Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble

Andy Hardy is going to college! If you've never seen any of the Andy Hardy movies, this isn't a good one to start with, for the sole reason that it's a bit different from the other movies. Usually, Mickey Rooney is a goofy teenager, his older sister Cecilia Parker gets into boy trouble, his mother Fay Holden is ditzy and harmless, and his father Lewis Stone fixes everyone's problems. You've got to watch a few movies to get used to the family before checking this one out, and when you do, you'll be in for a wonderful, heartwarming treat. This installment ends at Thanksgiving, so feel free to check this out with your family at the start of the holiday season.

This is a fantastic addition to the Andy Hardy collection. Mickey is more mature as he leaves for college for the first time. If you're sick of seeing him as an open-mouthed lunatic, you'll love seeing the new side of him. Yes, he has to juggle a set of beautiful twins who make him jump through a couple of hoops, but he grows up immensely. The beautiful twins are Lyn and Lee Wilde, and the fact that Mickey is more interested in the mature Bonita Granville shows his own maturity. Bonita is perfectly cast, a former child star herself who shows the audience a new, calm version as well. She's extremely mature and classy without being snobby, and Mickey is given a great role model of how he should behave during college. Can you imagine how silly he could have become with hazing and fraternity games? Instead, he's introduced to Bonita on the train before school starts and we get to see the positive results.

Also on the train is Herbert Marshall, this volume's guest star. He has a bit of a mysterious persona, so rather than ruin his purpose in the movie, I'll simply give this recommendation: If you liked him in Girls' Dormitory, you'll like him in this.

Don't be surprised if you tear up during the classic man-to-man talks; since they're separated across the miles, Lewis Stone and Mickey Rooney give voice overs to their thoughts, imagining what the other would say. This is a great movie showing how a young person goes to college to prove him or herself independent, but then wishes Mom and Dad were there to help. It's scary going out on your own, and in some ways, this doesn't really feel like an Andy Hardy movie at all. It's very solemn, ending in a somewhat cliffhanger, and picking right up the next movie where it left off. WWII interrupted the series a bit, and it's sobering to know that Mickey joined the army and fought for his country after this movie.

Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble is a surprisingly long film starring Mickey Rooney as a kid going to college. The woman he likes (Bonita Granville) prefers Herbert Marshall, the college dean, to Mickey Rooney. And no wonder - Rooney is 24 in this film but looks and sounds about 14, and Granville is 21 and is styled to look like she's in her mid 30s. In the first scene I thought the "twist" was going to be that she was a professor rather than a student.

As a result, visually, a Marshall-Granville romance is significantly more credible than a Rooney-Granville one, even though Marshall was 54. (The fact that he's the college dean and she is a freshman student never appears to be the slightest issue. Nor the fact that he's sleeping on the berth above her during the longest train journey since the Orient Express got stuck in the snow with a corpse).

Had they axed the rather contrived side plot about two identical blonde twins rinsing Rooney for cash, they could have made a shorter and tighter movie. Plus all the family scenes with Rooney's father could easily have been swept away on the cutting room floor. But this film is part of a series of Hardy family films, which I suppose is why they're in there.

There is one very touching scene with a Brooklyn-born Chinese American doctor, in dialogue very compelling for the 1940s (and even so today) he introduces himself with: "Oh I see you're wondering about my nationality. I'm Chinese, and I have a charming disposition, until someone pulls that old crack about 'Confucius say'. At which I go completely berserk and bite little children. Now let's have a look at that throat." Plus ça change, eight decades later.

I would recommend this film as a curiosity, and to fans of any specific actors in it. The twins can apparently sing, so it's rather a shame we don't get more of that.

"Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble" begins with Andy on a train bound for Wainwright College, as he just graduated high school in the previous film. The filmmakers made a poor choice here, as way too much of the story takes place aboard the train....making for a rather slow portion of the film. The bottom line is that he meets a lovely girl (Bonita Granville) and her guardian (Herbert Marshall) and strikes up a friendship....and not knowing that the guardian already knows Andy...or at least knows of him. Additionally, he meets two lovely blondes...not realizing they are identical twins and thinking they are one very odd girl. There's more to it than this but overall the story, while enjoyable, drags and certainly could have been better. Worth seeing if you love the series but not exactly a high point in the series.

By the way, if you do watch it note the character Dr. Lee (Keye Luke)...he plays the same exact character in another long-running MGM series...the Dr. Kildare/Dr. Gillespie films.

Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble (1944)

** (out of 4)

Overlong, boring and overall disappointing fourteenth entry in the series finds Andy (Mickey Rooney) going to college at Wainright. On the train ride there he meets a woman (Bonita Granville) who is more mature than him and feels that Andy needs to grow up. Also on the train are a couple twins (Lee and Lyn Wilde) who Andy ends up helping. Back in Carver, the rest of the Hardy clan must try and come to terms with Andy being gone. At 107-minutes, this entry runs a good thirty-minutes too long but I'm going to guess part of the blame is on the pre-production. Originally this was meant to be a Rooney-less entry as the star was fighting in WWII so the studio did a screenplay without him. I'm going to guess that the stuff here dealing with the Hardy family on their own was from it and the stuff with Andy was added after he returned. The first thirty-minutes here were actually pretty good as Rooney and Granville had some nice chemistry and their relationship was an interesting one. I thought we also got some funny moments with the twins and a running joke of one constantly flirting with Andy while the other slaps him around; poor Andy not realizing they are twins. We even have another interesting subplot involving an older doctor (Herbert Marshall) and his questionable dealings with Granville. What doesn't work is when they finally arrive at college and things just get stretched out. The screenplay goes in so many directions that it's just downright silly, naive and in the end very boring. Things back in Carver aren't any better as the running joke comes from a Chinese doctor (Keye Luke) filling in for a sick doctor and everyone being shocked that he is a doctor due to his race. We see Judge (Lewis Stone) deal with a sore throat as well as a few more stories involving the broken down car that Andy started selling in the previous film, ANDY HARDY'S DOUBLE LIFE. It goes without saying that the entire cast is good and once again it was a real pleasure seeing Granville, best remembered for her Nancy Drew roles at Warner. The cast is certainly up to a high level but it's a shame the screenplay didn't try to do more.

Andy Hardy is at it again, and this film takes up right where the last one left off. Andy (Mickey Rooney) is on board a train heading toward Wainwright College, the place where his father (Lewis Stone) made a name for himself years before. Andy has sworn off girls to focus on his studies, that is until he learns that the school has gone co-ed. First he meets Kay (Bonita Granville), a beautiful girl whose maturity causes problems for Andy. Also, he meets a blonde who seems to hate him one moment and love him the next. This girl turns out to be two girls (Lee and Lyn Wilde), twins masquerading as one person. Besides problems with girls, Andy faces issues with an older man (Herbert Marshall) who is not who he seems to be. At home, Judge Hardy battles sickness and a new doctor (Keye Luke) while Mother Hardy (Fay Holden) misses her son.

This is a truly enjoyable film; nothing special happens, but it retains the upbeat attitude of the other films in the series. The cast is wonderful, though Rooney's personality seems to have waned a bit to show off the talents of the women in the cast, especially the twins. They're beautiful and funny, adding a welcome new dimension to the movie.

One strange part of the movie are the scenes with the doctor. He is a Chinese man, and everyone in the cast seems to think this is strange and frightening. However, Luke's character takes their stares well and proves himself to be an intelligent and clever member of the cast.