Mixed feelings
This is a fairly good film, but I don't see it as having much to do with Andy Hardy.It's actually good to see Mickey Rooney in the late 1950s. His height had pretty much eliminated a serious film career. However, he maintained a modest career with run-of-the-mill flicks. The basic plot is decent -- a man (Rooney) comes home again, attempting to get land for employer's factory. But forces seem to be conspiring against him. They try to frame the story with the man being Andy Hardy 20 years later. But really, it has nothing to do with the Andy Hardy of old.
It was nice to see Fay Holden again as Mother Hardy and Sarah Haden as Aunt Milly.Marian Hardy Of course, Lewis Stone had passed quite a while (1953) before this film was made. But aside from their presence, the film just has little of the Andy Hardy persona. Even the father-son talk with Andy's son doesn't quite work, perhaps because Andy's son (Mickey's real son) is too young for that kind of chat.
And then, the ending is TOO happy. Then, it ends with the words "More to come" on the screen, but of course, due to the failure at the box office of this film, there were no more Andy Hardy films.
The film could have stood on its own without the Andy Hardy angle. In fact, it might have been admired more if it had.
score 7/10
vincentlynch-moonoi 22 April 2015
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3225043/35523
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