads, a psycho powerful “grandpa”, Charles Coburn (J.B. Merlin), and a lot of action in between there are bound to be some twists. Here is a movie that deserves two thumbs up.

820 words

reflection!

As our time here in this English class is coming to end, I will for sure say that this class was not nearly as bad as i thought it would be. We did not write as many papers as i thought and we did way more fun activities than i would have thought. I seemed to always have procrastinated in this class so it did lead to a lot of stress, but i know that is just my fault. My favorite project we did in this class was for sure the last project. It let you cut loose and write kind of in your own style. It did have some genre constraints, but since it was personal you got a feel of who you were. This college english course was a lot harder and different than any other english class i have ever taken! I have always gotten A's on my paper and when i got to college the same work i woukd turn in to my teachers in high school, did not quite cut it in college. There was a lot more to writing than i never knew about and you have to pay attention to styles or writing way more. As much as i will miss this class i am so very excited for this semester to be over. I cannot wait to be done with all finals and go home to see my friends and family. I still have some last touch ups to do with my final project for this class, but overall i am happy with the outcome of this class. I think we had a very entertaining and fun class and i enjoyed spending my teusdays and thursdays with all of you guys! I hope to see you guys around campus or in my future classes! Best of luck to you all!

308 words!