Getting on for twenty years ago Channel 4 ran the complete Andy Hardy series on successive Saturday mornings. I had never seen any but had like most film buffs heard lots about them. I found them completely enchanting, nostalgic and remarkably true to a middle America that never existed but that you wished had. Love Finds Andy Hardy is now available on DVD as part of a Judy Garland boxed set and having just watched it I'm slightly disappointed I didn't get quite the same pleasure I did twenty years ago. There are, of course, lots of good things going on, the idealized family living in an idealized town best described as the town in which George Bailey (James Stewart) lives in for two thirds of It's A Wonderful Life, before it turns into Potterville temporarily but Carvel is never in any danger of that kind of reality being allowed to intrude. It's also refreshing to see teenagers dealing with hormonal changes without going any further than a virtually chaste kiss or two. My greatest fear is that someone will remake them and we'll wind up with titles like Andy Hardy Finds Sleaze.
Review of Love Finds Andy Hardy
