A Family Affair

This is a excellent start to the film career of Mickey Rooney. His talents here shows that a long career is ahead for him. The car and truck chase is exciting for the 1937 era. This start of the Andy Hardy series is an American treasure in my book. Spring Byington performance is excellent as usual. Please Mr Rooney or owners of the film rights, take a chance and get this produced on DVD. I think it would be a winner.

... as the cast is quite different in this installment versus all of the others. Lewis Stone takes the place of Lionel Barrymore as Judge James Hardy, Fay Holden is Mrs. Hardy versus Spring Byington, Polly Benedict is played by Ann Rutherford, and oldest daughter Joan is erased from existence. With her being married, maybe MGM thought that keeping her in the cast for further installments would be just too busy and crowded.

Here, Judge Hardy has issued a temporary restraining order on the building of a new aqueduct for the town of Carvel, in response to a petition by a citizen. But the town businessmen object to Hardy's action and threaten to oppose to his renomination at an upcoming political convention if he won't withdraw the restraining order. When the townspeople hear about it, they are up in arms, because they see it as needlessly impeding progress. Andy Hardy is mad at his dad because his new girlfriend, Polly Benedict, can't see him because her father is mad the judge over the restraining order. Middle daughter Marion is mad at her dad because the guy she has gotten serious with doesn't have a job if the aqueduct isn't being built. And finally, the judge's oldest daughter Joan is on the verge of divorce because her husband - incorrectly - suspects her of infidelity and has left her. So the judge has his hands full both at home AND at the office.

Don't expect a big dose of Andy Hardy in this one - at this point he's just an energetic supporting player as this is Lionel Barrymore's film all of the way. But other than that, everybody is pretty much in character right out of the gate. Later in the same year that this film came out, Lionel Barrymore would become wheelchair bound due to a combination of arthritis and a broken hip. Thus it would have been impossible for him to continue to play Judge Hardy. Instead he was made Dr. Gillespie in the Dr. Kildare series of movies, also at MGM.

I'd recommend this series of films. They are very well done to be a B series, but then MGM had the money and star power to stock their Bs with good production values and good actors. And they are a window into the world of small-town America in the years running up to WWII - a world that would pretty much vanish with the young men all going to war, then to college on the GI bill, and then on to office jobs and homes in the suburbs of the big cities.

First in the wonderful Andy Hardy series from MGM. For those who don't know, this series was as wholesome and American as apple pie. It draws snickers and insults from the "too cool for school" crowd but don't let that put you off of trying these fine films. They were quality dramas with dashes of comedy and lots of heart. The plot to this one has Judge Hardy (Lionel Barrymore) ticking off some businessmen and local politicians over a land deal. So the big shots, including former friends of the judge, band together to try to stop his re-election. There's also a subplot involving the judge's eldest daughter's troubled marriage that intersects with the judge's problems. Meanwhile, son Andy (Mickey Rooney) has the first of many girl problems in this series.

This is the only entry to feature sister Joan. Not sure why she was dropped but the series isn't hurt by it. The roles of Judge Hardy and his wife would be recast in the next film with Lewis Stone and Fay Holden, who would play the roles for the remainder of the series. Once you see them in the parts it will be hard to imagine that anybody else could do the roles justice. Also Mickey Rooney's Andy would become the star of the later films, whereas in the early films (such as this) Judge Hardy is clearly the star. It's a fantastic series that gets its start here in this somewhat atypical but still high quality movie.

The Hardy Family made its debut for MGM in this film, A Family Affair. But to those who've seen other films of the series it looks like Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, and Sara Haden were all dropped into another family of Hardys in an alternate universe Carvel.

Judge and Mrs. Hardy started out here as Lionel Barrymore and Spring Byington and they had another older daughter played by Julia Haydon. Haydon has marriage problems with her estranged husband Allen Vincent. Parker is quarreling with her boyfriend Eric Linden and Mickey Rooney is having his eternal problems with the opposite sex. All that however plays into the main plot line of this film, Judge Hardy's re-election is in peril over an injunction he issued against building a dam.

That was the difference between this Hardy films and the rest to follow with Lewis Stone and Fay Holden as the Hardy parents. The kids even Mickey Rooney are clearly in support of Lionel Barrymore. That would not be the case in the rest of the series.

Talk about judicial activism, when the man who originally brought the suit wants to the withdraw because he's been bribed, Barrymore throws him out on his ear. I can't think of another judge anywhere in the real world who wouldn't want to clear his docket if the parties settled out of court. He continues on and Barrymore's political opponents who have a vested and hidden interest in the dam played by Selmer Jackson and Charley Grapewin try to block his party from renominating him.

Of course it all works out in the end as it always did. Lionel Barrymore was no less wise and no less honest than Lewis Stone in subsequent films.

A Family Affair is certainly a tribute to the simpler times it was made in, but still nice viewing.

Just watched this, the first film in the Hardy Family series. Lionel Barrymore, who I'll always first think of as Mr. Potter in It's a Wonderful Life-my favorite movie, is the Judge Hardy character who's in it with threats of no renomination because of something he's against resulting in his offspring not liking him as well. Mickay Rooney is here as Andy Hardy. He was 16 at the time. Spring Byington is the mother. Both she and Barrymore would reunite for You Can't Take It With You a year later. Nice mix of drama and comedy throughout. Mickey is especially funny but there's also a turn by screen drunk Arthur Housman who I usually associate with Laurel & Hardy. So on that note, I highly recommend A Family Affair.