Bachelor in Paradise (1961)

This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Bob Hope is oddly cast as the playboy writer, Adam Niles. He has been living in France for many years...having a great time with the ladies and writing books about love, sex and romance. But when he learns he owes the IRS $600,000, he's got to change his wild ways and economize while he works on his next book. So, instead of a gay life in Paris, he's forced to move to suburbia where he is an oddity indeed. It seems that in the planned community of Paradise he's the only bachelor. This film is very much like most of Hope's later films. Instead of doing, he spends the story throwing out one liners--mostly very sexist and unfunny ones. In many ways, it's like he's making a guest appearance in the films instead of being the more active funny many of his earlier film career. It isn't helped by having Lana Turner playing his straight man, so to speak as this just isn't Turner's forte. Nor does it help that the 58 year-old Hope is hopelessly miscast as a man who is like catnip! Because of this, it's definitely a movie more for his die-hard fans than the casual viewer. Now am I saying this is a bad film? No. It's pleasant and enjoyable at times and is a decent time-passer.

Although this Bob Hope-Lana Turner sex farce comedy will remind many viewers of 1960's era (now syndicated) sitcoms - it features scenes that became staples of such like grocery store accidents ("cleanup on aisle 13!"), laundry machines so filled with soap that they overflow with bubbles, and food burning in the oven - one has to remember that this may have been the first movie to feature such domestic household shenanigans (save Lucille Ball's television programs, of course).Bob Hope fans will be adequately entertained even though there aren't really any laugh out loud moments contained within it. It's not a great comedy by any means, but it is pleasant and, surprisingly, not entirely dated either. Directed by Jack Arnold, it features a screenplay by Valentine Davies and Hal Kanter that was based on a story by Vera Caspary. The title song, by Henry Mancini and Mack David, was nominated for an Academy Award.Hope plays a confirmed bachelor, who's the notorious author (A.J. Niles) of a series of books about the sexual mores in various countries, that has to return to the United States after 14 years abroad because his accountant absconded with much of his earnings and never filed a return for him; hence, he has a back taxes problem with the IRS. So, his publisher (John McGiver) sets him up in a San Fernando Valley suburb called Paradise where, incognito, he can do the research necessary to write a book about "Sex in America" in order to pay his tax bill.Turner, whose character is decidedly single because of a failed relationship in her past, plays the subdivision's property manager whose home he rents while working on the book. Janis Paige, Paula Prentiss (whose husband is played by Jim Hutton, naturally), and Virginia Grey play three of the housewives Hope's undercover character Tommy Randolph gets to know while doing his research (an uncredited Mary Treen plays another). In fact, Randolph ends up hosting cocktail parties for the women as he imparts "how to please your husband" tips while their kids are in school during the day.Ironically, this actually displeases their staid husbands which eventually leads to a petition calling for his eviction, that Turner's character (because she's become interested in the author) refuses to deliver, and then divorce court. Don Porter plays Paradise's developer, who's married to Paige's character but openly pursues Turner's; as one of the husbands, he issues the ultimatum to Randolph. Agnes Moorehead plays the divorce court judge. Florence Sundstrom plays the busybody neighbor who testifies against Randolph, now known to be Niles - there were lots of after hours (and bedroom) situations which could easily be misinterpreted, especially by one going out of their way to be nosy.A predictable ending involving the film's stars, and the only two single characters, is a given.

As a movie "Bachelor in Paradise" is not great. Perhaps it's better than most Bob Hope movies of the period, but as an historical document of a time and place, that is, the tract home developments of Southern California of the early 1960s, this film is nostalgic joy for baby boomers who grew up in the valley. The film captures what it was like better than a more serious film could. And though it's not great, it's not a bad movie either, particularly if you can appreciate Hope's physical grace Woody Allen found so appealing (and tried to copy), and enjoy Hope's distinctive verbal delivery. If that's the case and you're a child of the 60s, you'll likely have a good time. The story is simple. Writer, A. J. Niles (Hope), who has been writing about the the sex lives of bachelors around the world, finds himself stuck back in the U.S. because his accountant ran off with his money and he's in hock big time to the IRS. In order to make a quick buck, he's forced to move into a small community of tract homes called 'Paradise Village' and write a book about how the Americans make love. Of course his name is Adam. He lives in Paradise Village. He meets a single woman there played by Lana Turner. Why her name is Rosemary instead of Eve, I don't know, but romance ensues.I grew up in Canoga Park, and am very familiar with the type of neighborhoods, super markets and people that inhabited that world back in 1962. Canoga isn't exactly like the town Paradise Village is supposed to be located in, but it's close enough. Seeing those rows of brand new pastel-painted painted homes with identical lawns and freshly planted trees puts me in a time machine blasted back decades. Yet, it's more than just the location that documents this place in time. It's the way people dress, the attitudes they have about sex and steamy European movies, the places people considered 'romantic' - a Polynesian restaurant, for example - and the way supermarkets were filled almost entirely with housewives, that give context to this period of Southern Californian history. What people considered funny back then, may not be funny as originally intended, but the gags are so much of their time the statement they make about the developing middle class certainly is amusing. When Jim Hutton (very funny in this movie) comes home, he notices his wife (Paula Prentiss) has put a birdcage over his youngest kid's head so he won't eat anything dangerous. Hutton is not shocked at all. It's a strategy they apparently both agree on. Another example is when Hope tries out his new washing machine and overloads it with soap. The entire house becomes engulfed in soap foam. A dog gets lost in the suds. Hope calls the fire dept. When they arrive they ask, "Where's the fire?" and Hope says, "Would you have come if I yelled 'soap'?" You get the idea.The music score by Henry Mancini backs up the period nicely. The score never was released at the time, but is available now through FilmScore Monthly, and for Mancini lovers, this is a good one. The film even uses the first three notes of the main theme for the doorbell of Hope's house. MILD SPOILERS START NEXT PARAGRAPH FOR THIS FILM AND "PUNCH DRUNK LOVE"--Coincidentally, I saw "Bachelor in Paradise" and then watched Paul Thomas Anderson's "Punch Drunk Love," a day later. I'm a big fan of Anderson and love "Punch Drunk." Parallels between the two films stood out. Both take place in the So Cal valley (also where director Anderson grew up). Both stories are about men who are overwhelmed by women. Adam Sandler has 7 sisters who overwhelm him in PDL. Hope deals with a neighborhood of females who overwhelm him in BIP. The main characters in both are victims of theft, and the theft is what gets them in trouble and motivates the plots. Both are considered sexual perverts by others in the story. Both are pretending to be someone they are not, finding themselves in love while initially trying to avoid getting involved. Hope & Lana Turner and Sandler & Emily Watson fall in love in a Polynesian setting about mid-point through the film. And both have key scenes that take place in super markets. END SPOILERS"Bachelor in Paradise" was directed by Jack Arnold, best known for the science fiction films he made in the 50s - "Creature from the Black Lagoon" and "Incredible Shrinking Man" among them. But Arnold had a way with comedy as well. His "The Mouse That Roared" is probably the best movie satire on living with the 'bomb' other than Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove." "Bachelor in Paradise" is a wonderful showcase of a time and place long gone. If baby boomers watch it from that perspective, they might have a fine time reliving their childhood. Hope fans won't be disappointed either.

Bob Hope is a "Bachelor in Paradise" in this 1961 film also starring Lana Turner, Don Porter, Jim Hutton, Paula Prentiss, Janis Paige and Virginia Grey. Hope plays an author, A.J. Niles, whose specialty is the sexual practices of countries. When the IRS forbids him to leave the country, it's suggested that he concentrate on the U.S. He's sent to a development in California called Paradise and set up in a rental home. It's actually the home of one of the managers of the development, Rosemary Howard (Turner), and she lives elsewhere for the time being. Keeping his identity a secret, Adam, as he is called, holds seminars and discussion groups for the women of Paradise on how to keep their marriages fresh. Some of his advice works; some doesn't. Meanwhile, he's being pursued by the sexy but married Dolores Jynson, and he himself is after the beautiful Rosemary.This seems to be a very popular film with viewers who post here. I didn't make all the connections with it that some did as I don't come from this kind of background, but I can well appreciate how it would resonate if I had. It's a pleasant enough film, and it is a lot of fun to see all of the '60s furnishings, colors and styles of hair and dress and to realize how mores have changed with the years. The cast is very good (and very '60s) as well. People probably thought Prentiss and Hutton were married as they were paired together so often due to Prentiss' above average height, and it's always great to see Janis Paige and Virginia Grey.My favorite Bob Hope era is that of the 1940s, where he had great material well suited to him. His youthfulness and the cowardly character he played, along with the situations he got into always made his films sparkle. And what leading ladies - Madeline Carroll, Paulette Goddard, Dorothy Lamour, etc. Here he is teamed with glamorous Lana Turner who looks very beautiful in the film and has the right coolness and sophistication for the part. As for Hope, at the age of 58, he doesn't have that boyish, enthusiastic, naive quality of the old days, and the jokes he's delivering are pretty stale.Unlike "The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell," "Bachelor in Paradise" is not a dud. Though it's dated, that's part of the fun, and it has some genuinely funny moments, a lively cast and that American icon, Bob Hope. You can love him or hate him, but you can't deny he was a remarkable entertainer to many generations.