If you thought that movies made from beloved TV series was something new, you haven't done your research. Our Miss Brooks (which actually began as a radio program in 1948!) was such a television show from 1952-1956, and this movie features many of the same actor- characters including Eve Arden in the title role. Others include a pre-'Lucy' Gale Gordon as the school's ex-military principal, Robert Rockwell as a fellow teacher, Jane Morgan as Brooks's landlord, Crenna (who affects the voice of a teenage boy going through puberty), Joseph Kearns as Mr. Stone, Marjorie Bennett (uncredited) as Rockwell's mother, and a handful of others in supporting roles. Two others not from the TV series that play key roles in the movie are Don Porter, as a wealthy businessman, and Nick Adams as his neglected son who's also one of Brooks's students.
The story, dialogue and action are standard B-movie comedy; in fact, it's the only 'big screen' feature from director Al Lewis, who'd directed 103 of the 130 Our Miss Brooks TV episodes. Lewis, who was a writer on nearly hundred of those episodes, co-wrote this movie's screenplay with Joseph Quillan, who was involved in writing all of the television episodes.
Constance 'Connie' Brooks (Arden) is a new English teacher at Madison High School, where she meets a new biology teacher Phillip 'Phil' Boynton (Rockwell). Middle-aged Brooks, determined not to be a spinster, endures a very long "going steady" relationship with Boynton during which nothing happens - they go to the zoo together - until she starts tutoring Gary (Adams), the son of too busy rich newspaper publisher and TV station owner Lawrence Nolan (Porter).
Nolan had 'summoned' Brooks to explain why his smart son was failing her class and (after perhaps the best repartee in the movie - a witty, wisecracking sparring between the two) Brooks agrees to tutor Gary while refusing to accept monetary compensation. Nolan begins to take more of an interest in his son, and then Miss Brooks, who doesn't completely deflect the attention even though her can't-keep- a- secret landlord, Mrs. Margaret Davis (Morgan), had tipped that Boynton was close to popping the question, but needed a higher paying position to be able to do so.
There's an integral side story that figures in this triangle involving the unloved by-the-book Principal Conklin (Gordon), and his decision to run for office against the even more overbearing school board chair Mr. Stone (Kearns). Conklin hints to Brooks that Boynton could be promoted to back-fill his position in order get her to be his campaign manager. She in turn gets assistance from the eager-to-please-her Nolan, who has his son write fictional fluff pieces to support Conklin's candidacy.
The final wrench-in-the-works involves a misunderstanding regarding the purchase of a white-picket fenced house around the corner from Mrs. Davis that Brooks had been eyeing for her future, and Boynton's interest in it.
The story, dialogue and action are standard B-movie comedy; in fact, it's the only 'big screen' feature from director Al Lewis, who'd directed 103 of the 130 Our Miss Brooks TV episodes. Lewis, who was a writer on nearly hundred of those episodes, co-wrote this movie's screenplay with Joseph Quillan, who was involved in writing all of the television episodes.
Constance 'Connie' Brooks (Arden) is a new English teacher at Madison High School, where she meets a new biology teacher Phillip 'Phil' Boynton (Rockwell). Middle-aged Brooks, determined not to be a spinster, endures a very long "going steady" relationship with Boynton during which nothing happens - they go to the zoo together - until she starts tutoring Gary (Adams), the son of too busy rich newspaper publisher and TV station owner Lawrence Nolan (Porter).
Nolan had 'summoned' Brooks to explain why his smart son was failing her class and (after perhaps the best repartee in the movie - a witty, wisecracking sparring between the two) Brooks agrees to tutor Gary while refusing to accept monetary compensation. Nolan begins to take more of an interest in his son, and then Miss Brooks, who doesn't completely deflect the attention even though her can't-keep- a- secret landlord, Mrs. Margaret Davis (Morgan), had tipped that Boynton was close to popping the question, but needed a higher paying position to be able to do so.
There's an integral side story that figures in this triangle involving the unloved by-the-book Principal Conklin (Gordon), and his decision to run for office against the even more overbearing school board chair Mr. Stone (Kearns). Conklin hints to Brooks that Boynton could be promoted to back-fill his position in order get her to be his campaign manager. She in turn gets assistance from the eager-to-please-her Nolan, who has his son write fictional fluff pieces to support Conklin's candidacy.
The final wrench-in-the-works involves a misunderstanding regarding the purchase of a white-picket fenced house around the corner from Mrs. Davis that Brooks had been eyeing for her future, and Boynton's interest in it.