If "Thoroughbreds Don't Cry" was the seed that planted the idea of a Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland pairing in Louis B. Mayer's mind, then this film becomes the root that puts it all together. It is a likable, if sheer fantasy, story of teen love during the post-depression and pre-war days of America. Louis B. Mayer thought that the American family was the glue that would keep us free, and if he wasn't exactly Judge James Hardy in real life, he certainly tried to emulate him in the minds of his stable of MGM stars. In the case of the three young stars here (Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney and Lana Turner), he was a major factor in their growing up period, good or bad.
The story covers Andy's dilemma of not having a date for the Christmas dance after his girlfriend Polly (Ann Rutherford) announced that she would be away for the holidays. One of his friends asks him to take his girlfriend (Lana Turner) to the dance since he is being taken away by his family as well, and Andy agrees. Then, there is the visitor next door: the younger but somewhat more level-headed Betsy Booth (Judy Garland) who has an instant crush on Andy. She cries out "No glamour!" about herself when he politely rebuffs her, but later saves the day when Polly returns, finds out Andy was taking out another girl, and he ends up at the dance anyway thanks to Betsy. Garland gets to sing three songs, two of which are at the dance, and Andy is surprised to find the girl he considered a baby was not that at all. And when Betsy is asked to lead the "Grand March", she asks Mickey to accompany her, making him realize that she is more than he gave her credit for.
This film focuses more on Rooney and Garland than the rest of the family. Sure, Ma Hardy is away because her mother is ill, so the judge hires a cook (Marie Blake, aka Blossom Rock, aka Grandma Addams) to save the family from sister Cecilia Parker's cooking. Fay Holden makes a token appearance at the beginning and end of the film, and for this segment of the series, it is Betsy Ross Clarke, not Sara Haden, who plays Aunt Millie. Rooney and Parker do their typical share of sibling arguing, but it's all really over nothing and seems silly in retrospect. But when you've got two future superstars like Garland and Turner to watch, it's all harmless fun. Sure, this series, like "The Brady Bunch", isn't like any family, so young audiences of today might consider it ridiculous.
It's also hard to watch Garland sing the sad "In Between", since she had to belittle herself in practically every film she did with Rooney by singing a number over her lack of glamour, inability to land a man, or how ugly she was in comparison to the other ladies around her. No wonder she had such insecurities, she has to shout them to the world up on the silver screen! Fortunately, the character is a lot less frenetic than her character in "Thoroughbreds Don't Cry", so she's a bit more real. Rooney is his usual bombastic self but the character is hard not to like, just in minimal doses. Three or more Andy Hardy films in one sitting can bring on a tooth ache! Turner is only in the film for several scenes, including one with Garland, but within two years, she would find the look that would lead her to super-stardom by the beginning of the war.
The story covers Andy's dilemma of not having a date for the Christmas dance after his girlfriend Polly (Ann Rutherford) announced that she would be away for the holidays. One of his friends asks him to take his girlfriend (Lana Turner) to the dance since he is being taken away by his family as well, and Andy agrees. Then, there is the visitor next door: the younger but somewhat more level-headed Betsy Booth (Judy Garland) who has an instant crush on Andy. She cries out "No glamour!" about herself when he politely rebuffs her, but later saves the day when Polly returns, finds out Andy was taking out another girl, and he ends up at the dance anyway thanks to Betsy. Garland gets to sing three songs, two of which are at the dance, and Andy is surprised to find the girl he considered a baby was not that at all. And when Betsy is asked to lead the "Grand March", she asks Mickey to accompany her, making him realize that she is more than he gave her credit for.
This film focuses more on Rooney and Garland than the rest of the family. Sure, Ma Hardy is away because her mother is ill, so the judge hires a cook (Marie Blake, aka Blossom Rock, aka Grandma Addams) to save the family from sister Cecilia Parker's cooking. Fay Holden makes a token appearance at the beginning and end of the film, and for this segment of the series, it is Betsy Ross Clarke, not Sara Haden, who plays Aunt Millie. Rooney and Parker do their typical share of sibling arguing, but it's all really over nothing and seems silly in retrospect. But when you've got two future superstars like Garland and Turner to watch, it's all harmless fun. Sure, this series, like "The Brady Bunch", isn't like any family, so young audiences of today might consider it ridiculous.
It's also hard to watch Garland sing the sad "In Between", since she had to belittle herself in practically every film she did with Rooney by singing a number over her lack of glamour, inability to land a man, or how ugly she was in comparison to the other ladies around her. No wonder she had such insecurities, she has to shout them to the world up on the silver screen! Fortunately, the character is a lot less frenetic than her character in "Thoroughbreds Don't Cry", so she's a bit more real. Rooney is his usual bombastic self but the character is hard not to like, just in minimal doses. Three or more Andy Hardy films in one sitting can bring on a tooth ache! Turner is only in the film for several scenes, including one with Garland, but within two years, she would find the look that would lead her to super-stardom by the beginning of the war.