FORTY LITTLE MOTHERS

US, 1940, 90 minutes, Black and white.
Eddie Cantor, Judith Anderson, Ralph Morgan, Rita Johnson, Bonita Granville, Diana Lewis.
Directed by Busby Berkeley.

Forty Little Mothers is a rather twee title for this supporting film from MGM in the 1940s.

However, it is of some historical interest for many reasons. It is a star vehicle for vaudeville performer Eddie Cantor, seeing him, rather more restrained than usual, singing, dancing, acting. It is also surprising to see Judith Anderson (in the same year as Rebecca) as the haughty head of a finishing school for girls – but, finally letting go, and joining in the final singsong. Rita Johnson is the mother of the orphan, helped by Eddie Cantor, not knowing that he has found her abandoned child and has become a father figure to it, taking it to the school where he has a job as a teacher. However, at the school, the girls take an instant dislike to him, still pining for the previous teacher who was sacked, on whom they all had a crush. A lot of the film is about the scheming, led by Bonita Granville, to get rid of Eddie Cantor, compromising him in the eyes of the headmistress.

However, when they discover the truth about him and the baby that he is looking after, their whole attitude changes, their motherly instincts dominate.

There is a lot of farcical material, with the concealing of the baby, the girls trying to care for it and deceive the headmistress. There is also some farce with the headmistress and her second-in-charge who is always trying to ingratiate herself. There is also some pathos, the Rita Johnson character wanting to commit suicide at the opening of the film, Eddie Cantor saving her, getting her a job, his own plight as a formerly successful man with his school friends and now fallen on hard times, given a job by one of those friends, the judge played by Ralph Morgan.

The other reason for seeing the film is that it was directed by choreographer Busby Berkeley. He had directed Gold Diggers of 1935 at Warner Bros and choreographed musical numbers in Dames. He moved to MGM, directed Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in Babes in Arms and after Forty Little Mothers in Strike Up the Band, Babes on Broadway, Girl Crazy. He continued some direction with musicals and comedies including Take Me Out to the Ball Game.