Bachelor Mother

Bachelor Mother (1939), directed by Garson Kanin for RKO Pictures, is a screwball comedy you can watch online on iFILM, starring Ginger Rogers and David Niven at their most fleet-footed. Shop clerk Polly Parrish finds an abandoned baby on the steps of an orphanage and tries to hand it over. The staff decides she must be the mother. Nobody believes a word she says.

Before Polly can untangle the misunderstanding, her boss David Merlin (Niven) gets involved — not to fire her, but to make sure the "single mother" has financial support. His concern starts out paternalistic and slides sideways into something he isn't expecting. The baby needs feeding, Christmas rush is on at the store, and every attempt to set the record straight makes things worse.

Rogers carries the picture on timing alone — it's the role that let her step fully out of Fred Astaire's shadow and prove she could lead a comedy on her own. Stream Bachelor Mother (1939) online on iFILM.