Bachelor in Paradise

Bachelor in Paradise (1961)

Runtime: 109 minutes

Directed by: Jack Arnold

Starring: Bob Hope, Lana Turner, Jim Hutton, Paula Prentiss, Janice Paige (RIP)

From: MGM

RIP Janis Paige

For those unfamiliar, she was an actress of stage, screen and television who acted for decades-starting in the 40's-and just passed away on Sunday at the age of 101. As I only faintly knew of her and never seen anything involving her yet people were talking about her as one of the final people from that age of Hollywood who was still around... this was selected in particular as long ago, I watched a few minutes of this on Turner Classic Movies—where it plays once in a blue moon yet I haven't had the opportunity to catch it in full, necessitating a streaming rental.

Bob Hope writes smutty books about women (! Technically, they're for bachelors who jet-set around the world, but still) & because his accountant ripped him off, his next book has to be in America, where he goes undercover in suburbia in a neighborhood full of families. Of course, the husbands are suspicious of the attention their wives are giving him but he's most interested in the single Lana Turner despite his protestations that he remain a swingin' bachelor for life. Paige played the wife who's almost divorced from the land developer of that community in the San Fernando Valley.

I'll be happy to admit that this wasn't as funny nor entertaining as Western spoof The Paleface or film noir spoof My Favorite Brunette. Yet, it was amusing-enough for me even if there weren't that many laugh out loud moments. Paige was funny as the lady who was most interested in Hope although the cast as a whole (including the names I knew like Agnes Moorehead, Virginia Grey and Paula Prentiss) were all fine. For the baseball fans, Vin Scully has a cameo as himself as a short scene is set at a Dodgers game.

The movie for certain is a mixed bag where of course some of the beliefs & attitudes are rather dated, to put it kindly. Yet it was still fine overall. The real highlight: the Henry Mancini jazzy score and how it was perfect for 1961 suburbia in the San Fernando Valley... convertibles are bountiful, houses that are salmon-colored—excuse me, “California Coral”, the multi-hued interiors, the bright clothing, how even the grocery score was kitschy delight for me in the 21st century. Heck, to echo a Letterboxd mutual, there's not only a diner that was designed in the Googie style (think of the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign or Johnie's Coffee Shop as seen in The Big Lebowski, Miracle Mile, and countless other films) but a later scene was set at a tiki bar.

Besides the awesome aesthetics, it was nice to see several performers I either have seen precious little of (like Turner) or not at all, like Prentiss and Paige. Thus, I had a groovy old time.