The film opens with Judge Hardy (Lewis Stone) talking to an older couple, the Volduzzis, that come to his chambers asking about a document that says their home will be foreclosed on. The husband is out of work and they do not have the money to pay the bank. The judge asks if they have any children who could help them out, and the woman answers with a suspicious "no". In other words, Judge Hardy thinks they do have a son or daughter, but don't want to admit it.
Andy Hardy (Mickey Rooney) has a car in bad need of repair and no money with which to fix it. The Judge tells Andy he'll give him five dollars if he can find out if the older couple has children and locate them. In the process of doing this Andy gets mixed up with three girls who each cause Andy his share of trouble. And then Andy's mother becomes seriously ill and he finds out what real worries are.
By this time the two stars of the Hardy family series are Lewis Stone and Mickey Rooney and the focus is usually their strong father/son relationship via their father/son talks over some mess Andy has gotten himself into. I found this entry to be one of the best of the series as it has some compelling drama balanced with the comedy.
The judge does have the patience of a saint when it comes to his son, who gets into terrible trouble with money when he doesn't read the entire flyer talking about a cash prize for the best essay about Alexander Hamilton, and goes out and spends the prize money ahead of time. This one did bring up a couple of issues about the law. The first is - Why is it always said that debtors could be put in jail in these 30s films when debtors prison was outlawed in the United States in 1833? The second legal issue is that of filial responsibility laws - the obligation to pay the debts of your parents. Prior to Medicare and Social Security these laws were on the books in many states but started being phased out in the 1960s or at least not enforced.
If you like the Hardy family series of films from MGM, I think you'll really like this one too. It's very much cinematic comfort food.
