In the sixth Andy Hardy movie, Mickey Rooney is a real pain in the neck. He completely acts his age, so you'd better get ready for a bunch of sixteen-year-old antics. The patriarch of the family, Lewis Stone, finds out that he's potentially the heir to a two-million-dollar fortune, and when the entire family goes to Detroit to explore the family tree, everyone gets into trouble.
Calling all Sara Haden fans: Aunt Millie finally gets a romance! She has an impassioned speech at the start of the movie, lamenting her role as the spinster aunt in the family and society, and she meets a respectable, considerate, handsome man on the airplane. Later on, she gives herself a makeover and appears at dinner with her hair done up and in a beautiful gown. Fay Holden bursts into tears, and Mickey says, "Don't cry! Aunt Millie will make herself ugly again if you want her to!" It's insulting, but classically blunt in Andy Hardy fashion. Mickey doesn't limit his insults to his aunt, and says to his father, "You're old; you couldn't change even if you wanted to," as Lewis Stone struggles to keep his hurt feelings to himself. Poor Judge Hardy; he has to take so much from his son. In every movie, he has to juggle everyone else's problems as well as his own, and he has at least one "man-to-man" talk with Mickey. Usually these famous talks are about girls or financial problems, and this movie proves to be no exception. He has an unending amount of patience; I've seen almost every one of the Andy Hardy movies, and he has yet to lose his temper.
Mickey and Cecilia Parker both get into trouble wanting to fit in with the upper crust. They buy things they can't afford and make friends with the wrong crowd. "Summon the butler!" Mama Hardy declares. Right on cue, Halliwell Hobbes introduces himself as the butler. How fitting, since he made a career of playing dozens of butlers in old movies! Fay Holden is the only one who doesn't let the money go to her head. She doesn't buy fancy clothes and still concerns herself with the daily cooking for her family. She and Lewis have a couple of cute scenes together, reminding the young folks in the audience that their parents were once young and in love, too.
All in all, this movie isn't that great. Mickey's ridiculous antics and manipulative, bratty personality are tough to take. I did like Sara Haden's part, and Lewis Stone's model father role is at his best. He's known as Honest Judge Hardy for a reason. Keep in mind, Sara Haden's best known for her role as the spinster aunt in these movies, so don't get your hopes up. If you do like her, though, this is the movie that gives her the biggest part, and I'm sure she appreciated getting such a big chunk of the story.
