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In the aftermath of WWII, America's fighting men are returning home, and many of them are using the G.I. Bill to attend college. Also enrolling is Lynn Belvedere, successful author, autodidact, and self-acknowledged genius. We first met him in Twentieth Century Fox's "Sitting Pretty". Though nothing about Mr. Belvedere would surprise us, it is odd to see a man of his age living the life of a frosh. And so this fish-out-of-water story begins.

Another student attending Clemens is Ellen Baker, played by Shirley Temple with grace and the sureness of an acting veteran. Her path intersects Mr. Belvedere's and sets up the main part of the story.

Mr. Belvedere is one of the great comic characters and Clifton Webb portrays the master of all trades with precision. The writing allows the character to be almost churlish, as someone who must endure the imperfections of others, while remaining a man of principle.

This film is fairly simple in its premise (like Rodney Dangerfield's "Back to School), and it likewise spends little time moralizing, content to entertain in the broadest of ways. In that regard, it is very successful. Mr. Belvedere is no fuddy-duddy; he's a ducky shincracker, too!

In this second installment of the Mr. Belvedere series, our brilliant hero has decided to go college! Apparently, he was entirely self-taught but after years of being an expert at practically EVERYTHING, he finally saw a need for a formal education. His plan is to complete all four years of school in only one--and considering his many, many talents you naturally assume he'll succeed.

Oddly, you never actually see Belvedere in a single classroom scene--none! Instead, the film focuses on his extracurricular and work activities. Through these, he's able to do a lot to help all those around him and even his most ardent opponents were thoroughly won over by him by the end of the film. Three cheers for Mr. Belvedere!!!

I might have scored this film even higher--after all, I really enjoyed the film and in particular the wonderful character of Mr. Belvedere (who I'd seen in his previous film, "Sitting Pretty"). Clifton Webb was simply marvelous in this title role. However, the film had one serious problem that impaired my enjoyment of the film--and my wife was so frustrated with the problem that she actually started yelling at the TV set!! Really...I am not kidding. The character played by Shirley Temple was simply annoying--badly written and petulant for absolutely no reason. She simply was not a character but a cliché--and roles like these may have contributed to her retiring from films shortly after this film. After all, with films like this and "That Hagan Girl", it was obvious that Hollywood had no idea what to do with the grown up Ms. Temple--and you have to feel sorry for her in such thankless roles. But fortunately, apart from this, it's a nice and enjoyable film from start to finish. And, I sure wish that Clifton Webb had made more than only three Belvedere films!

It s especially significant that this is the first and only time Shirley Temple returned to 20th Century Fox after her reign as the studio's top child star. She is very appealing in this film. This proves that they could, and should, have groomed her for juvenile leads.

As for Clifton Webb, who plays the title character, his performance is very multi-dimensional. When the police think he is a peeping tom and he is crawling through windows-- hiding out in the halls inside Shirley's apartment building-- it reminds this writer of Waldo Lydecker from Laura. There is a creepiness and danger that he brings to some of these scenes that is both disturbing and fascinating.

I'm a fan of Clifton Webb and love his portrayal of Mr. Belvedere. He did three films as Belvedere, and this may be the least of the three. But it's still fun.

There are a lot of possibilities offered by the premise - the self-styled, eccentric, sarcastic but somehow lovable genius, Lynn Belvedere, entering college as a middle-aged freshman. But a lot of the movie focuses on Shirley Temple as a struggling young single mother/student, and some of this side of the picture is tedious. Shirley as a young adult is still as cute and charming as ever. She just doesn't get to have much fun with her role.

Alan Young is on hand as a snide, nerdy roommate of Belvedere (he calls Webb "Belvy"), a sort of overage Holden Caulfield. His interactions with Webb provide some laughs. Jesse Royce Landis plays a sorority house mother who employs the Young character and Belvedere as waiters. Her son, at college on the GI Bill, loves Shirley but has no idea she's a war widow with a small child. It's that kind of plot, but at least there's some humor in the sorority situation, as Belvedere straightens out some of the loud, sloppy girls in his unique manner, and shares recipes with the Scandinavian cook (speaking to her in her native language, of course).

20th Century-Fox had a way with college movies. Father Was A Fullback, Take Care Of My Little Girl, Mother Was A Freshman, and Apartment For Peggy, to name a few. So they knew what they were doing in sending Mr. Belvedere to college. Maybe hilarity doesn't ensue as often as it did in the first Belvedere picture, Sitting Pretty (1948). But this isn't a bad sequel and you do get to see Clifton Webb do his Belvedere characterization, in his unique and charming, very funny manner.

Director/actor Elliot Nugent seems attracted to college tales, judging from this film and THE MALE ANIMAL (which he starred in on Broadway and directed on film). And it must have seemed a good idea to put CLIFTON WEBB, as Belvedere, the self-proclaimed genius, into a college setting so he could show everyone how smart he was even before getting a degree, but somehow MR. BELVEDERE GOES TO COLLEGE just misses the mark.

Not that everyone doesn't try. SHIRLEY TEMPLE, then still at a difficult stage in her adult career and returning to Fox for this co-starring role for the first time since her child career ended, is pert and pleasant as a young woman having an affair with TOM DRAKE, but their chemistry isn't there. And JESSE ROYCE LANDIS has her usual role as a meddling mother with ALAN YOUNG supplying some good comic support. But the end result is a mediocre comedy that fails to come up to the standards of what one expects from a Mr. Belvedere story.

Webb is witty and Temple is charming, but still the film flounders when it should sparkle and just possibly Elliot Nugent is partly to blame, although the script is certainly below par.

Summing up: It's trivial stuff, but if you keep your eyes open you might spot JEFF CHANDLER in a brief role as a policeman.

Mr Belvedere's character is a lot of fun to watch, he is the 1940s version of "the most interesting person in the world" - name it, he's not only done it, he invented it. No one should take this character seriously, so I don't follow the comments about being a perfect fit for "today's cellphone generation" (ah yes .. the youth of today are even worse then the last crop).

The main aspect of the film I found "dated" is the idea that being a single mother (Ellen Baker - Shirley Temple) was such a huge scandal -- something that should be covered up, or a source of disgrace. Even given the morals of the time, what would be scandalous about a married women who lost her husband in the war? There must have been many women in this situation. Thank goodness we live in more liberal times.

I also got a little exasperated with the old movie cliché of someone starting to explain their situation only to be cut off -- and then letting this misunderstanding carry the plot for the next half hour. My goodness, half the movies you see use this same tired plot device. Oh well, too late to complain. As I understand it, the writers and most of the characters are long since dead, so they don't care what I think. Except of course Mr. Belvedere who is surely sitting on a mountain somewhere in Tibet surfing the internet (which he invented).

Lynn Belvedere (Clifton Webb) is forced to go to college. He has been awarded a $10k literary prize but he must be a college graduate. He needs the money despite the success of his book due to the numerous libel suits. Despite being without even a high school diploma, he intends to finish the 4 year course in one year. Journalism student Ellen Baker (Shirley Temple) is desperate for an interview. Belvedere takes a job at a sorority.

After the success of the first movie, it's obvious to return Clifton Webb to reprise his Belvedere character. I don't mind dumping the family but Belvedere is best when he has to deal with little kids. There is a magic to the chemistry when a child with no preconceived notions try to connect with the oddity that is Belvedere. That magic is missing in this movie. It tries to replace it with a more grown Shirley Temple. I kept wondering if a little precocious young Shirley would be a great comedy partner to Mr. Belvedere. Now that would have been a fun time.

Clifton Webb has done some of the wittiest characters in the Golden Age of Hollywood, whether the his dark sardonic role in Laura or the efficiency expert and father of 12 children in Cheaper by the Dozen, but I always loved Mr. Belvedere the best. He is unfailingly funny while never cracking a smile himself, he makes us smile always, with his genius, know it all brain, his past in knowing everyone who is anyone, and his expertise at everything under the sun. Clifton Webb could even play a romantic interest in Three Coins in a Fountain, still without cracking a smile and with the dry sardonic wit. And he was believable in all his roles. There has never been any actor quite like him before or since. Although dated in its attitudes towards women, this movie shows all of those qualities.

Clifton Webb is at his supercilious and pompous best in this outing for his supremely self-confident "Belvedere" character. It seems he has spent all of his book proceeds defending libel actions and so needs to enrol in college to get a basic degree that will enable him to claim a much needed $10,000 prize. He breezes through the entrance exams but is nowhere near as adept when it comes to co-exisiting with his far younger colleagues from the student body. Things only become more complex when he encounters budding school journalist "Ellen" (Shirley Temple). She's also got a few issues, not least being a widowed single mother and having a lively relationship with her current beau "Bill" (Tom Drake) who's still reeling from learning of her own domestic arrangements. It now falls to our eponymous character to try and juggle his needs to keep low-key to claim his funds whilst acting as a sort of match-maker for the young couple. Though Temple acquits herself adequately here, and there are also some fun frat-contributions from Alan Young and Alvin Greenman, this is all just a vehicle for a Webb who manages to keep the increasingly ridiculous scenarios in which he finds himself out of the realms of slapstick. His is a characterful effort that depicts this frankly rather irritating man in an engaging fashion for an eighty minutes that's pithily written and snappily delivered. Along the way, it takes a swipe at all things collegiate, including the snobbishness of the faculty and the daftness of their sorority/fraternity cultures which proves quiet entertaining at times, too. It does rather run out of steam at the end, though, which is a shame but it's still fun to watch this skilled comedy actor in his element.

Not a bad follow up to the great 'Sitting Pretty' made the year before. Who can't love Clifton Webb? The all grown up Shirley Temple adds to the fun. All in all, it's a pretty good film but lacks much of the sophisticated dialogue of 'SP'!

Clifton Webb was better in serious movies than in his comedies. One has only to look at "The Razor's Edge" or "Laura" to see him at his best.

The Mr. Belvedere movies had a following, clearly. And this is not awful. It has good supporting characters like Tom Drake and Shirley Temple. (They do not convince as a romantic pair, however.) And Jessie Royce Landis is lots of fun as Drake's mother.

The title character's high opinion of himself fits right in with today's cellphone culture. He is the center of the universe. He has done everything. He knows everything. Everyone is beneath him.

The single mom subplot was not unique in the forties but, also, is timely today.

This is a great movie starring Shirley at her best! As a teen she was just coming into her own, and I especially loved her acting at that age. Clifton Webb was sensational, and really steals the show! One person that has been left out of the credits though, is Jeff Chandler. He has a very small part at the very end of the film. He is one of the cops that breaks into Shirley's home. Although there is no close up of him, his voice is unmistakable, and his looks are so distinct you know it's him! It's worth seeing just to see him for those brief moments! All in all, a movie for anyone who like a good laugh and a good time!

Clifton Webb an old bachelor male actor played Lynn Belevedere in this movie. He was quite smart and a Genius at that. He knew all the answers. Also as a Hasher in the Girls Sorority house. He could play the piano, cook and teach the girls to waltz. What character and what spunk. I wish I could be like him. He also slept standing on his head in Jail. When the students came to bale him out, he told the Sergeant you ought to try it Yoga. It was amazing all what Clifton did. He was a jack of all trades. I give this movie an "A+." When he hit the pay phone at the police station to call J. Edgar Hoover of the FBI, that was funny. He even removed the handcuffs by himself like Houdini. He said he taught Houdini. All of you readers must see this movie. You will be amazed at Clifton Webb. He didn't take any bluff either. At the end, when he graduated. The Dean gave him his diploma, he had a copy of Look magazine, with a photo graduating, at the same time. This movie is a must see. Good luck you all.