In his autobiography, Mickey Rooney indicated he had high hopes for this movie but really hated what it turned out to be. He didn't say why, but I have to agree with his sentiments. It's a downer.
The Andy Hardy films of the '30s and '40s had an abundance of humor, or at least good humor. And a lot of the magic was the town of Carvel itself. It was an earlier version of TV's Mayberry -- a gentle, peaceful place that anyone would love to call home. In this movie, however, Carvel is a gloomy little backwater, left behind by postwar prosperity. You can't blame Andy for wanting to rescue it, even if his plan for accomplishing that is dubious.
If you're an Andy Hardy fan, you'll want to see this film out of a certain kind of loyalty. But don't expect it to be fun.
The Andy Hardy films of the '30s and '40s had an abundance of humor, or at least good humor. And a lot of the magic was the town of Carvel itself. It was an earlier version of TV's Mayberry -- a gentle, peaceful place that anyone would love to call home. In this movie, however, Carvel is a gloomy little backwater, left behind by postwar prosperity. You can't blame Andy for wanting to rescue it, even if his plan for accomplishing that is dubious.
If you're an Andy Hardy fan, you'll want to see this film out of a certain kind of loyalty. But don't expect it to be fun.