Other than Bob Hope's wisecracks (which aren't all that funny), this movie is a lost cause. It involves a writer of "Bachelor" books, forced to live in a suburban, fifties community because his accountant ran off with his fortune. He has come to study the natives and then write about them. In the process he falls in love with Lana Turner. The screenplay is insipid, the acting stiff and bloodless, there is utterly no charm. The best characters in the book are two little kids who only appear for about three minutes. This is the stuff that was put in the theaters in the sixties. It titillates but the censors had their bony fingers on the button at every turn. The result a tiresome, endless non-comedy that bores everyone. Watch the ridiculous courtroom scene at the end if you want an example of the worst of cinema.

This was one of three films, I believe, that paired Timothy Hutton and Paula Prentiss. They didn't pair up all that great, but Paula is worth watching anytime ("Man's Favorite Sport" is her best). And Bob Hope has an easygoing and easy to watch manner that always underplays (compare this to the braindead current generation's idea of humor). As for the notion that women didn't possess strong personalities before Gloria Steinem, it only exists in a fantasy world (a.k.a. the movies) of yesteryear that never existed. And they never met my aunt or sister. "Strong personality" NEVER had anything to do with gender. This is a good example of a movie that pleases, yet didn't cost the national debt to produce.

Bachelor In Paradise casts Bob Hope as a Mr. Belvedere like author about social mores throughout the world. In residence over in France, he's called back to America by his editor John McGiver because Hope's business manager has paid no income tax for several years and has absconded with all his liquid assets. The next book he writes will be totally dedicated to the IRS.Needing to write that book real fast before the interest and penalties mount even more, Hope takes residence in a Stepford like community in southern California called Paradise Valley. It's organizer Don Porter, would just love to have the women become Stepford automatons. The presence of a non-conformist bachelor he's afraid will spoil the order of things. He turns out to be right.Even though the men hate him, the women of Paradise Valley just love the unconventional Hope in their midst. Even though he's traveling incognito, they sense something special. And when you've got a bevy of beauties like Janis Paige, Virginia Grey, and Paula Prentiss hanging on your every word, you'd think he'd have it made.Still Hope's confirmed playboy bachelor that he writes about has fallen for rental agent Lana Turner. When his cover is blown it all hits the proverbial fan.Although he might write about the same subject matter as Clifton Webb, Hope certainly doesn't have the acid Webb wit. It's not in his style. Still he gets some pretty good gags in as the free-wheeling bachelor tries to adjust to suburbia. It's not the best of Hope comedies still his legion of fans will like it. And you can't complain about all the beautiful femininity gathered around the Bachelor In Paradise.

I saw this motion picture in 1961, and it stuck with me for a few reasons. I was raised in a tract neighborhood nearly identical to 'Paradise Village', so it's like 'going home'. Hope was never funnier along with Lana Turner, but Janis Paige was superb in her role as a 'seductress'. I'm told that Miss Turner had never been in a supermarket prior to the scenes of this picture...but she had so much fun after that, her daughter took her almost weekly to one. The music is spectacular, especially the Henry Mancini-penned theme at the beginning and end - it's the first piece of 'sophisticated scandalous' music I can remember hearing. Many shots of some great now-classic autos, as well(Dodge, Chrysler 300, etc.). Al in all, it's a 'dated' motion picture, but still funny and enjoyable to watch.