Keeping Company

If you ever hankered for the endless sanctimonious pablum which fills the Andy Hardy films, but preferred that the all-American wit and wisdom to be delivered by an all-wise Frank Morgan (aka the Wizard) rather than an all-wise Judge Hardy, this is your movie. The subject matter -- newlyweds, a "streamlined redhead" who hankers after the hero, jealousy and misunderstandings, and a near business catastrophe -- could make for a pretty good movie, or even a pretty fun trash wallow. But we're in Lake Woebegone territory here -- where nobody except a very minor character is ever really bad, young people are prone to harmless mistakes and all the children are annoyingly above average (if a touch too obsessed about ice cream).

One note -- Frank Morgan shows a different side of his acting skill and is quite good. But other his other pictures of this period -- The Last Virginian, Wild Man of Borneo, show this off as well, and are just as perfectly wholesome, but far less icky about it.