The Mating of Millie


1h 27m 1948
The Mating of Millie

Brief Synopsis

A businesswoman who wants to adopt a child must find a husband.

Film Details

Also Known As
The Mating of Millie McGonigle
Genre
Comedy
Romance
Release Date
Apr 29, 1948
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Columbia Pictures Corp.
Distribution Company
Columbia Pictures Corp.
Country
United States

Technical Specs

Duration
1h 27m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1

Synopsis

Having just been reprimanded by his boss for being impolite to his passengers, bus driver and part-time author Doug Andrews takes to his route with greater restraint on his temper. Not long into his route, however, Doug completely loses his self-control and abandons his bus, leaving his passengers stranded. One of the passengers, department store personnel director Millie McGonigle, is impressed with Doug's hard-headedness and offers him a job at her store. Later, when she returns to her apartment complex, Millie finds herself babysitting her next-door-neighbor's young son, Tommy Bassett, whose mother has left him unattended for the night. Millie rescues the crying Tommy with the help of her dashing playboy neighbor Phil Gowan, who pulls Tommy out through the window of his apartment. The next day, Millie learns that Tommy's mother died in an automobile accident and that Tommy has been placed in a foundling home. Millie is opposed to Tommy's placement in the institution and asks the overseer, Ralph Galloway, for permission to adopt the boy. Galloway grants Millie an adoption interview but Millie is caught off-guard by his question that assumes she has a husband. Millie, who is single, realizes that she cannot provide Galloway with a satisfactory answer, so she lies to him, telling him that her husband cannot be contacted because he is in Alaska. Galloway remains firm in his insistence that Millie's husband be interviewed and tells her that she must arrange for his interview within sixty days, the length of the waiting period in which Tommy is required to remain in the state's custody. Desperate to find a husband in short order, Millie returns to her office and searches through her files for eligible bachelors. When Doug enters her office and mentions that he once lived in Alaska, Millie believes that she has found her instant groom. Despite her best attempts to coax him, though, Millie soon realizes that Doug, a self-avowed life-long bachelor, will never marry her. Instead, Doug offers to help her find a husband and begins instructing her on how to be more alluring. The lessons have an immediate effect, as Millie succeeds in catching Phil's eye. Doug, however, disapproves of Phil and prefers that Millie pursue Ralph, who soon learns that Millie had been lying about having a husband. When the end of the sixty-day waiting period arrives, Ralph proposes to Millie, but she refuses. Although she has fallen in love with Doug, Millie is still certain that he will never marry her, so she announces her intention to marry Phil. She eventually realizes that she cannot go through with the ruse, though, and turns down Phil's proposal. Returning defeated to the orphanage, Millie tells Ralph that she is giving up her attempt to adopt Tommy. Ralph only adds to Millie's misery when he tells her that Tommy was adopted one hour before she arrived. Heartbroken, Millie returns to her apartment and finds Doug there waiting for her. After they kiss, Doug presents Millie with a surprise--her newly adopted son Tommy.

Film Details

Also Known As
The Mating of Millie McGonigle
Genre
Comedy
Romance
Release Date
Apr 29, 1948
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Columbia Pictures Corp.
Distribution Company
Columbia Pictures Corp.
Country
United States

Technical Specs

Duration
1h 27m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1

Articles

The Mating of Millie -


Glenn Ford spent the '40s alternating between dark and light -- playing tormented noir anti-heroes, like Johnny Farrell against Rita Hayworth's Gilda (1946), or light comedic foils, like in this comedy about a single gal Millie McGonigle (Evelyn Keyes) who wants to adopt a child in need -- only to find out that unmarried women cannot adopt children. She enlists the help of lifelong bachelor pal Doug Andrews (Ford), who refuses to marry her but will help her find a suitable husband so the adoption can go through. Ford's typically understated acting style might have been further dampened by his lack of desire to make this movie -- he'd told Harry Cohn he'd rather take a suspension than sign on, but Cohn gently reminded him of his mortgage payments. Even Keyes (who liked Ford, and had worked with him four times before on pictures like The Lady in Question (1940)) remembered him being even more standoffish than usual off-camera. No matter - when the cameras rolled, Ford and Keyes brought their chemistry together for a comedy that's interesting to modern audiences for the time capsule of attitudes it presents about who's fit to be a parent.

By Violet LeVoit
The Mating Of Millie -

The Mating of Millie -

Glenn Ford spent the '40s alternating between dark and light -- playing tormented noir anti-heroes, like Johnny Farrell against Rita Hayworth's Gilda (1946), or light comedic foils, like in this comedy about a single gal Millie McGonigle (Evelyn Keyes) who wants to adopt a child in need -- only to find out that unmarried women cannot adopt children. She enlists the help of lifelong bachelor pal Doug Andrews (Ford), who refuses to marry her but will help her find a suitable husband so the adoption can go through. Ford's typically understated acting style might have been further dampened by his lack of desire to make this movie -- he'd told Harry Cohn he'd rather take a suspension than sign on, but Cohn gently reminded him of his mortgage payments. Even Keyes (who liked Ford, and had worked with him four times before on pictures like The Lady in Question (1940)) remembered him being even more standoffish than usual off-camera. No matter - when the cameras rolled, Ford and Keyes brought their chemistry together for a comedy that's interesting to modern audiences for the time capsule of attitudes it presents about who's fit to be a parent. By Violet LeVoit

Quotes

Trivia

Notes

The working title for this film was The Mating of Millie McGonigle. According to a June 1948 Hollywood Reporter news item, Columbia paid $50,000 for the film rights to Adele Comandini's original story, and initially assigned Frances Manson to produce it. Glenn Ford and Evelyn Keyes reprised their roles in a Lux Radio Theatre broadcast on January 3, 1949.