Andy Hardy incontra la debuttante

Just by the title alone you know that Mickey Rooney is once again going to have some woman trouble. Andy Hardy Meets Debutante has the Hardy family going to New York to make a holiday of it because Lewis Stone has a court case there. Judge Hardy is stepping off the bench in Carvel and going to New York to represent an orphanage in Carvel that is in danger of closing due to a loophole in a trust agreement the Judge drew up while he was still in private practice.

Rooney is once again putting his steady girlfriend Ann Rutherford on hold again while he fantasizes about Diana Lewis who is a Paris Hilton type débutante. When the Hardys arrive in New York they stay with Judy Garland's family whom we met in a previous Hardy film. And of course Andy in his naive way makes a huge fool of himself a few different ways in the film.

Judy Garland's two songs are the highlight of the film. She sings I'm Nobody's Baby written for this film and Alone which MGM owned the copyright for having been sung most memorably by Allan Jones in A Night At The Opera. As it turns out she knows Diana Lewis and Judy plays little Miss Fixit and cures Rooney of his puppy love. Of course you know the next Hardy film, he'll be back and involved in some other romantic mess. Why Ann Rutherford just didn't give that boy the heave-ho is one of the screen's greatest mysteries.

There is also a very touching scene one of the best father and son moments with Lewis Stone and Mickey Rooney when they visit New York City's Hall Of Fame at New York University Bronx campus. Rooney is wishing that the Hardys who are big-shots in Carvel had a little more class and were mixing easily in society with Diana Lewis's crowd. Stone gives him a most stern lecture about all the people in that Hall of Fame who started from nothing and made the country what it is. It was one of the best patriotic moments in an era where the screen was starting to fill with such sentiments I've ever seen.

Andy Hardy Meets Debutante still holds up well and should be seen for Judy Garland's singing and Lewis Stone's very unsentimental but very real lecture on the spirit of America.

A movie made 60yrs ago, is still one of my favourites. If you want a light-hearted comedy, superbly acted & directed this may be the movie for you. Judy Garland was beautiful (as ever!) & her radiance in this film is one of the highlights. One could wax lyrical for ages about this film, but I won't. Just when you get the opportunity to view this film, do it. You won't be disappointed.

Andy Hardy (Mickey Rooney) has been bragging again, claiming that New York debutante Daphne Fowler is somebody that he knows, that she likes him, and that he must break up with Polly Benedict (Ann Rutherford) because of this attachment. When Judge Hardy must go to New York City to take care of an issue involving the estate of the benefactor of the Carvel Orphanage having stopped funding, the entire family is going with him. So Polly plans to embarrass Andy with the cover of the next copy of the High School magazine unless Andy returns with a photo of himself and Daphne together. Complications ensue.

Andy pulls a bunch of bone-headed stunts trying to meet Ms. Fowler, the result being that rather than him being angry at himself for trying to plunge headlong into the adult world of New York society without the wisdom or knowledge to do so, he feels the problem is that he and his entire family are a bunch of "nobodies" who have no position in a place like New York, and therefore will always be nobodies. Has Andy's reticence to read prices on a menu turned him into a Marxist? The judge takes him to task and even more complications ensue.

The real attraction here is Judy Garland who returns as Betsy Booth, a younger girl who has always had a crush on Andy. She's a better friend than he deserves and a real sticking point for me is that he doesn't seem to really appreciate her, even if he says that he does.

Highlights include a couple of numbers by the effervescent Judy Garland, when she was a young fresh face at MGM. Also, the judge and Aunty Milly have a word over a conspiracy they have going to get Mrs. Hardy to accept a fur coat, showing that they really had a very good friendship going.

Andy Hardy Meets Debutante (1940)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

The ninth film in the series (if you don't count the two shorts) has the Hardy family going to New York so that the Judge (Lewis Stone) can help keep an orphanage open. Andy (Mickey Rooney) has gotten into some trouble because he told people back home that he knows a famous model (Diana Lewis) and that she has the hots for him. While he tries to track her down he's too stupid to realize that there's one young woman (Judy Garland) who really does care for him. Outside the two shorts, this here was my first film from the series and it was pretty much what I expected even though I've read this wasn't nearly one of the best of the series. There's enough charm and good will for two movies so it's hard to imagine someone not getting some entertainment out of the film. I think it goes without saying that this film, and the series for that matter, was built around moral lessons for young people as Andy has a problem and then Judge is there to help him. The problem here is Andy being poor and from a small town feeling as if he isn't good enough to be around those who might look down on him. The importance of social standing and money is something Judge has to explain and this scene, while over-dramatic, does deliver a nice message. Rooney is in top form and delivers another winning performance. His comic timing is just right and his attitude perfectly mixes in with the stern Stone. The two of them work well together but that's to be expected considering how long this series ran. Garland is also pretty good here and manages to get off two songs. Rutherford, Fay Holden and Cecilia Parker are also winning in their roles. The scene stealer is the young Clyde Willson who plays one of the orphans and gets a big laugh each time he says a line given to him by Andy.

Just two years after "Love Finds Andy Hardy", Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland meet again in another tale about Carvel's most dramatic high schooler. In this film, girlfriend Polly Benedict has slowed his roll and ridiculed Andy's obsession with a New York debutante named Daphne Fowler (Diana Lewis). When Judge Hardy decides to take the entire family to NYC while he confronts a big city law firm over financial commitments due an orphanage, Andy (Rooney) reconnects with Betsy Booth (Garland) and contrives to meet the mysterious and desirable Miss Fowler.

At this point the story bogs down. But two somehow-interconnected stories emerge: the benefits of living in the American Republic and Andy's despondency at being a backwater fish from a small pond.

The first part might be expected in a nation perched on the philosophical precipice of isolationism versus involvement in the ongoing war in Europe. Judge Hardy delivers a stirring speech that defines equality as equal opportunity under the law.

The party of the second part---Andy---somehow finds a way through his gloom and returns to Carvel a wiser man, where he confronts Polly, hoping to put their relationship back on track.

The best part of this film might be the musical interludes by Miss Garland. But Rooney is the driver of this and all the Andy Hardy films, and he does not disappoint. If you enjoy the Garland-Rooney vehicles, be sure to watch "Girl Crazy".