Alf’s Baby [Her Three Bachelors] ** (1953, Jerry Desmonde, Pauline Stroud, Olive Sloane) – Classic Movie Review 12,116

Three bachelors who run a shop are left raising a baby, who grows into the eligible but troubled young woman Pam (Pauline Stroud), in prolific director Maclean Rogers’s gently farcical minor 1953 British comedy film Alf’s Baby [Her Three Bachelors] starring Jerry Desmonde, Pauline Stroud and Olive Sloane. It is based on A P Dearsley’s play It Won’t Be a Stylish Marriage.

It is nice that perennial stooge Jerry Desmonde (particularly with Norman Wisdom and Sid Field) lands a star role here, and so does forgotten star Pauline Stroud, and there is also an early appearance by Hammer favourite Michael Ripper as crooked Mike.

Pam likes the look of a car thief Tim Barton (Peter Hammond) but police Sergeant Bob Mackett (Roy Purcell) is on hand to put her on the straight and narrow.

It is made as a second feature by ACT Films, running 75 minutes, and is released by Adelphi Films.

Jerry Desmonde (right) in A Stitch in Time, with Norman Wisdom.

The cast are Jerry Desmonde as Alf Donkin, Pauline Stroud as Pamela Weston, Olive Sloane as Mrs Matthews, Peter Hammond as Tim Barton, Sandra Dorne as Enid, Roy Purcell as Sergeant Bob Mackett, C Denier Warren as Cedric Donkin, Mark Daly as Will Donkin, Roddy Hughes as Mr Prendergast, Sebastian Cabot as Osmonde, and Michael Ripper as Mike.

Pauline Stroud, born on 21 March 1930 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, is remembered for Lady Godiva Rides Again [Bikini Baby] (1951), Alf’s Baby [Her Three Bachelors] (1953), Simon and Laura (1955) and Life in Emergency Ward 10 (1959). She made her last film in 1959 and worked on in TV till 1972. She died in London on 15 December 2020, aged 90.

Jerry Desmonde (20 July 1908 – 11 February 1967) always looked old, but he was only 58 when he took his own life by gas poisoning, suffering bouts of depression after the death of his actress wife Peggy Duncan the previous year.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,116

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