My Heart Belongs to Daddy (1942)

It's all about the spelling! "Prof. Inglethorpe" (Richard Carlson) is a renowned educator whose life is turned upside down when a pregnant woman comes to say with them. She - "Joyce" (Martha O'Dricoll) is a showgirl who is probably going to put her child up for adoption as she cannot afford to bring it up properly. Romance takes an hand though, of course, but this is where it gets a little interesting. He likes her and she likes him, but "Mrs. Saunders" (Florence Bates) has designs on the man for her daughter "Grace" (Frances Gifford) and so starts to make waves. Some of these waves prove big enough to drive the new mother from their home and him on a track for the wrong nuptials. Fortunately, he has a sort of fairy godfather figure in his life. The scene stealing Cecil Kellaway ("Alfred") is on hand to prod him in the right direction and try to pluck triumph from disaster. There's nothing really very original here, but that wouldn't have mattered so much had there been some chemistry on screen. There isn't. Though O'Driscoll has a little more scope with her character, the Gifford/Bates double act - augmented (?) by the younger "Babs" (Velma Berg) - is just over-played, and Carlson is nowhere near his best with this rather shallow role. It's watchable enough, but I doubt I will ever remember it.