The Mating of Millie

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.

This is a lovely gem of a romantic comedy. Glenn Ford and Evelyn Keyes play well off each other and the plot gives enough twists. Mr. Ford has quite a way with comedy, one of which involves breaking the 4th wall. Can see why the scriptwriters were nominated for a Writers' Guild of America award. The story is deftly penned with the right touches of humor! A 10!

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!

In this likable movie yes: He is. And also cast against type is the title character. Evelyn Keyes wrote one of the very first racy autobiographies and was married numerous times, to exciting men. Yet here she is a stern businesswoman. And her nickname is Butch! The title itself sounds like the title of a monograph my for an animal husbandry course. It couldn't be less romantic. Indeed, Millie's reason for wanting to be -- well, mated is originally not romantic at all. She wants to adopt a neighbor's child.

She thinks Ford would be a good husband, which she learns she must have. But she finds two other suitors. They seem quite unlikely, as cast.

The movie is fun and stylish. Keyes is fitted out in the most unrevealing clothes imaginable. This is true even when she is glamorized. They're pretty but look like slimmed-down versions of clothing Margaret Dumont might have worn.

A simple story admirable presented. A young woman, married with her job, a bus driver at the end of his patience, a kid changing their life and a noble cause served by many small events. The basic virtue of film - to give all the flavors of old fashion cinema, from the smart construction of story to the delicate humor and romance . Short, delightful.