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Andy Hardy Meets Debutante
Carvel's number one teenage womanizer returns for another round of using and abusing the girls in his life in a rather drab entry in the franchise called Andy Hardy Meets Debutante.
The 1940 film is the 9th film in the franchise about the perpetually horny small town teenager and his constant troubles with the opposite sex. In this entry, Andy has decided to break things off with steady girl Polly (Ann Rutherford) because he's become obsessed with a glamorous New York debutante named Daphne Fowler and starts bragging to anyone listening that Daphne has a crush on him as well. As staff members of the school newspaper, Polly and Andy's best friend Beezy insist that Andy get a picture of him and Daphne together for the next issue of the paper, which Andy says is impossible because she's in New York and cant get there. Then Judge Hardy (Lewis Stone) comes home and announces he has to take a business trip to New York and is taking the whole family with him. Upon arrival, Andy is reunited with another former gal pal, Betsy Booth (Judy Garland) who has never gotten over Andy.
This is the second of these films that I've seen and, honestly, I chose this one because of Garland, but I'm noticing a lot of patterns already regarding this Andy Hardy character. It seems like a harsh term for a teenager, but Andy really is a womanizer. He seems to chase different women all over Carvel and anywhere else he goes and forgets about his alleged commitment to Polly, who for some reason, seems to forgive him at the end of every film. And don't even get me started about the way he uses poor Betsy Booth. It's the sweetest and healthiest relationship Andy has had and the girl adores him and he just doesn't see it or doesn't care. He only seems interested in the flavor of the month and he also thinks he's the only person on the planet with troubles. At one point in this film, he actually compared his troubles to Job...seriously?
There was an effective scene here and there...Rooney was quite good in that scene where he's trying to get out of paying his bill at that fancy restaurant and the scene with Mickey and Judy in the hansom cab was just lovely. It's difficult separating Andy from Rooney sometimes because Rooney is so good in the role but the character is such a jerk sometimes.
But the film is always a little brighter when Mickey and Judy share the screen, and Judy's two solos are of course worth the price of admission. Lewis Stone is, as always, beautifully understated as Judge Hardy. There's a scene where Andy says something to his dad that would have earned a slap upside the head from most Dads, but Judge Hardy just wants to help his troubled son, who doesn't always deserve the help. Maybe I should be watching these films in the order they were made because I'm beginning to ponder the appeal of this kid Andy Hardy.
Carvel's number one teenage womanizer returns for another round of using and abusing the girls in his life in a rather drab entry in the franchise called Andy Hardy Meets Debutante.
The 1940 film is the 9th film in the franchise about the perpetually horny small town teenager and his constant troubles with the opposite sex. In this entry, Andy has decided to break things off with steady girl Polly (Ann Rutherford) because he's become obsessed with a glamorous New York debutante named Daphne Fowler and starts bragging to anyone listening that Daphne has a crush on him as well. As staff members of the school newspaper, Polly and Andy's best friend Beezy insist that Andy get a picture of him and Daphne together for the next issue of the paper, which Andy says is impossible because she's in New York and cant get there. Then Judge Hardy (Lewis Stone) comes home and announces he has to take a business trip to New York and is taking the whole family with him. Upon arrival, Andy is reunited with another former gal pal, Betsy Booth (Judy Garland) who has never gotten over Andy.
This is the second of these films that I've seen and, honestly, I chose this one because of Garland, but I'm noticing a lot of patterns already regarding this Andy Hardy character. It seems like a harsh term for a teenager, but Andy really is a womanizer. He seems to chase different women all over Carvel and anywhere else he goes and forgets about his alleged commitment to Polly, who for some reason, seems to forgive him at the end of every film. And don't even get me started about the way he uses poor Betsy Booth. It's the sweetest and healthiest relationship Andy has had and the girl adores him and he just doesn't see it or doesn't care. He only seems interested in the flavor of the month and he also thinks he's the only person on the planet with troubles. At one point in this film, he actually compared his troubles to Job...seriously?
There was an effective scene here and there...Rooney was quite good in that scene where he's trying to get out of paying his bill at that fancy restaurant and the scene with Mickey and Judy in the hansom cab was just lovely. It's difficult separating Andy from Rooney sometimes because Rooney is so good in the role but the character is such a jerk sometimes.
But the film is always a little brighter when Mickey and Judy share the screen, and Judy's two solos are of course worth the price of admission. Lewis Stone is, as always, beautifully understated as Judge Hardy. There's a scene where Andy says something to his dad that would have earned a slap upside the head from most Dads, but Judge Hardy just wants to help his troubled son, who doesn't always deserve the help. Maybe I should be watching these films in the order they were made because I'm beginning to ponder the appeal of this kid Andy Hardy.