source: Bundle of Joy

Trailer—Bundle of Joy

Bundle of Joy

I saw this movie, for the first time, one morning, 5 am, after another sleepless night. Just lost my wife of 50 years a couple weeks ago. I fell for Debbie when I was 12 after reading about her in TV guide. She was 28 and cute. This movie was made before then, the same year her beautiful daughter, Carrie was born. A very funny, tasteful, take on what could have been considered 'things we don't talk about' in the 50's. Debbie's incredible talent, timing, expressions, made me laugh. Thank you Debbie.

Back in the day (1935)Austria cranked out a blend of schmaltz and strudel called Little Mother, it found its way to the private screening rooms in Hollywood and emerged a year or so later as Bachelor Mother, a vehicle for the now non-dancing Ginger Rogers and charm personified David Niven. This is still the definitive version despite and especially in spite of this dire remake - with lacklustre songs yet, from the usually reliable Josef Myrow and Mack Gordon, Saccherine Dabbie Reynolds and prime Redwood Eddie Fisher. Other than name- checking the support, Adolphe Menjou, Una Merkel, there's little more to say about this misguided remake.

This musical remake of "Bachelor Mother" stars a vivacious (and pregnant with Carrie Fisher) Debbie Reynolds and serves to make the viewer wonder how costar Eddie Fisher could possibly have been as captivating is real life as the scandal sheets of the time would have us believe. He divorced Reynolds to marry Elizabeth Taylor, but his charisma is completely baffling if you judge by this film. The plot is based on the notion that Reynolds finds a baby and then is misunderstood to be the baby's mother. Wouldn't it have been fairly easy for a woman to demonstrate that she had never given birth? No matter, the movie is fun if you know the background of its stars, but the musical numbers-especially "All About Love" and "Worry About Tomorrow" are best in this musical without enough music.

You've got to take this movie for what it is. A musical. What was interesting to me was seeing Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher together in the height of their relationship. It's a bit dated, but still has catchy tunes (I especially liked Fisher's "Someday Soon"...but I'm a bachelor so maybe I'm prejudiced). How ironic, though, to see these two who had so many possibilities playing a couple in love when they were in love themselves. Yes, there's chemistry, but they should show this movie to potential drug addicts and drunks to warn them about what Eddie Fisher could have been and what his self-admitted dependencies made him become. There was so much the two of them had and could have had, Eddie and Debbie,and so much they lost because of his weakness of character. Sad. A bittersweet story, not in the plot, but in the shadow of reality cast over it by their true life stories. Still worth seeing and hearing, though.

. . . like Elvis, or BUNDLE OF JOY star Debbie Reynolds' other non-husbands, it might have been even more delightful to watch. Thanks to Reynolds and the twisty nature of this farcical plot, it's a partial enjoyment, as is. When Debbie's real life hubby Eddie Fisher is singing, viewers occasionally can stop cringing. Another plus is that Eddie is not in as many scenes as Debbie. I've heard somewhere that Elizabeth Taylor took Eddie away from Debbie shortly after BUNDLE OF JOY was shot, guaranteeing that there would be no more Reynolds-Fisher collaborations. Certainly, this is one of Taylor's greatest contributions to cinema history. Her own defection to Richard Burton after BUTTERFIELD 8 might rank second, since Eddie's own top movie accomplishment was siring actress daughter Carrie. Where would we be without Princess Leia?

"Bachelor Mother" was a delightful movie, but one can imagine why a musical, in color, remake would crop up. Debbie Reynolds as Polly Parrish was a good choice, and wound up carrying the movie. Eddie Fisher, as the junior Merlin, was not such a good choice. Many other actors at the time would have been far better. Had someone like Donald O'Connor had the role, it could have been an unmitigated success. Too bad Fisher got the job. Overall, the movie is delightful. The basic plot, of a sales clerk in a large department store who winds up with a baby that's not hers, but that no one believes is not hers, is an excellent set-up for comedy. This one does a good job. "Bachelor Mother" does a better job. And an even better one may pop up in the future. gaynor wild

Glossy and tuneful--if terribly contrived--remake of a just-adequate Ginger Rogers comedy from 1939 ("Bachelor Mother", itself a reworking of "Little Mother" from 1935). Salesgirl, fired at Christmastime from her department store job for "over-selling", finds an abandoned baby on the steps outside a foundlings home but can't get anyone to believe the child isn't really hers. The spotlight this time is equally on Debbie Reynolds (doing sprightly, decent work as the bachelor mother) and then-husband Eddie Fisher (leering at the camera while playing a singing junior-executive). Supporting roles are colorfully filled, production and song numbers are decent, though the script lands us smack in the middle of Risqué 101, with misunderstandings "Three's Company" would envy (She has a baby but not a husband?! And who's the father?). Worth-seeing for Debbie, who sings and dances--and rolls her eyes with expert exaggeration when it's time to change a diaper. **1/2 from ****