The Mating of Millie

"The Mating of Millie" is a light comedy romance and drama set sometime after the end of World War II in California. After serving in the war, Glenn Ford's Doug Andrews can't seem to settle down into a job he likes. Evelyn Keyes' Millie McGonigle is a personnel executive in the huge Bullard's department store where she has worked her way up from a stocking clerk in a short time. These two meet by chance when Doug is fed up with a bus full of people who won't move to the back of the bus to stand, and he parks it and walks away from the job.

Millie lives in a bungalow apartment complex, and knows her neighbors, including a woman who has a little boy who likes Millie, and vice versa. After the woman is run over by a truck, Tommy is put in a homeless children's home awaiting any next of kin or ultimate adoption. That's when the mating of Millie gets into gear as she needs of be married in order to adopt Tommy.

Doug tries to help her by getting her to shed her business-suit persona. As she meets and attracts two very eligible bachelors, wedding bells appear on the horizon. But, without noting any of the rest of the cast, one can guess how this will end. It's a sweet little story, light comedy and enjoyable family film.

After giving Evelyn Keyes the star treatment in JOLSON STORY, her studio failed to promote her in anything but some innocuous follow-up films with the exception of one or two films. This is one of the better ones.

THE MATING OF MILLIE is a frolic that was probably turned down by Rita Hayworth and given to GLENN FORD and EVELYN KEYES. Whatever, it ignites real sparks as a comedy, telling a story about a woman who must find a husband if she wants to adopt a little boy. The screenwriters find a number of amusing situations for Glenn and Evelyn and they make the most of their rather offbeat roles.

It's their flair for comedy that makes the simple plot so enjoyable. WILLARD PARKER is excellent as a bachelor friend who never notices Keyes until she gets some "warm-up" advice from Ford about how to catch a man. Before you know it, he's on her doorstep asking to borrow a cup of sugar.

RON RANDELL is the head of an orphanage who also has designs on Keyes but is a realist about the situation. The predictable happy ending is in sight long before it actually happens, but it's given a charming treatment. Movie buffs will recognize MABEL PAIGE as Keyes' friendly elderly neighbor.

As predictable as it is, it's still a charmer.

Evelyn Keyes plays the title role in The Mating Of Millie who is a very successful career woman with a nice job in the personnel office of a large Los Angeles department store. She occasionally looks after the neighbor's kid Jimmy Hunt in her bungalow complex. But when his mother is killed in a traffic accident and sent to an orphanage like the one Keyes grew up in, her maternal instincts are aroused.

Her problem is that back in those days the authorities would not let her adopt as a single parent so she has to look for a husband. She's got three candidates in mind, an unorthodox bus driver Glenn Ford, an advertising executive neighbor Willard Parker, and the head of the orphanage where Hunt is who is quite taken with her Ron Randell.

The Mating Of Millie is a nice family comedy with a minimum of heart tugging, but enough to remember why you wanted to see this film. The film is really Evelyn's picture and her best scenes are with Jimmy Hunt. Mabel Paige as the landlady in the bungalow court also has a nice role. In fact Ron Randell's such a nice guy as the orphanage head, it makes you wonder why anyone would want to leave.

Nothing terribly special here, but nice entertainment.

In this cute but slightly kookie comedy, The Mating of Millie feature Evelyn Keyes as a career woman with zero romantic experience. She may notice her good-looking neighbor, but she knows he'll never look at her in a hundred years. Glenn Ford is a bus driver who randomly decides to quit his job; Evelyn admires his gumption and gives him her business card so she might find a job for him. Also randomly, another of her neighbors is a neglectful mother who prefers to spend her nights partying rather than taking care of her adorable son, Jimmy Hunt. Evelyn absolutely adores Jimmy and enjoys taking care of him whenever he's left alone. After his mother dies, Jimmy is sent to an orphanage. Evelyn tries to adopt him but is told that as a single woman, she's ineligible. So goes her search for a husband, and the rest of the movie! Will she rope Glenn into a wedding ring, or her neighbor, or the orphanage director?

Yes, the screenplay is a bit uneven, but overall it was a cute movie. Evelyn is a poor man's Deborah Kerr, and she does her best with a transformation from librarian to party girl. Glenn is pretty cute as a playboy, and as always, his comic timing is great. I'm a hard sell when it comes to kids, but Jimmy won me over. I would fight to adopt him if I were in Evelyn's shoes, too!

It's like "Auntie Mame" (1958), if Mame were a straightlaced business woman instead of a partier. It's like Mame with less comedy and more schmaltz.

F "Auntie Mame" were a black and white film, in which Mame was required to find a husband and be a career woman before Patrick could come live with her, this would be it. And I love "Auntie Mame", so naturally I like this.

Best part: the Alaska synchronicity, which shows destiny is always at work in our lives, even when we think it's just us.

Worst part: that weird kiss thing the kid does! Just a simple peck on the check would have sufficed- little guy!

Overall though, good movie!