Tammy and the Bachelor

Based on the novel by Cid Ricketts Sumner, Tammy and the Bachelor (more commonly just known as Tammy) is one of those great romance movies that were so popular in the 1940s and '50s but seem to have fallen out of favour due to the rise of the 'chick flick'. It is one of those films where you know within the first couple of minutes just about the last scene is going to be like but you don't care and just go with it, enjoying the ride as you go.

The film is set in the Deep South where a young woman, Tammy Tyree, lives in a houseboat on the Mississippi River with her grandfather and one day their normal idyllic routine is disrupted when a plane crashes nearby. The pilot has somehow survived but has no recollection about where he came from or what his name is not, in the process of changing out of his wet clothes, they discover that his name is Peter Brent. Staying with them whilst he recuperates, Tammy develops a crush on Peter and is devastated when he is well enough to return home.

When her grandpa is arrested for making moonshine, he tells her that Peter was so grateful for their help that, if they should ever need his assistance, all they need do is ask. As Tammy has lived an extremely sheltered existence, she isn't exactly backwards in coming forwards at her behaviour lacks a certain nuance that comes with spending almost entire life living on a houseboat with an elderly gentleman. Her upbringing also means that she speaks very much like her grandpa and her lexicon is full of words and phrases from the last century.

As she is a girl from the sticks, Tammy travels to Peter's house with her goat and, upon arriving, finds that he lives in a mansion in which a dance is taking place. Not wanting to interrupt, she pulls up a chair outside the window and begins to watch but the long journey has taken it out of her and she falls asleep. When Peter's playboy best friend Ernie arrives, he finds a goat at the front door and, when he tells the people inside, they assume he's drunk until they venture out and find the sleeping Tammy and her goat.


Tammy manages to successfully ingratiate herself with the Brents, although her manner of speaking does lead to some unfortunate misunderstandings which tends to rub Mrs Brent up the wrong way. Eventually though, they all warm to her as she is extremely adept as cooking, cleaning and generally helping out around the house. While she is there, she learns to her dismay that Peter is engaged to Barbara, a wealthy socialite whose father is trying to persuade Peter to give up his dream of becoming a tomato farmer and work for him in advertising instead.

It isn't long before Barbara figures out that Peter is really in love with Tammy, not her and uses all her contacts to find out about Tammy's grandpa and try and use the press to humiliate her into returning home.


Tammy and the Bachelor has a cast that, in hindsight, most people could only dream of although many of them had yet to make the films that would really make them household names. With Debbie Reynolds in the title lead, Leslie Nielsen as Peter, Walter Brennan as Grandpa and Sidney Blackmer as Professor Brent and Fay Wray, you do unto have actors that will instantly link you to classic films like Singin' in the Rain, The Naked Rio Bravo, Rosemary's Baby and even King Kong! As you would expect from this, the acting is universally excellent and Debbie Reynolds' rendition of the title song is pitch perfect. Well, you would expect nothing less from the actress who was so brilliant in Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly's timeless classic in which she sang so beautifully.

Although this doesn't stand up amongst the greatest romantic comedies of its era, Tammy and the Bachelor is extremely well made and acted film with fine direction by Joseph Pevney whose film Man of a Thousand Faces was also released by Eureka. As with that film, a biopic of Lon Chaney, this is an extremely watchable and a fine piece of matinée entertainment.

The Disc

The Picture
An extremely pleasing and very colourful widescreen picture, presented in the original aspect ratio (OAR) of 2.35:1 and, as with most films like this (Tammy and the Bachelor seems to have taken most of its visual motifs, costume ideas and décor from the great musicals), colours are extremely vibrant and a large percentage of the budget must have gone on the costumes.

The Sound
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono soundtrack is extremely clear and really does everything required to this as this is a dialogue dominated film with very little in the way of action or ambient sounds as it was clearly filmed on the set.

Should you need them, there are clear and well written English HoH subtitles; most people won't require them at all as the actors enunciate very well.


Final Thoughts
Tammy and the Bachelor is one of those releases that Eureka does extremely well as they seem extremely adept at dealing up a long lost film that has never been released for home viewing in this country, presenting it with a clear soundtrack and in its OAR. If there are any bonus features they are, as the name suggests, a bonus and this only comes with the theatrical trailer which is really par for the course for a release like this.

I imagine there will be a sizeable audience for this comprising both people who saw it at the cinema nearly 60 years ago and those who like classic romance movies and will be intrigued by the cast. For them, this is highly recommended although I imagine it would practically be a guaranteed purchase.