aciolino Key word: ENTERTAINING, a dirty word by today's standards where we are to be overwhelmed and impressed instead. Here, the script, the pacing, and wonderful comedic acting (another fossil of the past) all work together to produce a movie that keeps your attention and keeps you smiling. Sure, it is absurd. What farce isn't? What judge would allow a known troublemaker to date her younger sister? No, make that blackmail him into dating her? Sounds more like the plot to a film noir classic. But no. We look past it to allow for the fun. And the fun is plentiful.I heartily recommend this film to those who can let go and enjoy.

SimonJack "The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer" is a madcap comedy that earned playwright Sidney Sheldon an Oscar for best original screenplay in 1947. The plot isn't special, but it's quite quirky. And it fits nicely as the frame to enclose a lot of comedy. The screenplay – the script, is what drives this film. "Bobby-Soxer" is filled with one-liners, retorts, and one-oneupmanship quips. Toss in some sight gags and you have a thoroughly enjoyable film. But what really tops this one off is the cast. Each role plays perfectly off the others. And that raises it to the level of riotously funny. At times, I found the dialog almost too fast to catch all the barbs and witticisms. I wonder how many people might have missed some of this film when it was released way back when. Were there fans then who went to the same movies three, or four or more times? Just to catch all the clever dialog they may have missed? This is where DVDs come in handy today. We can back up and replay what we may have missed.This film has two lengthy scenes which are laugh fests – one at a public picnic and one at a night club. Cary Grant, as Dick Nugent, is a master of comedy dialog. Myrna Loy as Judge Margaret Turner is a hoot with her straight face throughout. Rudy Vallee is very funny as Tommy, the jealous assistant D.A. Shirley Temple as Margaret's teenage sister Susan, Ray Collins as Uncle Matt (Dr. Beemish), and Harry Davenport as retired judge Thaddeus all bring much hilarity to their respective roles. The rest of the supporting cast shine as well. Since the script drives the humor in this film, some witty lines may help whet other's appetites. Susan asks Dick about his background. Dick says, "I did suffer. When I was 10, my mother and father had a double suicide pact. They made it. I was sent to an orphanage. Some days they didn't beat me. Then one night, I escaped. I ran away to New York. I used to steal." Susan: "What did you steal?" Dick: "Beg your pardon?" Susan: "What did you steal?" Dick: "Crusts of bread … and things. One time I stole a valise. There were paints and paint brushes inside. So I began to paint. Then they got me. I was sent to a reform school, but I escaped again." Susan: "Go on." Dick: "Back to New York. A wealthy society lady saw my work, fell in love with me and sent me to art school. The rest is history." "Susan: "How wonderful. How terribly wonderful."Susan: "You're going to make me an old maid." Margaret: "Only until you're 18." Susan: "I don't consider geometry a part of life." Margaret: "Mr. Roberts does. He says you're the first student to define a triangle as two women crazy about one man. You know I'd die for you, only sometimes it's very hard living with you."Margaret (on the bench): "It's important that I consider only the evidence presented in this matter. " District attorney: "Very well, your honor." Margaret: "Don't sulk about it." Turning to Dick: "Mr. Nugent, I've met your type before. In fact, I might say I sentence them every day of the week."Susan's high school boyfriend has just enlisted in the Army. Susan: "Well you don't have to make such a big thing about it, Jerry. After all, the war is over." Jerry: "I know, but guns go off by accident sometimes, or a fellow could trip on a bayonet."Susan, to Dick: "Do you know what you are? You're a regular Blackbeard." Margaret: "Bluebeard, dear." Susan: "Well, a rose by any color. " Dick: "Now, everybody's too excited." Tommy: "Nobody's excited." Jerry: "I'd punch you right in the nose if I wasn't afraid you'd break my jaw."When Susan finds out her sister, Margaret is attracted to Dick: "Why not send me to prison and get me out of the way?" Uncle Matt comes into the room: "I couldn't help overhearing – I had my ear to the door." Matt: "A girl her age is entitled to growing pains, isn't she?" Margaret: "Yes, but Susan's growing pains are rapidly become a major disease."Dick goes into his apartment and Matt is there. Dick: "How did you get in here?" Matt: "Well, the door was closed, so I opened it and came right in." Dick: "Well, you can open it again and go right out."Apartment bellboy: "I'm 15." Susan: "I'm 17." Bellboy: "That's okay I like older women."Matt, to Dick in his jail cell: "Well, on the whole, I think you'll find our Western penology system is quite modern." Dick: "Well, that's a load off my mind."Margaret: "Mr. Nugent, I have good news." Dick: "You're going to hang me." Margaret: "I'm afraid I'm the one who ought to be hanged." Dick: "Won't I sit down?" Margaret: "Please do."Margaret: "Please don't have any illusions about this matter. I'm dong this against my better judgment. I would just as soon my sister we're going out with an actor." Matt: "Judge Turner doesn't exactly mean that." Dick: "Oh, I was just wondering." Matt: "She means, as head of a psychiatric clinic, that I've recommended you as a vital therapy measure." Dick: "Hmmm. That's great! Recommended for children!"Margaret: "Thank you! You said that gracefully. Perhaps the result of practice?" Dick: "You said that ungraciously. Perhaps the result of practice?" Margaret: "I had that coming."Margaret: "It's nothing. I'm sure you didn't know she'd be here." Dick: "Are you sure you're sure I didn't know she'd be here?"

dougdoepke Want some insight into what titillated movie-goers in the post-war 1940's? This 1947 RKO production is a good place to start. There's the marquee value of a seductively handsome Cary Grant coupled with that spunky symbol of all-American innocence Shirley Temple, enough at the time to draw in ticket-buying throngs with its naughty innuendo of daring departure and forbidden pleasure. In fact, the underage subtext lingers beneath much of the movie's plot and humorous settings, but in a totally innocent manner, proving that this is not yet the more permissive 1960's. One slip, however, and this light-hearted soufflé could easily have become burnt-toast of the most tasteless variety. Fortunately, there are no slips.Once the pace picks up, this comedy sparkles as brightly as any other Cary Grant madcap, which is to say, about as good as comedy gets. The nightclub scene is an absolute triumph of timing, staging, and scripting. The laughs build as the party table becomes more and more chaotic, interrupted by one petty annoyance after another, finally reducing the worldly Grant to speechless exasperation. This is the type of soaring comedic architecture that requires real artistry, but has been sadly replaced in contemporary film by a dumbed- down world of bathroom jokes, insult gags, and other cheap forms of humor that appeal mainly to juveniles. The movie itself, directed by an unheralded Irving Reis, is literally brimful of bounce and charm, leaving no one in doubt that the big war is over and America is ready for the future even if its libido is showing. With: a slyly endearing Ray Collins, a bemusedly prim Myrna Loy, a pompously befuddled Rudy Vallee, and a well-deserved Oscar for writer Sidney Sheldon, along with a final scene that could not be more apt. Despite the shift in public mores, audiences now as then should find this a highly entertaining ninety minutes of expert movie- making.

Bob_Zerunkel This isn't a movie to dissect and examine. It is merely a fun movie. No deep meaning. No great acting.It's really Cary's movie. The parts with Cary and Shirley are great, except for when Shirley goes overboard with the silly teenager stuff. The parts with Cary and Myrna are great except when Myrna acts like a 60-year-old frump. In short, if the scene has Cary in it, it is a good scene that overcomes the shortfalls of the script.I can forgive Shirley's acting because, well, she is Shirley Temple. Myrna was a lesser actress, albeit one that I truly like, but her performance here (driven by the script) would have lost her any man, even to her kid sister.If you like Shirley Temple and/or Cary Grant, this is a great movie. If you don't, then this isn't for you.