Spring Madness

30-year-old Lew Ayres and 31-year-old Burgess Meredith are planning a two-year trip to Russia. I suppose I should mention they are about to graduate. Ayres is going to miss the Spring Dance with steady girlfriend Maureen O'Sullivan, but says she'll realize he's gone when he doesn't show up. The girls at the local lady's college -- who range in age from 19 to 33 -- plot how to get him to stay in the US and marry Miss O'Sullivan.

People staying in college well past four years aside (or maybe they didn't matriculate very young), it's a sweet, frothy little comedy from a play by Yale graduate Philip Barry. Under the direction of S. Sylvan Simon, it's played for laughs, and succeeds in raising a good smile or two, concerned, as it is, with people who should be adults by this point, but haven't had the necessity of doing so. Looking back, 1938 seems a little late for this sort of tomfoolery, but unlike the college shows of the 1920s, there are one or two scenes in an actual classroom. With Ruth Hussey, Ann Morriss, Joyce Compton, Julie Bishop, and Sterling Holloway.

Very silly story about serious Harvard man, Sam (Lew Ayres), all set to go on a two year trip to Russia to study the economy and write a book on the youth movement. One problem though - his girlfriend Alex (Maureen O'Sullivan), student at a nearby girl's college, doesn't know he is going. Alex and her slang-talking gal pals at college seem to care about one thing and one thing only - the spring dance. Alex is determined to get her man to that dance, but he actually has plans, along with his chum "The Lippencott" (well played by Burgess Meredith), to leave college before graduation and get on that ship to Russia - and he'll be leaving just *before* the dance. Dear oh dear.

The plot of this film really just had nothing to hold my interest and most of the actors seem a bit long in the tooth to be realistic as college students. The only thing that saves this movie at all is some of the acting, especially by some of the character actors, which is pretty well-done. I like Joyce Compton as Sally, man crazy blonde who only comes to college for the weekend dances, and Sterling Holloway as a Yale man, who seems to mainly hang about in the girl's college dorm lobby. And, well, Lew Ayres does look kind of cute in his polka dot pajamas in one scene. All in all, though, this movie is really just plain dumb.

A nonsensical 'B' movie that deals with a college romance, SPRING MADNESS is brighter and more entertaining than it has any right to be, and the reason is surely director S. Sylvan Simon. He seems to have been influenced by the buoyancy and overlapping wisecracks of STAGE DOOR the year before, and though the material and the actors here are not up to the level of that classic, this movie is great fun to watch.

Though all of the cast look too old to be college kids, they pitch in with high spirits and manage to make it seem like they had a ball making this. Maureen O'Sullivan looks more beautiful than in anything else I've ever seen her in (including her TARZAN pictures), Lew Ayers and Burgess Meredith are skillful if not especially interesting, and Ruth Hussey delivers her sardonic dialog with delicious dryness. No one in this ensemble cast lets the team down, they all deliver. You couldn't be blamed for passing this by, but if you have the chance you should check it out. It shows what energy and ingenuity can do to perk up a routine script.

This is an amusing comedy with a simple plot. After the Easter break, college men and women of the Northeast return to school. On the train back to Boston, the men of Harvard and Dartmouth, in particular, express their rivalry. And the women of the Northeast College for Women interact with the men and talk about their plans for the upcoming shindig, the Spring Dance.

The five women who are housemates at NCW are played by Maureen O'Sullivan (Alex), Ruth Hussey (Kate), Ann Morriss (Frances), Joyce Compton (Sally), Julie Bishop (Mady) and Marjorie Gateson (Miss Ritchie).

The action follows two Harvard seniors, Sam (Lew Ayres) and his buddy, known as The Lippencott (Burgess Meredith). They have plans to visit Russia for two years, working and studying. They want to avoid the usual post-graduation path---a conventional job and, probably, marriage. The crux of the conflict in this rom-com is that Sam and Alex met during the break and strong feelings are undeniable. As Alex has stars in her eyes, Sam is finalizing plans to vamoose.

Yes, the story is simple, but the execution is so much fun. The dialogue is steeped in the lingo of the day. The cast is charming. And it is always fun to watch the upcoming stars of the era. For instance, this is the last of five films released in 1938 starring Maureen O'Sullivan, and it is after her third appearance in a Tarzan film.

In addition to Miss O'Sullivan's usual charms, I especially enjoyed Miss Hussey. And when it comes to fun, Miss Compton has "plent". Sally is a prodigious flirt and can wrap any man, it seems, around her little finger.

Ayres and Meredith are, likewise, great together. The men try to remain true to their pact to travel to Russia, but the women develop a three-pronged strategy to assist Alex's plans.

My favorite scene is where the girls goad the police into giving the boys a ticket. And the big dance scene is quite fab and tres cray.

This one starts out rather silly. The premise is that a college girl is in love with a college boy who wants to go to Russia for two years. She doesn't want to force herself on him but her friends will do anything to get them together. At first the whole thing looks and feels ludicrous. The stereotypes of the black porters today are insulting. The women - Maureen O'Sullivan, Ruth Hussey, Ann Morriss, Joyce Compton, and Julie Bishop (here credited as Jacqueline Wells) - are all gorgeous of course, more like models than college girls. Lew Ayres plays the would-be wanderer and Burgess Meredith his friend in tow. Everybody is a bit too old for the parts but as the film progresses somehow this becomes irrelevant as the comedic elements begin to overshadow the shortcomings. The first to look out for is the gym scene where O'Sullivan coyly agrees with everything Ayres says while he tries to convince her (and himself) of the nobility of his plans. O'Sullivan floats around the gym in her trademark elfin way and you wonder how this poor man can resist her. Joyce Compton, as the ditsy blonde, has several moments such as her overt manipulation of the police chief. Also throughout the film Hussey's presence is elemental. She, perhaps more than O'Sullivan, contributes to its enjoyment. Her strong, wise-cracking portrayal makes you forget this is a terribly outdated sexist story and you begin to enjoy it for what it is: silly fun! One last scene to point out. The look on Ayres' face when he sees his car has been taken apart is priceless. Of course don't bother to ask how that was done with bare hands and in about ten minutes. That would spoil the magic.