Spring Madness

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.

Sam Thatcher (Lew Ayres) and his best friend "The Lippencott" (Burgess Meredith) are graduating in two months and intend to go to Russia to learn about the Soviet system. Sam is reluctant to tell his girlfriend Alexandra Benson (Maureen O'Sullivan) about leaving for two years.

There is some fast talking comedy and some old style romancing. It's date and I'm not really connecting with these people. The comedy keeps trying and I keep not laughing at it. The ladies are all gorgeous and I fear having to date any of them. The two guys are 30 instead of being in the early 20's. These are the days when the Soviets are still believed to be good for the people. Most importantly, I struggle to find this funny. By the halfway point, I stopped caring and the second half is a real grind.

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.

Spring Madness is adapted from a flop Phillip Barry play Spring Dance that only ran for 24 performances in 1936. As this was a flop and not a hit like The Philadelphia Story MGM let it's B picture unit handle it. So we see no big stars like Cary Grant, James Stewart, and Katharine Hepburn in it.

A good B picture cast like Maureen O'Sullivan, Ruth Hussey, Julie Bishop, and Ann Morriss head the cast which is set at a girl's ivy league college. They do fine.

But I think the reason this play flopped because the leading male character played by Lew Ayres is really a fathead. He and his sidekick Burgess Meredith want to take a slow boat to Vladivostok and live and study in Russia.

By 1938 only the most hardened Stalinist would want to go there. When the play was running on Broadway the purge trials were getting started. When the film was released they were in high gear. Very few believed the babble defense the Daily Worker had of them.

There are some funny scenes and Burgess Meredith steals all scenes he's in with some outrageous overacting. On Broadway his part was played by a young Jose Ferrer.

The film has a few good laughs many with Burgess Meredith.

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.