Andy Hardy's Double Life

Like most Andy Hardy movies, this film is fun, uplifting and entertaining. It's hard to watch it without smiling.

In this edition of the series, Andy, played by Mickey Rooney, is preparing to depart for college. Before he leaves, he encounters one of his typical adolescent crises as Polly Benedict(his ex-girlfriend) and her visiting friend decide to teach him a lesson. Ann Rutherford returns as Polly, and her friend is played by Esther Williams in her studio debut. The acting, writing and directing are all very good in this picture.

Although this type of movie might not appeal as much to modern audiences, it is still a good film worthy of your time, and if you enjoy Andy Hardy movies, I would certainly recommend that you see this one.

The thirteenth in the series of Andy Hardy films, "Andy Hardy's Double Life" follows the formula faithfully, with Andy (Mickey Rooney) trying to juggle the attentions of two women while dealing with other issues, like jalopies and finances.

Meanwhile, Judge Hardy (Lewis Stone) has a perplexing court case on his mind. Andy lends a hand.

But the real meat of this episode (and the reliable tearjerker) is the drama surrounding Andy's upcoming departure for college. This milepost is the beginning of Andy's manhood and Andy has to have a (real) man-to-man talk with Dad, effectively telling the Judge that the first four letters in father are also the first four letters in fathead.

The real reason for seeing this Andy Hardy installment is the film debut of Esther Williams, whose on-screen charms are immediately apparent. In short order she will have her own series of aqua-musicals to dominate the box office.

Despite having graduated from high school three movies ago, Andy Hardy has still not started college. And he won't start it in this movie, either! That comes in the next entry, Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble. Here, though, we have Andy selling his jalopy to get the money to retrieve his convertible from storage in New York. The problem is the boys he's sold it to keep stalling on paying him and Andy's already written a check that will bounce if he can't get the money in time. Andy's also dealing with his usual drama with the opposite sex as well as trying to help his sister Marian and father Judge Hardy with their problems. Marian's still in love with her beau Jeff, the drunk driver. Judge Hardy is bending over backwards to prove a lumber company truck was responsible for an accident with a little boy (Robert Blake).

This one's notable for being the feature film debut of Esther Williams. Esther plays a psychology student who teams up with Ann Rutherford's Polly Benedict to teach Andy a lesson. Have no fear, Esther fans, she does get into a bathing suit for one scene. Gorgeous as always, Esther also showcases her romantic comedy potential. Her scenes with Mickey are some of the movie's highlights. This is also, sadly, the last of the Hardy films with Ann Rutherford. She left the series after this and never returned. Rutherford was one of my favorite parts of these movies. She was always adorable beyond words with great comic timing and wonderful chemistry with Mickey Rooney. Cecilia Parker gets more to do as Marian than she has in awhile. She was a larger presence in the early films in the series. If I'm to be honest, she was never a favorite part for me. She might appeal more to many viewers as Marian is a slightly more modern (i.e. flawed) character. This would be her last appearance in the Hardy series until the attempted reboot in the '50s. Lewis Stone is perfect, of course. Judge Hardy was often the highlight of these movies, even when Andy was the focus. Here Stone gets a little comedy to work with but the best parts of the movie are his father-son scenes with Mickey Rooney. For his part Rooney is excellent, handling both comedy and drama with ease. Fay Holden gets few scenes as Mrs. Hardy but makes the most of them, stealing the picture each time she's on screen.

This is one of the best Andy Hardy movies. A delightful mix of comedy and light drama. I smiled through the whole thing. I happen to love the Andy Hardy movies, corn and all. Your mileage may vary, though. If you're too cynical to enjoy these innocent movies with their sentimentalism and old-fashioned values, then spare yourself the trouble of watching. Also spare the rest of us as the world has enough snarky cynics as it is.

Before leaving for Wainwright College, Andy (Mickey Rooney) has time for another romance set in his Carvel hometown. This time it's MGM's future swimming sensation Esther Williams (as Sheila Brooks). Introduced in this film as a psych major, Ms. Williams quickly became a major star. Inspiring half (or all) of the film's title, she is very beautiful. In their most memorable scene, Williams and Andy share an underwater swimming pool kiss. Meanwhile, Judge Hardy (Lewis Stone) gets involved in a dispute involving mischievous preteen Bobby (Robert) Blake (as "Tooky").

This episode's main storyline is that Andy doesn't want Judge Hardy to appear with him at college, which gives the two actors a nice generational conflict...

"Double Life" featured the last appearance of Andy's off-and-on Carvel girlfriend Polly Benedict (Ann Rutherford) in the movie series. She was eventually asked back, but declined. After this feature, Mr. Rooney's "Andy" finally did go to college. He spent the last several films preparing. It seemed like MGM was reluctant to change the setting. They probably should have tried to do so earlier, because the series had become very tired; ironically, the scenes with the older Mr. Stone are the acting highlights. In a couple of scenes, Rooney has an obvious lip ailment (possibly a "cold sore").

**** Andy Hardy's Double Life (12/42) George B. Seitz ~ Mickey Rooney, Lewis Stone, Esther Williams, Ann Rutherford

This is a fair installment of the Andy Hardy series. While it's very watchable, the story itself isn't especially strong. The bottom line is that Andy's problems (and he ALWAYS has problems) seem easy to solve but he manages to make them seem like Armageddon! The only particularly outstanding thing about the film is that it marks the debut of Esther Williams...and MGM often tried out new female talent in the Hardy films (such as Judy Garland, Ruth Hussey, Marsha Hunt and Lana Turner in some of their earliest films).

When the film begins, Andy is preparing to go off to college. The film EASILY could have simply gone from his high school graduation to him being in college but instead we see Andy struggle...mostly over things that really didn't amount to much. One problem is money some friends owe him (which EASILY could have been resolved), another involves two girls who conspire to make Andy think he's engaged to them and the final involves Judge Hardy's case involving a child (Bobby Blake) who is injured...and Andy steps in to help him with the case. All in all, Andy is a dope (as usual) and the film moderately entertaining.