Are You Ready for Marriage?

Two slightly dim-witted college kids who want to get married, but have been rebuffed by their parents, seek advice from a marriage counselor named Mr. Hall (Reuben Hill?). Mr. Hall advises them to take time to get to know each other, using a variety of silly props and a host of pseudo-scientific graphs ("Chance for Happiness" vs. "Length of Engagement", "Overall Grooviness of Feelings" vs. "Shoe Size", etc.). These graphs are typical of the type used by social scientists to make their mushy, goopy theories seem like hard science.

This short is a likably goofy example of the kind of instructional films made during the early '50's for classroom use. Mr. Hall really does, by the way, use the word "BOINNGG!!" to describe the physical attraction felt by young men and women for each other. Hmmmm...

Don't blame me for that phrase. I lifted it from the movie.

A college student and his high school gal want to get married, but her parents don't approve, and when they approach Reuben Hill, who is said to be able to get them married, he talks at length about the need for this that and the other thing. It's all very sensible, which is just the boring sort of thing that two young kids are not going to be interested in hearing. Of course, here they do, because this in a Coronet educational film, and so everyone is very reasonable, and all problems soluble at the first attempt.

For some reason, while all the other actors are identified, the woman playing "Sue" is not.

I liked it. Made a lot of sense. What more do I need to say?

Clearly this is one of those "how to behave" short films from the 1950, when it was fashionable to show teenagers the "proper" way to behave, ie. how to drive, how to dress. black and white, of course. picture quality is pretty good, but the sound is terrible. This one was part of the mystery science 3K collection. Haven't seen this one on Turner Classics. Stars Larry and Sue, as the dating couple who think they are ready to get married. Funny... in the credits, we see the actor listed for Larry, but NOT for Sue. hmmm.. kind of odd. They go talk to Mr. Hall for advice, played by Reuben Hill... .who happens to be the "consultant" on this film. is he a licensed psychiatrist, or just an interested party? no-one knows. skip this one... campy, but Boringgggggg.... Directed by Gil Altschul, who also directed "Why we respect the Law." SNOOZERS..

Sue and Larry kiss on her front porch and he asks her to marry him. He has two years of university and she's still finishing high school. Her parents do not approve. He wants to elope. They go to the local church for some advice from marriage counselor Mr. Hall. He has a "Cupid's Checklist".

It's a Coronet instructional film. I'm guessing that this doesn't want to pick a denomination, and made Mr. Hall non-specific. This is a battle between cringe-worthy and laughable. When Mr. Hall let go of the elastic band, I really laughed. The actors' reactions are hilariously bad. This is a lot of the old time marriage advice.