Hoosier Schoolboy

Mickey Rooney was one of the most capable actors Hollywood was lucky enough to have. Ever. But he too often needed a stronger director to hold him back.

Some of his best performances were given during his younger years. He could just walk into a scene and, even without saying a word, steal it all.

Unfortunately, too often he was over the top, as in "Boys Town," where his character's little shadow has been struck by a car on the highway. Mick's character picks up the injured boy and very dramatically shakes the youngster.

Well, if the boy had managed to survive the auto's strike, being handled like that would have killed him.

Bad moves by the director and by Rooney.

In "Hoosier Schoolboy," however, he and director William Nigh create a perfect picture of a strong character thwarted and defensive because of a drunken father who is constantly derided by the rest of the town.

The script is slightly flawed in that certain characters change too quickly. Maybe the barely one-hour running time didn't give the company enough time for all characters to become fully fleshed out.

"Jack," played by the unknown-to-me Frank Shields, of a marvelous voice, seems believable, as written and as played, the spoiled rich kid who grows and matures because of his interest in the new teacher.

Anne Nagel plays the teacher as a strong and caring person and she too is quite believable. (She was always so completely in control of her character, so perfectly at ease in front of a camera, I wonder why she is not better known today.)

In fact, all the performances are as close to perfect as one could want or expect, and the directing, photography, and editing are too. Only that small script problem mars this excellent movie.

These stories of economic conflict coupled with a veteran's mental problems from the war are still relevant. Unfortunately, as long as we have governments and their component politicians and bureaucrats, these kinds of conflicts and problems will probably always be with us. Needlessly.

I foolishly think mostly of Westerns when I think of Monogram, but "Hoosier Schoolboy," other than its pointless generic title, is a superlative example of small-budget drama,

I can't recommend it strongly enough. And it's available for viewing at YouTube. I hope you go watch.

"Hoosier Schoolboy" is a film most notable because it stars Mickey Rooney. Although he would soon gain great fame with MGM, this was made for the ultra-low budget studio Monogram--and it shows. While the film has some very nice elements, it also seems incredibly rushed and falls a bit flat. Even for a B-movie, it's a bit underwhelming--though some of the acting is nice.

The film has several different plots--and they all center on some crappy little town. One plot involves the owner of the dairy. He's a real jerk and has decided to put the local dairy farmers out of business-- even if it costs him a fortune. Eventually his son joins forces with the farmers, as he's come to realize that his father is a jerk. There's also the new school teacher who has taken a real liking to a kid that others on the faculty think is bad news (Rooney) and she reforms him. And, then there's the father of the boy--a drunk who won the Medal of Honor. And, there's the bratty son of the dairy owner...in fact, there are SO many plots that they never really seem resolved when the movie very abruptly ends. It's a shame, as if the film was about 30 minutes longer, this all could have worked out well--as is, the film, at the end, was frustrating despite having a lot of good story elements and acting.

This is a decent low-budget drama with some interesting themes, and it also includes solid performances by Anne Nagel and a young Mickey Rooney. It ties together several plot lines in a way that works rather well, and although most of the characters remain one-dimensional, the overall situation is interesting enough to hold your attention.

Nagel plays a strong but sensitive schoolteacher who arrives in a new town just as feelings are running high due to a strike by the local dairy farmers, who aren't getting the price they want for their cows' milk. Rooney plays one of the students, a cynical outcast with a father who is a shell-shocked former war hero. These issues would probably have struck a chord in a 1930s audience, and to some degree the ideas are still of some relevance now.

The story that develops moves a little unevenly, and eventually it gets a little predictable, which keeps it from being a better movie overall. But it never loses your interest, and it's not bad at all for such an inexpensively-made feature.

Mickey Rooney headlines this Monogram quickie made just months after filming the first entry in his wildly successful Andy Hardy series at MGM (A Family Affair), a showcase that would make him Hollywood's #1 box office draw. Don't be fooled by Hoosier's low-budget feel for it's a pleaser, Mick playing his trademark troubled teen who, if Shockey can catch a break, will turn a new leaf. The divine Anne Nagel whose passing star should've risen as high as Rooney's, impresses as the town's new teacher, arriving during a labor dispute and a template of sorts for Tracy's Father Flanagan, while her romantic interest is cast by tennis star, Frank Shields. The film is noteworthy for 1) how love inspires, and 2) an early treatment of PTSD exhibited by Shockey's dad (Pawley) after heroics earning him the Medal of Honor. Short (62m) but engaging and illuminating, yet, a movie mostly forgotten (3/4).

Nne Nagel takes up her post as history teacher in the school to find a town divided by a strike. The local dairy farmers can't get a fair price for their milk from dairy owner William Gould. He's losing money trucking in milk from other locations. As the strikers start to grow violent, Miss Nagel has to deal with Gould's well-meaning son, Frank Shields Sr. She also has a problem student in Mickey Rooney. His father, Edward Pawley, won the Congressional Medal of Honor in the Great War, but has turned into a layabout drunk. Rooney uses his fists to quiet snickering about his old man.

Director William Nigh has to contend with a script that is telegraphic in its story telling. Nonetheless, he gets some fine performances, including that of Rooney, who would play a more extreme redemptive character in the following year's Boys Town Between the supporting players, including Harry Hayden, Doris Rankin, and Fred Kelsey -- for once, not playing a cop! -- there are fine moments in this movie that more than make up for its brusque plotting.