Bachelor Bait

Mildly amusing film about a mild-mannered man named William Watts (Stuart Erwin) who works at city hall in the marriage license bureau and demonstrates a knack for helping underage couples get married (as we see here, when a very young Anne Shirley shows up in the office with her young man and Watts convinces the young man's father as to the benefits of marriage), but gets himself fired via very silly plot element. Out of work he decides to place an ad, with assistance from his always helpful neighbor Cynthia (Rochelle Hudson), in the newspaper as a matrimonial consultant, offering to get men wives at $5 a pop. Follows an almost instant huge reaction to the ad, after which he meets up with a taxi driver/attorney and they immediately become partners starting "Romance Inc.", a dating service with an office soon PACKED with men and women meeting each other and complaining about inaccurate photos, etc. - a sort of 30s version of online personals, you could call it. When a letter comes from a bumbling Oklahoma millionaire/oilman who wants a wife, Watts takes it upon himself to become personal matchmaker for the man, handpicking Cynthia, now the office secretary and in love with Watts. Which makes one wonder, how come Watts, a man so enamored of the institution of marriage and finding romance for all comers doesn't seem to want a wife for himself?

This film is so-so - mostly amusing in the scenes featuring the ex-wife of the attorney who comes in to Romance Inc. seeking her alimony and ends up chasing after the millionaire oilman throwing one-liners and catty comments right and left as she battles against Cynthia to win him and his dough. Grady Sutton appears as the millionaire, in a role not unlike almost every other role I have ever seen him in, so - no surprise quite well played. Rochelle Hudson is pretty here, but quite dull. The film features a number of familiar character actors in small parts. Worth a peek.