Bachelor Mother (1939)

Lovely Polly (Ginger Rogers) is laid off after Christmas from a department store, when she is mistaken for the mother of an abandoned baby. After the store owner’s son (David Niven) becomes involved for some reason, she is coerced into accepting a stranger’s baby as her own. Will love bloom?

A rom-com requires conflict, some kind of predicament to motivate the story. This predicament is pretty irritating. Polly is literally blackmailed into accepting the baby despite her protests. This element simply doesn’t play well today.

Luckily things improve from there. The trope of the sassy out-upon young woman and the rich, irresponsible playboy is a successful one, if a bit well-worn. And who better than Rogers and Niven in the roles? Bachelor Mother features snappy dialog and some fairly amusing moments. AMRU 3.

This makes three for three this season for non-Christmas Christmas movies.

Black Christmas (1974)

A young woman in a college sorority goes missing, because she was murdered. Her father and sorority sisters investigate while dealing with an obscene caller.

Lots of familiar faces appear here. Our protagonist Jess is played by Olivia Hussey of Romeo and Juliet fame. She was quite charming. Her sisters include Margot Kidder and someone who looked like a young Andrea Martin, who turned out to be a young Andrea Martin! Jess’ boyfriend is played by Keir Dullea, from 2001. I'm sorry, Dave, but dating a college girl when pushing 40 is more than a little creepy.

Credited as the first slasher film, it actually has very little on-screen violence. What it does have is some excellent cinematography that effectively builds tension. The unseen killer is revealed only by quips said on his calls and from his POV shots. Little character scenes, like Kidder's foul mouth and Mrs. Mac's antics, give the impression of a fuller, lived-in world.

Respected by people beyond gore-heads, Black Christmas has been on my radar for quite a while. It sets some of the tropes of the genre that would be codified in later films, but strays significantly. Only tangentially a Christmas movie, it is set during the Christmas break and has holiday lights in just about every scene. But it does not disappoint as a horror flick or a film in general. AMRU 4.

Christmas in July (1940)

Jimmy (Dick Powell), convinced he has good ideas, submits a slogan in a contest and waits for the results. The judges can’t reach a decision, so Jimmy’s co-workers send him a prank telegram. The coffee company, thinking the telegram is real, pay him the $25,000. Comedic mayhem ensues.

Jimmy doesn’t deposit the check, but instead shows people so that they let him have stuff on faith. This is reminiscent of the Mark Twain story “The Million Pound Bank Note”. Here, however, Jimmy has no reason to believe he isn’t the authentic winner. And let’s consider for a moment how insane a $25,000 prize is. Adjusted for inflation, it would be over a half million dollars. That’s one hell of a contest. Preston Sturges only got $6000 for the script.

The company holding the contest was Maxford House Coffee who used the slogan “Grand to the Last Gulp”. Sounds familiar. It was a less litigious time. Old friend William Demarest returns, again with a silly name.

Not a Christmas movie but it has a Christmas title. I thought it an ironic way to kick off the holiday season. I may continue the irony. Christmas in July is another witty comedy from Preston Sturges. He only directed thirteen features and this is my sixth. I should see the rest. AMRU 3.5.

Abandoned (1949)

Pretty Paula (Gale Storm) travels to LA to look for her missing sister, who had a scandalous baby. A smart alack reporter (Dennis O’Keefe) takes a shine and helps her investigate. Raymond Burr is a shady PI.

The story centers on an illegal adoption racket that would make headlines a year later. Reporter Mark behaves more like a detective, coming and going as he pleases, roughing up suspects, and creeping on the lovely Paula. Old friends may remember Gale from the Christmas film It Happened on Fifth Avenue.

Black market babies is an unusual topic for a traditional noir, and there are aspects of the story forbidden by the censors. Specifically, the identity of the baby’s father. He is not identified, but there are hints.

Abandoned makes for an interesting story with a unique angle on the noir genre, but is otherwise unremarkable. I enjoyed the watch but won’t be revisiting it. AMRU 3.