This hideous "heart-warmer" opens with William Holden in blackface and singing songs (he's dubbed) to sell snake oil to the rubes in turn-of-the-century Kentucky. While his partner (Charles Winninger) is arrested, he escapes to Mudville, where he runs across five orphans living in a shack.Of course he moves in and pretends to be their Uncle Johnny. When a do-gooder (Coleen Gray) comes by, she demands they be sent to school. Slowly, Holden gets sucked into their lives more and more and eventually gets a job as a singing waiter (he's still dubbed) in a beer garden. He's nearly coerced into marrying a local spinster, but you can already guess the ending.Holden had an odd contract deal with Paramount by which Columbia bought half his contract. This is one of the last clunkers he made for Columbia, and it was released a few months before the release of the film that made him a superstar: SUNSET BOULEVARD.Holden is incredibly miscast in this pap. Others in the film include Stu Erwin, Sig Ruman, Clinton Sundberg, Lillian Bronson, Peggy Converse, Willie Best, and Billy Gray with his harmonica.

"Father is a Bachelor" is one of those facilely sentimental films that deserves a swift kick in the butt. It's reminiscent of "Pennies from Heaven" a pretty bad Bing Crosby film. But it has some merit, despite being "wholesome".William Holden was Captain Cynic, a confirmed misanthrope; even his voice sounded world-weary and cynical, regardless of the role. This served him well in "Father Is a Bachelor", keeping the film from veering too far into sentimentality. (Had Bing Crosby starred (another reviewer notes the obvious possibility), it would have gone right over the cliff, bursting into flames before it crashed.)The story is set in the American South, though whether antebellum or postbellum isn't clear. (I assume the latter.) Five orphaned (and not-icky) children adopt him, and he has to go through the transformation from "I don't care about anyone but me" to "I'm willing to sacrifice for someone else's happiness". The change is played mostly seriously, and is almost believable.The story's strongest point is that Colleen Gray doesn't fall for Holden because he's good looking, but because she's convinced of his high character. (A similar transformation occurs with the town's plutocrat.) In other words, the story (sort-of) approximates a character-driven drama, rather than a plot-driven melodrama.The man driving the rich guy's carriage is Hank Worden, probably best-remembered as Mose Harper in "The Searchers".

Some people might think that William Holden was a bit miscast in this light-hearted comedy that doesn't feature laughs as much as smiles. This was before his rise from respectable actor with only two classics at that time ("Golden Boy" and "Our Town") under his belt. But with two of 1950's top rated films ("Born Yesterday" and "Sunset Boulevard") just down the road, he would be ranked a lot higher than he was throughout the 40's.The film's simple story is of a traveling medicine man (Charles Winninger) who ends up in jail for fraud, while his minstrel man (Holden) comes across five orphaned children and reluctantly takes on the job of being their papa. At first, he only breaks bread with them to get some greens to eat with the fish he has caught, but soon, is taken in by the sweet Mary Jane Saunders, the youngest of the children, all named after the first five months of the year. A concerned citizen (Colleen Gray) looks in on them and believes Holden to be their uncle. When Holden is forced to remain around after beating up a nasty local who insulted the children, he finds he has no choice to continue the facade. The town's shady lawyer (Clinton Sundberg) blackmails him into becoming engaged to one of his spinster sisters, but its obvious that the kids won't have anybody else but the lovely Ms. Gray for their newly found "uncle".There is nothing to criticize about this film other than its formulatic and predictable plot. The children aren't all sappy, and the songs are pleasant, if unremarkable. Everything is resolved nicely, something a growing cynical audience in 1950 wanted. Holden and Gray are a nice team, and Saunders is adorable without being an imitation of Shirley Temple or Margaret O"Brien. It won't win any awards, but that also means it won't be on any worst list either.

I`m a huge William Holden fan and I enjoyed this film very much.I like the nostalgic American mid-west turn of the century time setting of the film.Bill Holden has great interaction with the children-his true gentle sweetness when singing "In The Gloaming" as a lullabye to the little girl shines through.The scene with Bill trying to sew the little girl a dress from a pattern is hysterical.Buddy Clark did a wonderful job of dubbing his voice to match Bill Holden`s-if I didn`t know better,I would swear it was Bill singing. A nice family film with great sentimental, turn of the century songs with a wonderful, funny, sweet performance from Bill Holden.Its a shame Columbia has never released this on video or DVD.I obtained my copy from a private collector.