André Hardy s'enflamme

It's spring and a young man's fancy turns to thoughts of love. We all know what that means for our favorite teenage heartthrob Andy Hardy. After Polly Benedict turns her attentions to a handsome naval officer, Andy is dejected. But that changes when he meets his pretty new drama teacher (Helen Gilbert) and falls head over heels for her. Meanwhile, two con men put one over on Judge Hardy. Nice continuity in this subplot involving the aqueduct land that figured prominently in an earlier Hardy film.

The cast is great, as they always were in these movies. This is one of the best in the series for Mickey Rooney to showcase his acting chops. Lovely Helen Gilbert is terrific. Director Woody Van Dyke films her with an almost angelic glow about her. The plot of the teenage boy with a crush on his teacher is hardly original, even for the time, but it's handled with a remarkable sensitivity and maturity. That should come as no surprise to fans of this great series from MGM. All too often these movies are dismissed as corny sentimentalism but they're actually well written and acted dramas with touches of comedy and, yes, homespun Americana that is extinct today. Oh and dig that old-timey lawnmower Lewis Stone uses in one scene. Love little windows into the past like that.

This was my first look at Mickey Rooney''s "Andy Hardy" and it turned out to be best of the four Hardy films I have viewed. This one is the sixth installment of this series, and this is one time I agree with the critics who label this as one of the best, if not the best, in the series.

Rooney looked a tiny bit old to be playing a high school junior, but I guess with his boyish looks and short stature, filmmakers thought he could get away with it.

The appeal of this movie is the old-fashioned goodness and innocence of the time period. You certainly don't see characters portrayed like this in movies anymore. Yes, everyone here has flaws but all of them are still nice people who pull for each other. It's also refreshing to see a father and his son confide in each other. Lewis Stone makes for a good father (and judge) figure. This is certainly different from modern Hollywood which usually portrays Dad as no good.

The teacher whom Andy falls for is played by someone whom I am not familiar with, but was very impressed with: Helen Gilbert. She is another of these nice, pretty and wholesome people with has a wonderful way about her. She is the kind of strong moralled woman seen in nice movies of the 1930s and 1940s.

Yeah, it's a lightweight piece of fluff but it's so refreshingly innocent and different from today most stuff seen on film - in any era, frankly - that I recommend you give it look if this sort of thing appeals to you. I don't promise a memorable, exciting or profound film.....just an hour or two of going back in time and feeling good about people.

This installment in the Hardy Family series finds Andy perturbed about the strapping naval officer who is lavishing attention on Polly Benedict. But his feelings are assuaged when a beautiful new teacher takes over the drama class. She inspires his artistic tendencies and arouses romantic stirrings in Andy. Meanwhile, Judge Hardy participates in a get-rich scheme that involves a plot of land he owns.

Teacher Rose Meredith is played wonderfully by Helen Gilbert. It is easy to understand Andy's feelings for his muse/crush.

The banter between Andy and sister Marian (Cecilia Parker) is at its best in this film. They could have played up their humorous relationship more in other films.

The script does a good job with the sensitive subject of Andy's love for a teacher. That serious story is balanced well by the humorous parts of the film.

It's springtime. Judge Hardy gets tricked into a crooked business deal. Polly continues to try making Andy Hardy (Mickey Rooney) jealous. Instead, he falls for his new drama teacher, Miss Rose Meredith.

It's the seventh film in the Hardy family franchise. This one is mostly an Andy Hardy film. The Judge's story is almost secondary and Marian gets folded into it. I don't really care about that story. The rest of the family becomes support characters. It's Andy and his teenage hormones. I would have made Polly much more jealous. This is a silly puppy love crush but the movie loses me when Andy starts planning their future together. I know people got married much younger back in the day and Rose is young enough to not look that creepy. Andy is crushing too hard. I just want more distancing with the crush and do more with Polly. It's a little awkward. The twist ending is an excuse to let Andy off the hook. Rose could have mentioned the surprise a lot sooner.

I think the title says it all. Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever occurs when after seeing his on and off girl friend Ann Rutherford entertaining a young naval officer, Mickey Rooney gets down in the dumps. But he perks up after seeing the new drama teacher Helen Gilbert and she's got a project for the kids at Carvel High School. She wants to do an original play and the one she picks was written by the love struck Andy Hardy.

The older generation of the Hardys has its problems too. Of all people Lewis Stone gets himself conned by a pair of grifters, Stanley Andrews and Byron Foulger, who tell him that some land he owns has a nice deposit of bauxite on it from which aluminum comes. Using the Judge's well known reputation for integrity to work for them, they fleece a lot of potential investors.

Of course business and financial problems do kind of sort themselves out for both generations of Hardy men. They always do.

Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever is a better than average feature from the series. It has the presence of Woody Van Dyke who usually was assigned to A list films for MGM and he did right by his cast. I guess Louis B. Mayer must have had nothing else for him at the moment and the moguls never liked for their contract people to be idle.

Whatever it was, it worked.