JUDGE HARDY AND SON

Mickey Rooney and Lewis Stone

JUDGE HARDY AND SON (1939). Director: George B. Seitz.

When Judge Hardy (Lewis Stone) discovers that an elderly couple may lose their home, he enlists son Andy (Mickey Rooney) in a search for their daughter, who might be able to help. Andy enjoys looking for the lady as it brings him into contact with several nubile schoolgirls: eternally giggling Euphrasia (June Preisser): the oh-so-Southern Clarabelle Lee (Margaret Early); and the attractive, unhappy  Elvie (Martha O'Driscoll of Li'l Abner), who pretends to be 14-years-old but is actually much older. In a sub-plot Mrs. Hardy (Fay Holden) develops pneumonia and is placed in an oxygen tank by interne Jack Mulhall. One of the film's highlights is Andy's well-written and well-acted talk with his sister, Marian (Cecelia Parker). Judge Hardy and Son is a very entertaining comedy-drama that boasts an interesting story with some novel twists, fine acting and an outstanding performance from Rooney. The religiosity of the piece never quite gets out of hand. Marie Blake/Blossom Rock plays housekeeper Augusta, and Maria Ouspenskaya is one half of the elderly couple. Ann Rutherford is on hand as Andy's ever-jealous girlfriend, outraged as usual when she sees other girls' lipstick on his pan.

Verdict: One of the better Hardy Family entries from MGM. ***.

THE FALLEN SPARROW

John Garfield

THE FALLEN SPARROW (1943). Director: Richard Wallace.

John Garfield enters Alfred Hitchcock territory with mixed results in this story of John "Kit" McKittrick (Garfield), who escaped from a Spanish prison and has something [the "MacGuffin"] that Nazi agents are after. In New York he investigates the death of a close friend who fell or was pushed from an upper story window during a party. Kit gets embroiled with three women: Toni Donne (Maureen O'Hara); old girlfriend Barby (Patricia Morison); and young singer Whitney (Martha O'Driscoll), none of whom he can trust any more than the men he encounters. Then there's the mysterious limping man who was a torturer in the Spanish prison and is now skulking around New York [his identity comes as no great surprise]. Garfield, Morison and O'Hara are all fine, and Walter Slezak scores as a strange professor in a wheelchair. Nestor Paiva [Mr. Reckless] and Hugh Beaumont [Larceny in Her Heart] have small roles as well. The movie is only sporadically interesting and can hardly be considered one of Garfield's more interesting pictures. What this needs is Alfred Hitchcock and a stronger script.

Verdict: Watch Body and Soul instead. **1/2.

LI'L ABNER (1940)

Pansy washes Pappy and Salome the pig together

LI'L ABNER (1940). Director: Albert S. Rogell.

"Pappy, you are the most ignoramus creature I ever did see!"

"That's the code of the hills!"

In the hillbilly mountain village of Dogpatch, Li'l Abner Yokum (Jeff York aka Granville Owen) tries to avoid the clutches of the gal who loves him, Daisy Mae (Martha O'Driscoll of Henry Aldrich for President). But when Abner mistakenly thinks he's got one day to live, he decides to get engaged, but there are complications. Wendy Wilecat (Kay Sutton) also has her eyes on him, and he wants no part of weddin' anybody once he realizes he isn't really doomed. So his fate will be decided on Sadie Hawkins day, when the two gals will race to see who can land him first. Both his Mammy, Pansy Yokum (Mona Ray), and Pappy, Lucifer Yokum (Johnnie Morris), do their best to help their boy behind the scenes. Jeff York certainly resembles the beautiful-but-dumb Abner, and he isn't bad in the part, although it could be argued that he's not exactly a skilled comic actor. [That same year he played Pat Ryan in the serial Terry and the Pirates, and did a lot of TV work thereafter.] Billie Seward is fine as Daisy's cousin, the sexy "Delightful," and Maude Ebern is as fun as ever as Daisy's Granny Scraggs. Buster Keaton has a small role as the Indian Lonesome Polecat. The movie has some amusing scenes, such as a bath Pansy gives to Pappy and their pig Salome at the same time, and there's a tiny little bit of suspense during the Sadie Hawkins Day race, but all in all this isn't a very memorable movie. Al Capp's Li'l Abner was again made into a film 19 years later and if memory serves me well it wasn't all that much better. 

Verdict: Love that pig! **.