When I requested "Our Miss Brooks" through the local library system, I thought I'd be getting a couple episodes of the TV series, which is actually what I wanted to see. I didn't know about the follow up feature film, and watching it, I was a bit mystified as to why they started things up from scratch with all of the characters just getting to know each other, as Miss Brooks (Eve Arden) makes her first appearance at Madison High School. I thought about that for a while, and it came to me that the same was done for other fictional TV characters like Superman, where the origin story is given special treatment in a feature film. Still, it caught me off guard not being prepared, leading to more than a handful of huh? moments.
Yet the characters were all there, but with all of the students now four years older since the series started, it looked a bit more like a college campus than a high school setting. I couldn't help thinking how much Eve Arden resembled Lucille Ball, and how little Richard Crenna's Walter Denton resembled Colonel Trautman from the 'Rambo' series of the 1980's. Gale Gordon of course never seems to change, no matter what he's doing, from Miss Brooks right on up to "The Lucy Show". Say, I wonder if he ever got mixed up?
The character of Miss Constance Brooks is certainly dated; I particularly felt like cringing every time she got into one of those google-ey eyed modes staring at Mr. Boynton (Robert Rockwell). That certainly wouldn't fly today, even if she brought forward the same independent character traits as a responsible teacher that she did here. The Nolan father/son sub-plot was a good one to bring that out, even if part of the reason for it was to introduce another possible romantic entanglement.
Anyway, with that all said and done, I still want to get hold of some of the TV episodes to see Connie help Walter out of his endless series of scrapes, especially the ones involving Principal Conklin. If memory serves me, those provided some funny and entertaining moments during TV's Golden Age, sadly almost forgotten a half century later.
Yet the characters were all there, but with all of the students now four years older since the series started, it looked a bit more like a college campus than a high school setting. I couldn't help thinking how much Eve Arden resembled Lucille Ball, and how little Richard Crenna's Walter Denton resembled Colonel Trautman from the 'Rambo' series of the 1980's. Gale Gordon of course never seems to change, no matter what he's doing, from Miss Brooks right on up to "The Lucy Show". Say, I wonder if he ever got mixed up?
The character of Miss Constance Brooks is certainly dated; I particularly felt like cringing every time she got into one of those google-ey eyed modes staring at Mr. Boynton (Robert Rockwell). That certainly wouldn't fly today, even if she brought forward the same independent character traits as a responsible teacher that she did here. The Nolan father/son sub-plot was a good one to bring that out, even if part of the reason for it was to introduce another possible romantic entanglement.
Anyway, with that all said and done, I still want to get hold of some of the TV episodes to see Connie help Walter out of his endless series of scrapes, especially the ones involving Principal Conklin. If memory serves me, those provided some funny and entertaining moments during TV's Golden Age, sadly almost forgotten a half century later.