The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer

I believe that if a film doesn't crack any of the gluttonous amount of top film lists often that film becomes overlooked.  There are many such films and these films have great merit and value.  Truly the only way to discover them is to make lists such as one of mine (watching every Cary Grant film) and then just checking them off one by one.  Such is the case with THE BACHELOR AND THE BOBBY SOXER (Irving Reis, RKO Pictures, 1947).  The film doesn't stand out as a timeless classic but there is just enough done within it to make it a really fine film.

Maybe the fact that the film follows pretty generic and formulaic studio standards holds it back.  The pacing of the film is tedious by today's standards which would turn off even the most diehard of cinephiles.  It is formulaic, meaning utterly predictable.  The action (and acting, more later) is stiff throughout the film although there are some truly hysterical moments.  That said, the film works because it lays out what it's intent is immediately, sticks to it closely and accomplishes what it wants.

The accomplished Cary Grant also helps to set this film to a higher standard.  In today's saturated "celebrity universe", where true stars don't exist as they once did to see a star such as Grant is utterly captivating.  Grant had a very rare ability to overshadow everyone else on screen.  Myrna Loy and Shirley Temple were huge stars in their own right, yet every time Grant is on screen you barely notice anyone else.  Now that could be his persona or maybe his acting ability.  In this film, he again does what I feel to be his best performing, comedic turns.  When Cary Grant allowed his persona to slip, to be made fun of a little this is when his work was total genius.  And there are moments in this film which he lets this happen, like when Dickie (Grant) and Tommy (Rudy Vallee) compete in the events.  Grant plays the total object of comedy and it is wonderful.

Interestingly I was not very struck by either Loy or Temple.  In particular the role of Susan Turner (Shirley Temple) should have been a transitional career one.  A huge child star, Temple couldn't adjust to adult roles and it shows in her performance.  Whether it was her performances or audiences not wanting to see her grown up, this is not a great role for her.  And Loy lags in comparison to Temple, not coming close to her excellent performances as Nora Charles in THE THIN MAN series.

The film does capture excellence in its writing and the screenplay won the Oscar that year.  Written by Sidney Sheldon (yes that Sidney Sheldon) the narrative is really striking.  Written today it would cause controversy and I can only imagine how it was viewed in 1947.  Dealing with a younger woman being in love with an older man this plot touches on some tried and true Hollywood tropes.  The older man/younger woman has been a Hollywood staple for years, in front of the camera in casting and behind the scenes on the casting couch.  A social stigma has existed through the years regarding this coupling, even through today.  For Sheldon to write about this topic at the height of the studio period, when the code was its strongest and before a film like LOLITA  had even entered a young Stanley Kubrick's mind is amazing.  The Oscar was surely deserved.

This film will be hard for contemporary audiences to view, unless you are a die hard cinephile who is willing to watch anything.  I loved it so what does that tell you about me?