It's Christmas season, and I'm watching TCM. I love Bachelor Mother after catching it one night on TCM maybe ten years ago now. The story is obviously dated, but I still find it so charming and nice throwback to the times. Well this year, they had a week of programming with movies and their remakes. So for example, Father of the Bride and Father of the Bride, Shop Around the Corner and In The Good Old Summertime, etc. Well since this aired right about Bachelor Mother, I decided to check it out. When the host did the intro, I kind of felt it wouldn't be as good, but this movie rarely airs, so I said what the heck, I'll watch with an open mind. Well, I'm watching it now....
It's not very good. I realize this was a vehicle for the newlyweds, but it's one of those things where they are so obviously doing that. The couple don't have the charm (in the movie) to pull it off. I was born in the 80s, so I I've only heard about the craze around EF/DR as a couple, but I think I expected more chemistry. There's a movie where June Allyson and Dick Powell aren't even love interests and they still have good chemistry.
I don't really care for is the singing lol. OK, hear me out. Now I know B. M. had two dancing scenes for Ginger, but they were built into the plot and they weren't designed to feature her dancing as in her previous movies. This movie is so obviously a movie for singers. I mean, I get it, but it's falls flat. The script has so many line for line bits of dialogue from Bachelor Mother that it's clear they didn't try to make this movie its own version. May as well had kept the title the same. Before anyone thinks I hate remakes, I love all of the Shop Around the Corner remakes and I enjoy different versions of A Star is Born, or The Secret Garden. But this one just does not work for me.
Take the scene following The Pink Slipper where Polly gets fired (again). Ginger comes off as genuinely sorry and worried about losing her job. David Niven's David reacts to her w/sympathy and as if all his original anger has dissipated. With Eddie and Debbie, I feel like I am watching a recreation of that scene w/none of the chemistry. I just literally knew how the scene would go.
I like Debbie Reynolds in the Tender Trap, Singing in the Rain (obviously), and My Six Loves to name three, but she's just not a favorite of mine from the era. She comes off a bit cold to me, which is funny bc she's done so many musicals. I honestly don't think Debbie nor Eddie captured the charm of Ginger and David. Now that I think about it, if they were the right age at the time, I could see Barbara Stanwyck or Doris Day pulling off this role.
It's not very good. I realize this was a vehicle for the newlyweds, but it's one of those things where they are so obviously doing that. The couple don't have the charm (in the movie) to pull it off. I was born in the 80s, so I I've only heard about the craze around EF/DR as a couple, but I think I expected more chemistry. There's a movie where June Allyson and Dick Powell aren't even love interests and they still have good chemistry.
I don't really care for is the singing lol. OK, hear me out. Now I know B. M. had two dancing scenes for Ginger, but they were built into the plot and they weren't designed to feature her dancing as in her previous movies. This movie is so obviously a movie for singers. I mean, I get it, but it's falls flat. The script has so many line for line bits of dialogue from Bachelor Mother that it's clear they didn't try to make this movie its own version. May as well had kept the title the same. Before anyone thinks I hate remakes, I love all of the Shop Around the Corner remakes and I enjoy different versions of A Star is Born, or The Secret Garden. But this one just does not work for me.
Take the scene following The Pink Slipper where Polly gets fired (again). Ginger comes off as genuinely sorry and worried about losing her job. David Niven's David reacts to her w/sympathy and as if all his original anger has dissipated. With Eddie and Debbie, I feel like I am watching a recreation of that scene w/none of the chemistry. I just literally knew how the scene would go.
I like Debbie Reynolds in the Tender Trap, Singing in the Rain (obviously), and My Six Loves to name three, but she's just not a favorite of mine from the era. She comes off a bit cold to me, which is funny bc she's done so many musicals. I honestly don't think Debbie nor Eddie captured the charm of Ginger and David. Now that I think about it, if they were the right age at the time, I could see Barbara Stanwyck or Doris Day pulling off this role.