UNEXPECTED FATHER
(Universal) ‘ This picture does not aim high, and does not get very far. It is quite without pretensions-a happy, harmless, simple, straightforward story built up round Sandy and Mischa Auer, with
Dennis O’Keefe and Shirley Ross popping up here and there. The last two are really the principal players; but Sandy, as he should, and Mischa Auer, in spite of Hollywood’s persistent "typing" of him, attract most attention. The plot is innocuous. Sandy becomes an orphan. The State prefers that his guardians should be married. Competition for who should have Sandy becomes competition for who shall get married first. The problem hits Shirley Ross and O’Keefe in one of their bad moments, and she nearly marries the wrong man. Sandy saves the situation with a breathless crawl after a toy balloon along a parapet ten stories up. As a picture, "Unexpected Father" does not merit very high praise. It does, in fact, contain many of those faults to which Hollywood is prone whenever it sees any chance to be sweet and sentimental. There is no doubt that this is expected and accepted by many film fans. Yet those who like their chocolates sugar-filled will not be alone in their appreciation of a most remarkable baby.
Sandy definitely has what it takes. He is, indeed, so very attractive that he strengthens my Victorian conviction that New Zealand parents are fortunate to have legal compulsion encouraging restraint in the matter of child exhibitionism. Yet the paradox must be admitted -Sandy’s undeniably attractive screen personality makes it very difficult to keep this argument as grim as-for Sandy’s sake as well as our own — it should be.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19391020.2.44.5
Bibliographic details
New Zealand Listener, Volume 1, Issue 17, 20 October 1939, Page 34
Word Count
275UNEXPECTED FATHER New Zealand Listener, Volume 1, Issue 17, 20 October 1939, Page 34
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