Spring Madness

Certainly some big, fun, familiar names in this MGM 67 minute shortie - a YOUNG Burgess Meredith, almost 30 years before he was the Penguin in Batman. I didn't really get him in the old black and white films. He and Lew Ayres were both about 30 by now, although they both look younger than that. Maureen O'Sullivan is "Alex", the heroine of our story, who is determined to drag her man to the spring dance. Sterling Holloway (was also the voice of Winnie the Pooh!) has about four lines in this one. The first half of the film is all about the girls and their antics as they lay out their plans for the dance. lots of giggling. In spite of all the great comedians with whom the director worked over the years, i found this one pretty bland and monotone. I'd recommend watching L. Ayres in "Holiday" instead; also from 1938... that one is 100 times funnier. I think they cast gave it their best, but had to work with a lame, whitewashed script. Might have been a little more interesting before the Hays Commission. The men take the women to Maloney's restaurant, and Sam (Ayres) tells Alex he is going to Russia, and can't attend the dance with her. Then the scheming starts.... Directed by Sylvan Simon, who had made a bunch of movies with Red Skelton, Abbott & Costello, and even Lucille Ball. Simon croaked at age 41... heart attack.