The Bachelor And The Bobby-Soxer Review

• 23rd Jun 2011

More classic releases from the Odeon label this time in the shape of the RKO produced screwball comedy The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer. The narrative centers on the now grown-up Shirley Temple as Susan Turner and her slight obsession with professional artist and bachelor Richard Nugent (Cary Grant). Having developed her crush after Nugent gave a lecture at her school, he’s convinced by her uncle to indulge the infatuation and play along for a while.

Cary Grant is the undoubted king of screwball comedies after leading turns in classics such as His Girl Friday and Bringing up Baby. His genius for comedy is in full flow here with endless smirks and sideways looks enough to demonstrate his exquisite comic timing. Couple this with the rather astounding Temple who having grown through her childhood star status delivers an excellent performance. Two years on from this film and Temple retired from movies later claiming that a lack of quality in her films drove her decision.  The cast is rounded out by the divine Myrna Loy as Temple’s mother, Margaret Turner, who is about as brilliant as it gets when you want great comedy.

The film isn’t on a par with the great screwball comedies of all time but it comfortably sits on the next rung down. The quality of the script by Sidney Sheldon is superb and took him all the way to an Oscar that year for best screenplay. Couple this with effortless performances by the legendary Grant and Loy and you basically have a comedy that really couldn’t fail. The genuine surprise is Shirley Temple who more than holds her own with the two mega stars.

Watching this serves to reminds me that Hollywood has no clue anymore how to make a decent comedy film with just snappy machine gun-paced dialogue. The obsession with bad taste is so far removed from the golden era that it makes screwball comedies appear like something from another dimension. It’s great to see Odeon releasing this superb lesser-known comedy from a time when the quality was all in the scripts.

Aled Jones