Product Description

Andy frantically tries to juggle two girlfriends at the same time.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27890 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2004-04-06
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, Color, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 92 minutes

Amazon.com
It's hard to overstate just how corny and funny the Andy Hardy series of the 1930s and 1940s looks by today's standards--but that doesn't mean these films don't have a certain winning quality. It doesn't matter whether it's Mickey Rooney's winningly goofy blend of lust and innocence as a high school kid dying to make out with his girlfriend or his surprisingly touching man-to-man talks with his father, Judge Hardy (Lewis Stone). Think of this film as the precursor to "Archie" comic books, with its story of young Andy, desperate for the money to buy a car, winding up with three dates to the same formal dance. Rooney is engaging as the motor-mouthed (yet deceptively thoughtful) teen in pre-World War II, tail-end-of-the-Depression, small-town America: often in a coat and tie, always in a dandyish porkpie hat. This was the first film in this series in which Judy Garland appeared as girl-next-door Betsy Booth. --Marshall Fine

Customer Reviews

An adorable pre-Oz Judy Garland saves the day for Andy Hardy
The Andy Hardy series of the 1930s and 1940s will forever stand as the epitome of wholesome, thoroughly enjoyable family entertainment, and these wonderful films did much to make Mickey Rooney a superstar and guaranteed money-making actor. Love Finds Andy Hardy, the fourth of sixteen films about Judge Hardy's family, is regarded by many fans to be the best of the bunch (although I prefer Andy Hardy Meets Debutante), due in no small part to the introduction of Betsy Booth, who comes from New York to Carvel to spend Christmas with her grandparents. Judy Garland, a year before achieving superstardom in The Wizard of Oz, is simply adorable as Betsy, a cute and oh-so-talented young lady whom Andy dotes on as a child; even though her huge crush on Andy never quite meets with reciprocating feelings on his part, she selflessly saves the day time and again for the antic-prone Andy. You have to be really smart to get into the kind of trouble Andy gets in, she says, and boy oh boy is this the truth.

You can't help but love Andy-Mickey Rooney is unashamedly goofy, unbelievably energetic yet quick to wallow in the messes of his own making; he literally was the all-American boy of the post-Depression era. In this film, Andy wants a car, and he wants it before December 24 so that he can drive his sweetie Polly (Ann Rutherford) to the big dance. Without telling his father (played by Lewis Stone), he gives the local car dealer twelve of the twenty dollars he needs for his chosen car, promising to pay the remaining eight dollars by the 24th. Herein lies the start of his problems. Andy is crushed when he learns Polly will be out of town for three weeks, yet opportunity seems to knock politely on his door when his friend Beezy promises to pay him eight dollars plus expenses to date up his own girl while he is away. Thus does Andy begin a courtship of Cynthia Potter (Lana Turner). Betsy Booth arrives next door with a preexisting crush on Andy, one which should be easily obvious even to the reckless-minded fellow, yet he never fails to describe her as a child. Frankly, Andy is something of a fool; there has never been a cuter young lady on this earth than Judy Garland during her teen years; if Betsy Booth would have grinned and done that little nose wrinkle thing for me, I would have fallen at her feet. Anyway, and predictably, Andy's plans all go astray. At one point, he is looking at the prospect of two dates to the dance and no car at all. With a friend like Betsy Booth, however, he need not have worried about his precious social reputation being ruined.

Judy Garland absolutely steals the show here. As I have said, she is not only cute as a button but beautiful in every way. Betsy just wants to be seen as a young lady rather than a child, and her feelings on this issue are expressed perfectly in the song In Between (crafted by her musical mentor Roger Edens). She does get to be grown up and glamorous for one night, though, marking the occasion with unforgettable performances of the songs It Never Rains But What It Pours and Meet the Beat of My Heart (half of it, anyway, as the other half plus an additional number, Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen, were cut from the final print).

Judy Garland would return in two later Andy Hardy films, but more importantly, Love Finds Andy Hardy served as the true beginning of the Garland-Rooney phenomenon that wowed audiences over the course of the next few years. The two first appeared in the 1937 film Thoroughbreds Don't Cry, and the obvious chemistry between the two set the stage for her entry into the Andy Hardy films. Garland was never more loveable than she was in the role of Betsy Booth, and films such as Love Finds Andy Hardy have a very special place in the heart of this Judy Garland fanatic.

Bring Us More Andy!
I agree with the reviewer from Canada: It would be great if Warner released the entire Andy Hardy series as a boxed set. I've had six of the films (on VHS) in my collection for quite a few years and never get tired of watching them. Here's another vote cast for more of Judge Hardy's family on DVD!

A GREAT LOOKING TRANSFER - WHERE'S THE REST OF THE SERIES?
"Love Finds Andy Hardy" is the third film in the Andy Hardy series about a Judge (Lewis Stone) and his irrepressibly manic son, Andy (Mickey Rooney). In this film young Andy gets a run for his money when the girl next door, Betsy Booth (Judy Garland) pulls cupid's arrow with sincerity and comes out the winner. This was the first film in which Garland's character appeared and perhaps, it's the best in the whole series. The hokum and corn is deep and laughable but hey, that's part of the film's charm and truly, you have to be a die hard cynic not to fall for Andy's overwhelmingly patriot schmaltz. A winner through and through.
TRANSFER: Warner gives us an impressive looking transfer with a solid B&W picture. The gray scale is nicely balanced. Age related artifacts are kept to a bare minimum. There is some minor shimmering of fine details that is distracting at times. Blacks are solid. Contrast levels are well represented. The audio is mono but nicely cleaned up for this DVD.
EXTRAS: An intro from Garland biographer, Jonathan Fricke.
BOTTOM LINE: This is a must have for collectors. One only wishes that Warner had had the foresight to release the entire Andy Hardy series as a box set. Ditto for "The Thin Man"!