Blondie Goes to College

This is the 10th film (of 28) in the Blondie film series. The Bumsteads go to the football game. But Baby Dumpling (Larry Simms) is a bit disappointed. The seats are right in the center of the goal posts and he can't see a thing. But Baby does manage to catch the special football. Dagwood (Arthur Lake) decides he wants to go to college for the first time. Later, Blondie (Penny Singleton) wants Dagwood to stop dreaming and not be late for work this morning. Blondie decides to have a talk with Mr. Dithers. Dithers thinks it's a great idea for Dagwood to go to college to get it out of his system. He thinks Blondie should go too. But Blondie has another idea. She's going to have another baby. Dagwood doesn't know yet. Lloyd Bridges plays a college student. Sid Melton plays "Mouse". Notice the scene when Dagwood tells Mrs. Dill that he dreamed he was a baby, and then he yawns. Notice Larry Simms laughing abit at Arthur. The next film in the series is BLONDIE'S BLESSED EVENT.

The setup for this installment of Columbia's Blondie and Dagwood series is REALLY contrived--so much that you wonder who thought this would be a good idea for a film. Inexplicably, Dagwood insists he MUST go to college (despite having a wife, a kid, a job and a home) and so they put Baby Dumpling (who is practically a baby) in military school and the couple go to college--SEPARATELY. They agree to not tell anyone they are married and take up separate housing on campus and even begin dating other people!! None of this makes sense and it sounds more like the plot of a bad porno than a family comedy. All I know is that I really, really like the Blondie & Dagwood films and hated that this one was such a disappointment. The bottom line is that this episode of the series made no sense nor was it particularly funny. All in all, there isn't much to like about this one--and it's amazing, as the previous film, "Blondie in Society" was among the very best. What happened? Did the producer let his cat write this one?!

By the way, the double-talk bit was never funny, though, inexplicably, they used it twice in this film. Lame. And the "I want my mommy" segment was REAAAALLY creepy, as it made the normally lovable Dagwood seem like a child molester!! Yikes.

Keep an eye out for a young Lloyd Bridges who plays one of the students. Fortunately he was able to get past this minor hiccup in his career.

This is the tenth in the Blondie movie series. In this one, Dagwood wants to go to college and Blondie decides to go with him though reluctantly. So they send Baby Dumpling to military school. I'll just now say there wasn't much that was funny here though Cliff Nazarro as a doubletalk professor was amusing, as was Dag's attempts at joining some sports teams. Also, having Blondie sarcastically calling her hubby "Daggie" after a coed played by Janet Blair starts calling him that was also good for a laugh. Mr. Dithers seems more sympathetic here though he turns back to his partially mean self soon enough. Among the supporting cast are Larry Parks before his star-making turn as Al Jolson in The Jolson Story and Lloyd Bridges before "Sea Hunt". Not among the supporting cast is Irving Bacon as Mr. Beasley, the mailman. Guess he wanted to take a break from getting constantly knocked over by Dagwood! In summary, if you're a Blondie movie series completest, go ahead and watch Blondie Goes to College. Otherwise, it's skipable. P.S. This is the last one on the Platinum Disc Corporation set I originally bought from Walmart back in 2005 when the "Blondie" comic strip was celebrating 75 years of print. Now that the rest of the series is online, I'll be seeing the rest of them for the first time in the coming weeks and reviewing them afterwards...

If you're a movie buff, this is an unforgettable episode to watch, for all the young up and coming stars. Super cast at work and a fairly good story that takes Blondie and Dagwood out of the same old domestic routine.

Time to go back to college! Why not? After watching an exciting football game, Dagwood gets the urge to head back to college and become some sort of a sports hero? In an interesting twist, even Baby Dumpling goes to school, in this case miltary school.

There's also a very poignant side story; Blondie secretly admits to Mr. Dithers --she is expecting! Mr. Dithers' expressions are priceless, and he's also behind Dagwood, urging Blondie to let him get the old college bug out of his system once and for all before the new baby arrives. Dithers, in way, was like Dagwood and Blondie's adopted father at times. It shows. Nice touch, and why loved Mr. Dithers.

Of course, there's some fractured romantic situations. Blondie is wooed by football hero Larry Parks while young Janet Blair has a crush on Dagwood? Also look for popular character actress Adele Mara as "Babs" and rugged Lloyd Bridges as Ben. Top casting all the way.

Applause to writer Lou Breslow, long time writer at 20th Century Fox, credited for writing two of Laurel and Hardy's comedies, including the classic, GREAT GUNS a year earlier. He also wrote ABBOTT AND COSTELLO IN HOLLYWOOD (1945).

By the way, catch the outrageous "double talking" professor scene. A Gem. Clyde Bruckman, who wrote many short films for the Three Stooges, wrote the original story, and probably suggested this bit. It has the feel of something the Stooges would do.

Followed by the much awaited BLONDIE'S BLESSED EVENT. Always on dvd. Thank you to the MOVIES Net for running these golden oldie episodes Saturday mornings.

Baby Dumpling steals the show as he is dumped off at a military boarding school while his parents go back to school. KP duty is hilarious...I have never seen so many potatoes.

Dagwood gets it in his mind to go to college, which he and blondie missed out on by getting married. Once there things don't go quite as planned. First they have to pretend they are single for their living situations...and then Dagwood comes up with a scheme to meet Blondie at the registrar's office...but he gets waylaid and then Shanghai's by a sorority girl with a flat tire...meanwhile blonde gets picked up by a jock and overall good guy.

Real light weight comedy...but a fun look at college life of the times.

Big highlight for me was seeing the crew races from train and boat...just like I read about in Boys in the Boat!