A Dupla Vida de Andy Hardy

Despite having graduated from high school three movies ago, Andy Hardy has still not started college. And he won't start it in this movie, either! That comes in the next entry, Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble. Here, though, we have Andy selling his jalopy to get the money to retrieve his convertible from storage in New York. The problem is the boys he's sold it to keep stalling on paying him and Andy's already written a check that will bounce if he can't get the money in time. Andy's also dealing with his usual drama with the opposite sex as well as trying to help his sister Marian and father Judge Hardy with their problems. Marian's still in love with her beau Jeff, the drunk driver. Judge Hardy is bending over backwards to prove a lumber company truck was responsible for an accident with a little boy (Robert Blake).

This one's notable for being the feature film debut of Esther Williams. Esther plays a psychology student who teams up with Ann Rutherford's Polly Benedict to teach Andy a lesson. Have no fear, Esther fans, she does get into a bathing suit for one scene. Gorgeous as always, Esther also showcases her romantic comedy potential. Her scenes with Mickey are some of the movie's highlights. This is also, sadly, the last of the Hardy films with Ann Rutherford. She left the series after this and never returned. Rutherford was one of my favorite parts of these movies. She was always adorable beyond words with great comic timing and wonderful chemistry with Mickey Rooney. Cecilia Parker gets more to do as Marian than she has in awhile. She was a larger presence in the early films in the series. If I'm to be honest, she was never a favorite part for me. She might appeal more to many viewers as Marian is a slightly more modern (i.e. flawed) character. This would be her last appearance in the Hardy series until the attempted reboot in the '50s. Lewis Stone is perfect, of course. Judge Hardy was often the highlight of these movies, even when Andy was the focus. Here Stone gets a little comedy to work with but the best parts of the movie are his father-son scenes with Mickey Rooney. For his part Rooney is excellent, handling both comedy and drama with ease. Fay Holden gets few scenes as Mrs. Hardy but makes the most of them, stealing the picture each time she's on screen.

This is one of the best Andy Hardy movies. A delightful mix of comedy and light drama. I smiled through the whole thing. I happen to love the Andy Hardy movies, corn and all. Your mileage may vary, though. If you're too cynical to enjoy these innocent movies with their sentimentalism and old-fashioned values, then spare yourself the trouble of watching. Also spare the rest of us as the world has enough snarky cynics as it is.

This is a fair installment of the Andy Hardy series. While it's very watchable, the story itself isn't especially strong. The bottom line is that Andy's problems (and he ALWAYS has problems) seem easy to solve but he manages to make them seem like Armageddon! The only particularly outstanding thing about the film is that it marks the debut of Esther Williams...and MGM often tried out new female talent in the Hardy films (such as Judy Garland, Ruth Hussey, Marsha Hunt and Lana Turner in some of their earliest films).

When the film begins, Andy is preparing to go off to college. The film EASILY could have simply gone from his high school graduation to him being in college but instead we see Andy struggle...mostly over things that really didn't amount to much. One problem is money some friends owe him (which EASILY could have been resolved), another involves two girls who conspire to make Andy think he's engaged to them and the final involves Judge Hardy's case involving a child (Bobby Blake) who is injured...and Andy steps in to help him with the case. All in all, Andy is a dope (as usual) and the film moderately entertaining.

Like most Andy Hardy movies, this film is fun, uplifting and entertaining. It's hard to watch it without smiling.

In this edition of the series, Andy, played by Mickey Rooney, is preparing to depart for college. Before he leaves, he encounters one of his typical adolescent crises as Polly Benedict(his ex-girlfriend) and her visiting friend decide to teach him a lesson. Ann Rutherford returns as Polly, and her friend is played by Esther Williams in her studio debut. The acting, writing and directing are all very good in this picture.

Although this type of movie might not appeal as much to modern audiences, it is still a good film worthy of your time, and if you enjoy Andy Hardy movies, I would certainly recommend that you see this one.

I agree with the other reviewers,Its not the best in the series,but still is fun to watch.If you have any partiality towards Andy Hardy,it's still a must see.It feels like a continuation from the previous movie "The Courtship Of Andy Hardy". There is Andy getting ready to go to college,plus another subplot involving one of the Judges court cases.And as usual, girl trouble.And what Girls they are!I am in love with both Esther Williams and Ann Rutherford in this one.Both are very beautiful,and the HD version of this flick I saw,brings their beauty more to life.I very much enjoyed it.Although in HD it can tell Andy has a cut lip in some scenes,and not in others.I mean it was as clear as day.I wonder what that was all about.Has to be some back story to that somewhere.

Before this one, the only previous Andy Hardy movie I'd watched in its entirety was Love Finds Andy Hardy-the first one to feature Judy Garland. The main reason I just watched this one was because since I've just watched most of the Our Gang comedies in chronological order, I had a yen to also watch many of the films outside the series that had at least one member in it as this one has Bobby "Mickey Gubitosi" Blake as a kid with a broken arm named Tooky. There's also some funny scenes involving Esther Williams in her film debut as a practicing psychiatrist who's a friend staying at Andy's on-off girlfriend Polly Benedict's house. Having just seen and liked Ann Rutherford in Whistling in Dixie, I liked her here as well. There are some touching scenes involving some talk between Andy and his father the judge. Mickey Rooney and Lewis Stone have a natural rapport which shouldn't be too surprising since they have been together in this series for so long in so many entries. So on that note, Andy Hardy's Double Life was a worthy entry for me.