I certainly watched the wrong Andy Hardy movies first. Love Finds Andy Hardy and Andy Hardy Meets Debutante are so silly, all ridiculous pantomimes of a teenage boy's hormones, but the other fourteen films aren't like that. They're supposed to be about the patriarch, Lewis Stone, who helps his children through their problems, a precursor to television shows like Father Knows Best. The series even uses the same theme music during the opening credits in every film, like a television theme-only these movies were made before television. Much of Mickey Rooney's character is how he tries to handle his raging hormones, but much of it isn't. In this one, he falls for his drama teacher, Helen Gilbert, and while sometimes he's goofy when trying to act like a grown-up and speaking in a different, theatrical voice, sometimes he's heartbreakingly real and insecure in his feelings. He talks it out with Helen and with his dad, and they both help him through it.
Mickey makes his character human, and even though he does his signature whooping, he gives a lesson to his teenage audience: it's okay to want to grow up, but don't rush it. Learning to take responsibility should be a slow process, and you should be able to enjoy being a kid without complications ruining things. In this one, he gets chosen by Helen to write the school play, and that's enough responsibility for any high schooler. "He's a regular T.A. Edison!" Lewis Stone exclaims proudly, a foreshadowing-and perhaps plugging-of Mickey's next year's film Young Thomas Edison, because his play has volcano pyrotechnics incorporated in the script. Fay Holden and Cecilia Parker are in this one, of course, but they're not prominently featured. If Mama Hardy and Marian are your favorites, check out You're Only Young Once and Love Laughs at Andy Hardy.
