Spring Reunion

Expansion of Robert Alan Aurthur's "Goodyear Playhouse" TV drama from 1954 has unmarried Betty Hutton (in her final film) returning to her alma mater, Carson High School, for her 15-year class reunion. Turgid, corny second-feature, produced by Bryna, Kirk Douglas' company, takes the stance that 33-year-olds are over-the-hill (milking it for laughs, such as with the football star's aching back). Hutton (still single because no man has ever measured up--or is it she who hasn't measured up?) isn't allowed to have any fun; she has to scheme to spike the punch, and breaks a date with handsome Dana Andrews to hurry off to the beauty parlor. Viewers nostalgic for the era (1957, not 1941 when the cast supposedly graduated) might get some stray laughs out of it, but the picture is a musty underachiever. Hutton gives a plastic, let-me-out-of-here performance. *1/2 from ****

Nice little film about the ironies of life stars Betty Hutton and Dana Andrews as two former high school icons who were voted most popular and most likely to succeed. They meet 15 years later at a reunion, both unmarried and both leading aimless lives.

Hutton still lives in her hometown, partnered with her father in a real estate development firm. Even worse, she still lives at home. She graduated in 1941 and her boyfriend was killed during WW II (so was her brother) and she's never gotten her life back on track. She pours her emotions into her work.

Andrews (who broke his leg in the "big game") wanders from job to job but never seems happy or satisfied with anything. It's as if his life never recovered from the football field accident even if his leg did.

Also at the reunion are the usual types, the blowhard sports jock (Gordon Jones) who still relives his glory days, the little mother (Jean Hagen) who feels trapped by a husband and four kids, and unsuccessful guy (Herbert Anderson) hoping to sell a few used cars.

Oddest dynamic is Hutton's household, where her common-sense mother (Laura La Plante) feels estranged from her husband (Robert F. Simon) who seems fixated on his daughter as a replacement for the dead son. There's almost a sexual tension among the three adults, but since this is a 1957 movie, that is not explored.

Things come to a head when Hutton and Andrews make the snap decision to get married and daddy goes into overdrive to stop the wedding. The harder he works to sabotage the wedding, the more alarmed mother becomes. Can Hutton and Andrews withstand the interference?

1940s superstar Betty Hutton is just fine in her final film. She has a slightly shell-shocked look that fits the character. She also gets to sing a mellow rendition of "That Old Feeling." Dana Andrews is also quite good in his usual understated way. Robert F. Simon is appropriately creepy as the father, and silent film star Laura La Plante is very good (and looks great) as the mother.

Jean Hagen and Gordon Jones are fine in the minor and slightly comic subplot. There's also Irene Ryan as the high school's Miss Stapleton, and Herbert Anderson, Dorothy Newmann, Richard Deacon, and Ken Curtis among the reunion crowd.

James Gleason (billed as Jimmy) as a nice bit as a lighthouse keeper, George Chandler plays the soda jerk, Sara Berner plays the awful impressionist.

This was the final film appearance for Hutton, whose big hits included ANNIE GET YOUR GUN, THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH, INCENDIARY BLONDE, THE MIRACLE OF MORGAN'S CREEK, and THE PERILS OF PAULINE. This was also the final film for La Plante, whose big hits included SHOW BOAT, THE CAT AND THE CANARY, THE LOVE TRAP, KING OF JAZZ, and SMOULDERING FIRES.

I watched this movie mainly because I really like Dana Andrews in films. Unlike many big name stars, he seemed like a real person and didn't play too many pretty boy roles. However, despite my liking his films so much, I was shocked at the casting decisions. The film is about a 15 year reunion for a high school. While Betty Hutton and Jean Hagen aren't that much older than the characters they were playing, Andrews was 48--making him a 33 year-old at high school graduation!! And to make matters worse, Robert Simon played Hutton's father and he was only a year older than Andrews! I know you need to often suspend disbelief when you watch a film, but this was ridiculous! Additionally, Gordon Jones and Herbert Anderson were awfully long in the tooth to be playing such parts.

Now if you ignore the silly casting, the film itself is a nice little film, though certainly not one you should rush to see. While the film is set during this reunion, the underlying theme is life choices. Anderson has chosen to live life with few connections and he's lonely, while Hutton has stayed attached to her parents and longs to break free. Interesting and thought-provoking--but that's about it.

Answer: Because she crosses her eyes when she sings.

That said, yes: Betty Hutton shows a few of the wild tics from her earlier days. But she gives a restrained, believable performance here. She looks great. We like and care about her character.

It's the fifteenth reunion of her high school class. Her old pal Jean Hagen is in town for it. She's staying with Hutton's overly protective father and her glamorous mom, Laura La Plante. Wow: These two look like sisters as much as like mother and daughter! Who does she run into but high school football hero Dana Andrews. He's a little down-at-the-heels. He works but spends most of his time working on his boat.

Andrews is also good. Hagen isn't given enough to do, which is a shame: She was a wonderful, versatile actress.

Most of the other attendees at the reunion are vaguely sketched in and uninteresting played. But Hutton and Andrews make this a very entertaining movie.

It opens with a theme song I found cloying and unappealing. This came out right before rock 'n' roll. Bigger-budget movies continued to use light music like Henry Mancini for many years after this. But if this had come out even five years later, the treacly theme song might well have been junked in favor of something by Bill Haley and the Comets.

This is not to say that the music is all bad. The song Hutton sings at the school talent show (where she crosses her eyes) is fine. And she remembers Andrews as having come on to girls in school with a recording of a Chopin nocturne. We hear that Chopin, too.

I enjoyed this movie and recommend it, not as a cinematic masterpiece but as an interestingly cast bit of movie nostalgia.

There is a reason this was the LAST movie Betty Hutton ever made. All of the thing you like about "Betty Hutton Movies" are simply missing in this film. It was a resounding failure with her fans of the day.

Betty Hutton is one of my all time favorite actresses. She is one of the most adept comics of the golden Age of Movies. She can also sell a song like no body's business. There are some things she just cannot do-- unfortunately ALL of those things are present, in large quantities, in the movie.

This was the first movie Hutton made in four years. She looks much older than her actual age - which is no doubt why she has to speak the same trite line of dialogue, "I am only 33 years old", in FOUR separate scenes. Her energy level is very very low. As is her mood no matter what scene she is filming.

I love Betty Hutton, but there was clearly something wrong with her at this point in her life. She is totally missing the "spark" which her fans loved in her earlier movies. The only time the "Classic Hutton" was seen is when she sings a song at her High School Reunion.... and even this is obviously prerecorded and lipsynched.

As a "generic movie from the mid 1950s" this movie is a real stinkeroo. The plot is so stale you expect to see mold growing on it. There is not one new idea in the entire screenplay, it appears to be recycled from scenes from really bad TV dramas of the period.

There are reasons, however, to sit through this film. It was also Laura La Plant's last film. She was one of the most beautiful women of the silent era. She has a lackluster part as Hutton's Mother. La Plant is still beautiful in her early 50s. The Laura LaMont character from "singing in the Rain" is based on Laura La Plant. Interestingly, Jean Hagen, the actress who played the ditzy blond in the earlier movie, plays Hutton's sidekick in this movie.

The supporting cast also features some of the most adept scene stealers from the age of classic television. Irene Ryan (Beverly Hillbillies),Richard Decon (Dick Van Dyke Show), Herbert Anderson (the Father on"Dennis the Menace") all have small parts.

This movie is worth sitting through - as long as you understand ahead of time that it is not a "Betty Hutton Movie"