“Bachelor Bait was the first film in George Stevens' contract with RKO, which saw him rapidly promoted from ‘B's to ‘A's (Alice Adams, Swing Time) and ultimately to super-specials like Gunga Din. It is the kind of gentle comedy that he wanted to make, and which Hal Roach had refused to give him. Like many smaller RKO comedies of the early '30s, it's a film that promises nothing but surprises with unexpected quality--and qualities.... Of course, any film with Stuart Erwin in the lead has something of a handicap.... Here, fortunately, Erwin is surrounded by good supporting players who take up a lot of the slack from his somewhat lethargic screen image.... Rather surprisingly, the story is by horror specialists Victor Hugo Halperin and his brother Edward (White Zombie, Supernatural). In the twenties however, they'd specialized in romantic dramas and comedies.... Former silent comedy star Glen Tryon did the screenplay from their story, and is presumably responsible for some of the zippy and racy one-liners delivered by or directed at Pert Kelton. (One or two seem deliberately thrown away in semi-whispers, presumably to placate the Production Code).” W.K.E