Spring Reunion

There's a reason there is only 4 or 5 reviews of this odd, stupid movie. It's because it's odd and stupid! Is this movie the actual cause of Dana Andrews and Betty Hutton's untimely deaths? I think it could be. This movie was too anal to even know where to begin how useless and worthless it was! Oh, I so pity the people who went the movies in the 50's to see this rot on screen, paying good money to see it. Let's hope the popcorn was good, right. Or at least, they found romance at the movie. Very bad movie. Senseless. Infantile. That is all. It was so bad, having just watched it on TCM, even Robert Osborne didn't say a word about it when it ended! BTW, my wife just said, "How can anyone review a movie from 1941! and Don't you have anything better to do?" LOL. Well, I suppose I could watch the Jodi Arias trial with her, but I already bet her $50.00 that Arias is going to walk! Why? Because any one idiot on a jury, in our diverse walks of life, can hold our justice system hostage and vote her innocent and because we unfaily require a unanimous decision, she is guaranteed to be freed. (It should be majority to find guilty and unanimous for the death penalty or otherwise, life in prison. That is all :~)

Expansion of Robert Alan Aurthur's "Goodyear Playhouse" TV drama from 1954 has unmarried Betty Hutton (in her final film) returning to her alma mater, Carson High School, for her 15-year class reunion. Turgid, corny second-feature, produced by Bryna, Kirk Douglas' company, takes the stance that 33-year-olds are over-the-hill (milking it for laughs, such as with the football star's aching back). Hutton (still single because no man has ever measured up--or is it she who hasn't measured up?) isn't allowed to have any fun; she has to scheme to spike the punch, and breaks a date with handsome Dana Andrews to hurry off to the beauty parlor. Viewers nostalgic for the era (1957, not 1941 when the cast supposedly graduated) might get some stray laughs out of it, but the picture is a musty underachiever. Hutton gives a plastic, let-me-out-of-here performance. *1/2 from ****

There is a reason this was the LAST movie Betty Hutton ever made. All of the thing you like about "Betty Hutton Movies" are simply missing in this film. It was a resounding failure with her fans of the day.

Betty Hutton is one of my all time favorite actresses. She is one of the most adept comics of the golden Age of Movies. She can also sell a song like no body's business. There are some things she just cannot do-- unfortunately ALL of those things are present, in large quantities, in the movie.

This was the first movie Hutton made in four years. She looks much older than her actual age - which is no doubt why she has to speak the same trite line of dialogue, "I am only 33 years old", in FOUR separate scenes. Her energy level is very very low. As is her mood no matter what scene she is filming.

I love Betty Hutton, but there was clearly something wrong with her at this point in her life. She is totally missing the "spark" which her fans loved in her earlier movies. The only time the "Classic Hutton" was seen is when she sings a song at her High School Reunion.... and even this is obviously prerecorded and lipsynched.

As a "generic movie from the mid 1950s" this movie is a real stinkeroo. The plot is so stale you expect to see mold growing on it. There is not one new idea in the entire screenplay, it appears to be recycled from scenes from really bad TV dramas of the period.

There are reasons, however, to sit through this film. It was also Laura La Plant's last film. She was one of the most beautiful women of the silent era. She has a lackluster part as Hutton's Mother. La Plant is still beautiful in her early 50s. The Laura LaMont character from "singing in the Rain" is based on Laura La Plant. Interestingly, Jean Hagen, the actress who played the ditzy blond in the earlier movie, plays Hutton's sidekick in this movie.

The supporting cast also features some of the most adept scene stealers from the age of classic television. Irene Ryan (Beverly Hillbillies),Richard Decon (Dick Van Dyke Show), Herbert Anderson (the Father on"Dennis the Menace") all have small parts.

This movie is worth sitting through - as long as you understand ahead of time that it is not a "Betty Hutton Movie"

There are so many ways to approach a film: on cinematic terms alone, like "great film" or "average film" or "B-Minus" etc.

There are films that have flaws but have virtues. This is one of them.

I know it's a B-film from the 50s, when Betty Hutton and Dana Andrews were past their prime.

But: for those who like those actors professionally and as people, there are lovely virtues that are unique.

I LOVE Betty Hutton in her bombshell, younger days - when she was on fire - a firecracker who couldn't stand still -notably in one of my favorites, Miracle of Morgan's Creek.

And I really like Dana Andrews for his understated performances, especially in The Best Years of Our Lives.

And while most of Dana Andrews 50s films are pretty uninteresting, I loved the pairing between him and Betty. They are both vulnerable, in their professional life journey more vulnerable to the downward trajectory. But that gives their performances immediacy and sensitivity. They are both players characters who life has battered down a bit or more - and WHO doesn't know how THAT feels - and they bring that to their roles.

I really liked when the two of them are on screen, interacting with each other. You feel their connection to each other. Both of them are very good in their maturer, vulnerable state. To me, that's a highlight of the film- to see the two of them interact.

Everything else is secondary. The schools scenes are okay. Jean Hagen, who I like, has to struggle with an ill-defined role, and does well, as always. Her jock paramour has an even more illdefined role, and is okay.

Betty's parents do okay, in dated roles - the possessive father and doting repressed mother.

Again: if you want to see mature Betty Hutton and mature Dana Andrews bring their life experience to their work, you will enjoy their on-screen duo.

I watched this movie mainly because I really like Dana Andrews in films. Unlike many big name stars, he seemed like a real person and didn't play too many pretty boy roles. However, despite my liking his films so much, I was shocked at the casting decisions. The film is about a 15 year reunion for a high school. While Betty Hutton and Jean Hagen aren't that much older than the characters they were playing, Andrews was 48--making him a 33 year-old at high school graduation!! And to make matters worse, Robert Simon played Hutton's father and he was only a year older than Andrews! I know you need to often suspend disbelief when you watch a film, but this was ridiculous! Additionally, Gordon Jones and Herbert Anderson were awfully long in the tooth to be playing such parts.

Now if you ignore the silly casting, the film itself is a nice little film, though certainly not one you should rush to see. While the film is set during this reunion, the underlying theme is life choices. Anderson has chosen to live life with few connections and he's lonely, while Hutton has stayed attached to her parents and longs to break free. Interesting and thought-provoking--but that's about it.