Tetrady not as good as all the hype

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

JohnHowardReid An MGM Picture, copyright 18 July 1939 by Loew's Inc. Release dates: 21 July 1939 (U.S.A.); 25 December 1939 (U.K.). New York opening at the Capitol, 18 July 1939. Australian release: 12 October 1939. 9 reels. 7,683 feet. 85 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Andy falls for the new schoolteacher.NOTES: Number seven in the 16-picture "Hardy Family" series which garnered a special retrospective award in 1943 "for representing the American Way of Life".Film debut of Helen Gilbert. An extraordinarily lovely girl, Helen Gilbert was a cellist in the M-G-M studio orchestra and had recorded many a soundtrack before being discovered by producer Lou Ostrow. Although she never hit the big time, she did make more than a dozen movies over the years, including that staple of Saturday matinees, "Florian" (1940).COMMENT: This one starts as do most of the others, with Judge Hardy handing down some cracker-barrel wisdom in his court room. Then, as with the others, we go behind to the judge's chambers. There, the judge decides to pay some of his bills. The first on the list is the rates and taxes on some property the judge owns. The judge has no sooner signed the check then who should walk in the door, but two gentlemen interested in buying said property. This ridiculous start warns us straightaway that this entry is certainly not one of the better efforts in the series, although the presence of Helen Gilbert lends it a curiosity value and Lester White's photography is unusually attractive. But, as often happened, Lewis Stone is permitted to over-act in a most garrulous fashion. In fact, there is far too much talk altogether in the script. It is worth noting that George B. Seitz made such a hash of this one, MGM was not game to release it and Louis B. Mayor had to call in his favorite director, W.S. Van Dyke, who was asked to "doctor" it up. Van Dyke was not willing, but Mayor pleaded with him to take the assignment as a personal favor. All the same, Van Dyke's efforts have not been particularly successful, although he has made a game attempt to liven up the corny script with tracking shots and pans and much more stylish compositions than rabid Hardy fans are used to. And for once, production values are also top-notch, thanks to Van Dyke's influence with Louis B. Mayer.

tavm As before, once again Andy and Polly are on the outs after the beginning sequence, Andy falls for someone else, and then he comes back to Polly at the end. Previously, they were other teenage girls but here, it's a drama teacher who's several years older. Meanwhile, his dad gets involved in a deal that doesn't turn out well. I'll stop there and just mention that while there's some funny scenes, there's also some drama concerning Andy's crush on this teacher which is handled sensitively. (None of this Mary Kay Letourneau stuff here!) Mickey Rooney truly shines in portraying Andy as hurt when the pain comes. The man-to-man talks he does with Lewis Stone are even more compelling than before as a result. And the actress-Helen Gilbert-who played the teacher certainly has charms aplenty. In summary, Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever is another worthy series entry. P.S. This was the first entry to be directed by someone other than George B. Seitz. W.S. Van Dyke II did the duties here.

utgard14 It's spring and a young man's fancy turns to thoughts of love. We all know what that means for our favorite teenage heartthrob Andy Hardy. After Polly Benedict turns her attentions to a handsome naval officer, Andy is dejected. But that changes when he meets his pretty new drama teacher (Helen Gilbert) and falls head over heels for her. Meanwhile, two con men put one over on Judge Hardy. Nice continuity in this subplot involving the aqueduct land that figured prominently in an earlier Hardy film.The cast is great, as they always were in these movies. This is one of the best in the series for Mickey Rooney to showcase his acting chops. Lovely Helen Gilbert is terrific. Director Woody Van Dyke films her with an almost angelic glow about her. The plot of the teenage boy with a crush on his teacher is hardly original, even for the time, but it's handled with a remarkable sensitivity and maturity. That should come as no surprise to fans of this great series from MGM. All too often these movies are dismissed as corny sentimentalism but they're actually well written and acted dramas with touches of comedy and, yes, homespun Americana that is extinct today. Oh and dig that old-timey lawnmower Lewis Stone uses in one scene. Love little windows into the past like that.

bkoganbing I think the title says it all. Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever occurs when after seeing his on and off girl friend Ann Rutherford entertaining a young naval officer, Mickey Rooney gets down in the dumps. But he perks up after seeing the new drama teacher Helen Gilbert and she's got a project for the kids at Carvel High School. She wants to do an original play and the one she picks was written by the love struck Andy Hardy.The older generation of the Hardys has its problems too. Of all people Lewis Stone gets himself conned by a pair of grifters, Stanley Andrews and Byron Foulger, who tell him that some land he owns has a nice deposit of bauxite on it from which aluminum comes. Using the Judge's well known reputation for integrity to work for them, they fleece a lot of potential investors.Of course business and financial problems do kind of sort themselves out for both generations of Hardy men. They always do.Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever is a better than average feature from the series. It has the presence of Woody Van Dyke who usually was assigned to A list films for MGM and he did right by his cast. I guess Louis B. Mayer must have had nothing else for him at the moment and the moguls never liked for their contract people to be idle.Whatever it was, it worked.