Bundle of Joy ** (1956, Eddie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds, Adolphe Menjou, Tommy Noonan) – Classic Movie Review 10,578

‘Eddie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds. Their first movie together!’

Director Norman Taurog’s 1956 Technicolor RKO-Scope film Bundle of Joy is a musical reworking for Ginger Rogers’s 1939 comedy Bachelor Mother, with Debbie Reynolds playing the shop assistant befriending a baby she finds on the steps of the foundling home but then can’t get rid of it because it seems to be hers.

All around her assume the baby is hers. Her boss’s son, store heir Dan Merlin (Eddie Fisher) romances her even though he doesn’t believe her tale. And the owner of the store, J B Merlin (Adolphe Menjou), thinks he might be a grandfather.

Bundle of Joy is a lighthearted, lightweight and fairly amusing vehicle for Reynolds and Fisher, who were then America’s sweethearts. But it is marred by too much slapstick and too many ordinary tunes (‘Worry About Tomorrow’, ‘Lullaby in Blue’). The publicity says otherwise: ‘Eddie sings six wonderful new songs!’

However, the ideally matched star duo are effervescent and admirable, with Reynolds outstanding.

Reynolds, was pregnant with her while making the film, and there are shots where she is hidden behind a shop display or wearing a cloak-style coat.

Also in the cast are Tommy Noonan, Nita Talbot, Una Merkel, Melville Cooper, Robert H Harris, Bill Goodwin, Howard McNear, Mary Treen, Edward Brophy, Gil Stratton, Scott Douglas, Mike Lally, and Joe Lanza.

But Reynolds and Fisher were not going to stay America’s sweethearts. They were married from 26 September 1955 to 12 May 1959 (divorced). They were the parents of actress Carrie Fisher and film-maker Todd Fisher, who was named after Eddie’s best friend Mike Todd. In 1958, the Hollywood scandal of the decade broke when Eddie’s affair with Elizabeth Taylor became public. The bad publicity damaged Eddie’s career,

Elizabeth Taylor had been widowed earlier that year when her husband Mike Todd died in a plane crash. She married Eddie Fisher the day of his divorce, 12 May 1959. Taylor went on to star in Cleopatra (1963) with Richard Burton, and another scandal. Taylor and Fisher divorced on 5 March 1964.

Debbie died of a stroke on 28 December 2016, one day after the death of her daughter Carrie.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,578

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