The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947)

Directed by Irving Reis. Starring Cary Grant, Shirley Temple, Myrna Loy, Rudy Vallée, Johnny Sands, Ray Collins, Harry Davenport, Lillian Randolph, Don Beddoe, Veda Ann Borg, Dan Tobin.

After her teenage sister (Temple) becomes infatuated with much-older grown-up Grant, judge Loy decides that the best way to break her crush is to “sentence” him to date the schoolgirl! Second of three pairings for Grant and Loy can’t overcome its absurdly contrived premise (and inherent ickiness); Temple sneaking up to Grant’s apartment for an “intimate” photography session feels so uncomfortably sordid that not even one of Grant’s trademark reaction shots upon discovering her reclined on his couch can save the scene. A few funny bits squeak through (a riotous dinner scene at a nightclub, “at the time I hit him, I didn’t know he was the assistant district attorney; if I’d known he was the assistant district attorney…I would’ve hit him,” etc.), but the chemistry is off, the supporting characters are little more than plot-advancing baggage, and Temple is thoroughly unexceptional in a tricky role. Despite the title, Temple is almost never seen actually wearing bobby-socks. Sidney Sheldon’s screen story alarmingly won an Academy Award!

48/100