Cary Grant is my all time favorite film actor and one of his most pleasing roles is in "The Batchelor and the Bobby Soxer", from 1947. It won the Oscar for best original screenplay by Sidney Sheldon. Grant plays an artist, famous, who speaks to a high school audience containing Shirley Temple, who develops a crush on him. Temple is funny in this, and the perfect age and attitude. Her aunt, Myrna Loy, is a judge, and low and behold Grant comes before her as a witness in a night club altercation. When later she discovers he's the object of her niece's misplaced affection, against her instincts she is persuaded to let the obsession play out by her uncle (Ray Collins in fine form). Loy has a kind of fiance, Rudy Vallee at his most obnoxious, and her niece has a boyfriend with a jalopy who is crushed to be displaced.
The lines are delivered with just the right amount of pizazz, and the chemistry between Loy and Grant is, as always, powerful. Grant's performance is delightful. He toes the line by being amused but not attracted to Temple, and ridiculous, but in the most adorable way. Who could resist him? Not Loy, who slowly and subtly melts around him, and becomes a passionate woman, trading her robes and principles for a warmly beating heart and a knockout evening gown.
This film was made in an era when "Lolita" couldn't have been, because there was still a belief in growing up and that maturity had its merits. The youth culture had not begun to dominate our fantasies, and appropriate behavior was considered an asset. Grant wanted a woman, not a girl, and how wonderful it is to look back and see that world again. Now the dream of middle aged men is underage girls, and Loy would be on a matchmaking site hoping against hope for the one man in a million who wanted a beautiful, mature woman with a strong career. Lots of luck, lady.
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