Quando torna primavera

Not quite in the league of "It's a Wonderful Life" or "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," but a great fantasy story of the egghead professor in the hard boiled world of baseball.

Paul Douglas steals the movie as the craggy old pro catcher, Monk Lanigan. Watch for a young Alan Hale, Jr., later to be the Skipper in "Gilligan's Island." Take a look at the writing credits for the writer of this one. Sterling. Also, a great feel for 40's baseball fans, baseball stadiums, just baseball. I loved this film as a kid, still love it now.

This film should be as much a harbinger of spring as the first robin. Don't miss it!

From the time of this film - in the mid-20th century, one might guess that the milieu of "It Happens Every Spring" might be baseball. Well, some of us in the senior generations and younger folks who know something of history would make such a guess - and be right. With so many other pastimes, sports, entertainments and interests in the 21st century, the lure of baseball isn't what it once was to the youth of America.

But, this film has one more aspect that provides the comedy and makes for a fun and entertaining film. If it can please my grandchildren, it must still have something going for it. That other thing is a sci-fi plot in which the male lead, Ray Milland is a professor who accidentally discovers a powerful chemical that repels wood. It happens when the chemistry research project he is working on is demolished by a baseball that crashes through his lab window.

Prof. Simpson just happens to be a big baseball fan himself, and may have dreamed of being a great pitcher when he was a child. Well his discovery of the baseball that was soaked in his chemicals making detours around wood items on his counter sets the stage for an entertaining film. He uses his discovery to win a pitching spot on the St. Louis Cardinals who are in the pennant race. He takes a difffernet name and becomes known as King Kelly, an overnight sensation who wins 37 games and takes the Cards to the World Series.

It's all a lot of fun, with Paul Douglas as Monk Lanigan providing the back up for the king. There isn't a lot of funny dialog, but the scenes are fun when batters swing and miss the ball that makes jerking detours above and under their bats. This is a fun little fantasy film that most of the family should enjoy.

... as it is completely conflict free. There are literally no bad guys to be found. It is quite enjoyable as long as you just relax and just forget everything that you ever knew about baseball, physics, chemistry, or hair follicles.

Vernon Simpson (Ray Milland) is a chemistry professor still working on his Ph. D. at a relatively late age. His boss, Dr. Greenleaf (Ray Collins), explains Vernon to a colleague as follows - From October to April he's a steady reliable hard worker. But from April to October he's distracted. The problem is that Vernon is a baseball fan, and the game distracts him six months of the year. One day Vernon is working on an experiment to help him finish that Ph. D. when the baseball from some kids' baseball game crashes through a window and smashes the experiment. In the process of cleaning up he sees the baseball has fallen into the solution he was making, and that the baseball is now repelled by wood. He does some experiments and realizes that this solution, when applied to a baseball, enables him to become the world's greatest pitcher as the ball will do loops to avoid contact with a baseball bat.

Vernon has always wanted to be a pro ball player, so he gets a leave of absence from the college and becomes the pitcher for the St. Louis team. His objective is to live out his dream of playing major league ball AND make enough money to marry his girlfriend who just happens to be the boss's daughter. Complications ensue.

Vernon is asking for 1000 dollars a game for every game he wins. This gives the owner pause. But consider that DiMaggio was the first ball player to make 100K a year in 1949 - about 1.2 million in 2024 dollars. In 2024 the mean baseball salary in the US is five million dollars. So these ball players are just working class guys in 1949.

One odd thing is that the production code is still being rigorously enforced at the time, and yet Vernon is allowed to cheat with this magic potion of his and never faces any consequences. With Paul Douglas as Vernon's gregarious and henpecked teammate, Ed Begley as the involved team owner, and the lovely Jean Peters as Vernon's girlfriend who starts to believe that Vernon has taken his leave of absence to become a jewel thief and get involved with gangsters.

Fun baseball comedy starring, of all people, Ray Milland. There's so many things about this that shouldn't work yet it does. Milland plays a college professor who also happens to be a brilliant scientist working on a formula for a coating on wood that will make it repellent to things like bugs and mice. Through an accident he discovers his formula, when put on a baseball, will make it impossible to hit. So he does what any scientist would do and decides to become a major league pitcher. He becomes a big success, cheating like the dickens the whole way. This was back in the day when things like fair play and honor were valued. Yet here this guy is cheating his way to the World Series and, amusingly, the movie passes no judgment on it. Now, anybody who knows baseball knows some pitchers back in the day were not above using various techniques to doctor the balls they threw. Like spitballs, for example. Still, such things weren't openly endorsed by Major League Baseball and they wouldn't have anything to do with the movie because of the cheating. This is why they use fake teams in the film instead of real ones, which was more commonplace at the time.

Milland is excellent and proves that personable, talented actors can often rise above miscasting. Paul Douglas is great fun as Milland's catcher. It's a role Douglas could play in his sleep and he's perfect in it. Gorgeous Jean Peters plays Milland's girlfriend. Besides good looks, she brings charm and humor to the part. She retired from acting in the mid 50s and married Howard Hughes. It's a very pleasant, enjoyable comedy. Far-fetched and often ridiculous, yes, but still fun.

Sometimes Hollywood gets it right. This is one of those times.

While aiming for the funny bone, this delightful comedy scores a home run. Ray Milland is cast in the lead role as an absent-minded professor who becomes a hit in the world of baseball thanks to a wood-repellent formula he has invented. It prevents batters from getting to first base. Jean Peters plays the love interest, and she manages to get to first base in other ways. There's a good turn by veteran character actor Ray Collins, but the one to watch is Paul Douglas, in a supporting role.

If you like this film, watch Disney's The Absent-Minded Professor starring Fred MacMurray.