The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947)
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75% of critics liked it
(8 reviews) -
77% of users liked it
(6,700 ratings)
Judge Myrna Loy decides that the best way to curb the excesses of playboyish art teacher Cary Grant is to force him to do what he does best--romance a willing young lady. In this instance, the girl is Loy's own sister, played by a blossoming Shirley Temple. Aware that Temple has a serious crush… More Judge Myrna Loy decides that the best way to curb the excesses of playboyish art teacher Cary Grant is to force him to do what he does best--romance a willing young lady. In this instance, the girl is Loy's own sister, played by a blossoming Shirley Temple. Aware that Temple has a serious crush on Grant, Loy orders him to date the teen-aged Temple until the girl gets him out of her system; he is also ordered to keep his hands to himself lest he wind up in the pokey. Grant finds the irrepressible Temple rather wearisome, but he throws himself into his sentence full-force, donning teenaged clothes, speaking in nonsense slang ("Voodoo! Who Do? You Do!" etc.) and participating in the athletic events at a high school picnic. Grant eventually divests himself of Temple by arranging for her to fall for a boy her own age; meanwhile, Loy realizes what we've realized all along--that it is she who is truly smitten by Grant. Adding to the frothy fun of Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer are the supporting performances of Ray Collins as a sagacious psychologist and Rudy Vallee as a stuffy district attorney. The film's screenplay won an Academy Award for Sidney Sheldon, who went on to create I Dream of Jeannie and to matriculate into a best-selling novelist. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Directed By
- Irving Reis
- Written By
- Sydney Sheldon, Sidney Sheldon
- Genres
- Romance, Classics, Comedy
Unrated,
- In Theaters
- Jul 24, 1947 Wide
- Studio
- Turner Home Entertainment
Critic Reviews
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Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
Cary Grant seems stymied in this claustrophobic, essentially misogynistic material, and director Irving Reis isn't the man to pull him out.
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Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Surprisingly, this Cary Grant-Shirley Temple farce won the original screenplay Oscar in a year in which the other nominees included Body and Soul, A Double Life, Monsieur Verdoux and Shoeshine.
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Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
It's a film that only could have been made in a more innocent time.
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Jonathan R. Perry, Tyler Morning Telegraph (Texas)
Anachronstic -- if sexist -- fun.
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Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Terrific star comedy.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
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Cast
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Cary Grant
as Richard (Dick) Nugent
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Myrna Loy
as Judge Margaret Turner
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Shirley Temple
as Susan Turner
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Rudy Vallee
as Tommy Chamberlain
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Ray Collins
as Matt Beemish
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Harry Davenport
as Thaddeus
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Johnny Sands
as Jerry White
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Don Beddoe
as Joey
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Lillian Randolph
as Bessie
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Veda Ann Borg
as Agnes Prescott
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Dan Tobin
as Walters
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Ransom Sherman
as Judge Treadwell
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William Bakewell
as Winters
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Irving Bacon
as Melvin
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Ian Bernard
as Perry
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William Forrest
as Mr. Baldwin
- Marilyn Howard
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Gregory Gaye
as Maitre d'Hotel
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William Hall
as Anthony Herman
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Carolyn Hughes
as Florence
- Ransom M. Sherman
