The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947) Reviews

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