Johnny Trouble

Ethel Barrymore was a very well respected and classy actress from a family of well respected and beloved actors. In light of this, I found it rather sad to see her starring in "Johnny Trouble"...especially since it was her last film. Why? Because the writing and Stuart Whitman's acting were pretty limp at best.

The story begins with a college trying to kick everyone out of an apartment house so it can be converted into a dorm for male students. However, Katherine Chandler (Barrymore) isn't about to leave. After all, she owns her apartment and they cannot legally force her to move, so they eventually decide to let her live there...and the students begin calling this nice old lady 'Nana'.. One of the students, Johnny Chandler (Whitman), however, is a problematic jerk who seems mad at the world and self-destructive. Katherine convinces herself, with almost no evidence, that the guy is her grandson...the child of her estranged son whose current whereabouts are unknown.

So why was I so unimpressed by this one? Well, mostly it was Whitman's character...he seemed unreal and overacted. His brooding jerk act was anything but subtle...as was him inexplicable transformation at the end. While the film has a few interesting moments, overall it's a miss and probably not worth your trouble.

By the way, about the only positive about the movie is that Jack Larson (Jimmy Olsen from "The Adventures of Superman") met his life partner, James Bridges, on the set as both played students in the film.