JLRMovieReviews To begin with, it should be noted (and you'd know this, if you've read the other reviews) that "Life Begins for Andy Hardy" is far more serious than the other films in the "Andy Hardy" series. This film marked the third and final appearance of Judy Garland as Betsy Booth in the film series. As Andy Hardy moves to New York to find himself and a job, he starts to learn hard lessons in life. So given the fact this is a drama and not a comedy, it's not a bad movie. But it's not terribly great. At times, it feels down right depressing and downbeat, as Andy Hardy gets some hard knocks looking for a job, and ultimately this is not an upper for viewers who expected the always chipper and juvenile Andy Hardy. In fact, despite the fact Judy sang in the other two films she starred in, her songs that were shot were not used in the final cut. I can only think that (the filmmakers finally decided that) the presence of singing did not seem to go with the somberness of this film and would dilute its impact on the viewer. In one scene, Betsy sees Andy at rock bottom looking pale, undernourished, and ready to pass out. And, he befriends an aspiring dancer, who's had a history of sickness, and who ultimately dies. Death in an Andy Hardy picture! Say it isn't so! While I admire the intention to show a mature Andy Hardy, if I wanted to see more of the film series in the future in the order they were made, I would probably skip this one entirely as it is a complete downer, save for Judy Garland trying to breathe some life and humor into it, with her buoyant presence and passion. Watch and judge for yourself.

dougdoepke There's some bite in this eleventh installment of the Hardy series. Unfortunately, there's also a forced retreat from any kind of controversial follow-through. In the end, the tried and true verities of small town America are once again affirmed, but then that is exactly what audiences expected from this pre-war version of Ozzie and Harriet.What makes this entry more interesting is a dark side not usually seen in Andy's world of proms and parental wisdom. Vaguely bored with the prospect of a settled life, Andy leaves Carver to prove himself amid the challenges of the big city, New York. There he finds a more impersonal and risky life-style, but also glamor and excitement. However, his small town openness and honesty are quickly exploited by a gold-digging glamor girl, Patricia Dane in an excellent performance. At the same time, his in-bred good-neighborliness prompts him to risk eviction by sneaking a penniless youth, Frobisher (Mc Donald), into his hotel room.Unfortunately Frobisher turns up dead in Andy's bathroom, a startling development for such a sunny series. At first, the death looks like a suicide, the boy being penniless with no prospects. It also looks like a hard dose of reality for Andy. More importantly, suicide presents a never-thought-of possibility for Andy too, since he's been struggling in a tight job market. Suicide would have added real weight to the story. However, the script is forced to revert to comfortable series form when it's discovered the boy died of natural causes. Thus a potentially exceptional entry is turned into another series programmer. Apparently it was the Catholic legion of Decency that forced this emasculating change on the studio. What an excellent example of how the dead hand of censorship sanitized reality in the name of protecting the audience from that same reality. And, if memory serves, it wasn't until 1956 (Elia Kazan's Baby Doll) that a studio product was willing to defy the self-appointed censors and treat adults like adults.Of course, in this movie, there's the usual lively, engaging turns from Rooney and Garland, along with MGM's customarily slick production values. Dad Hardy (Stone) works in his usual words of wisdom, this time on the virtues of unmarried abstinence of the unfortunate myopic type that ten years later would help fuel the Playboy, Hugh Hefner revolt. All in all, the series may have idealized a small town America that never was. But it also presented a picture of life as many wanted it to be and still do.

sdiner82 Following his graduation from high school, a small-town teenager decides to try his luck learning about life and making it on his own in New York City. Where he encounters the death of a disillusioned, penniless young friend and the seductive wiles of a glamorous "older woman" he encounters at his office job. Not to mention the wrath of the censors (who forced the studio the change the cause of death from a suicide to a heart attack) as well as the Catholic church (whose Legion of Decency damned the film with an "objectionable for children" rating). Hard to believe that an episode in the ebullient Andy Hardy series caused such controversy, but it is this film's commendable attempt to portray the dilemmas of youth with honesty and candor (incredible for 1941) that make it the most durable and disarming entry of the entire series. As contemporary today as it was 60 years ago, "Life Begins for Andy Hardy" is blessed with, besides a refreshingly adult screenplay that evokes emotions unchanged by the passage of time, astoundingly "mature" performances by Mickey Rooney (for once underplaying) and Judy Garland (displaying a sincerity and warmth without ever singing a note).Rooney's portrayal of a good-hearted teenager who decent instincts hardly prepare him for the brutal reality of survival in the "Big City" will strike resonant chords with anyone in a similar situation 60 years later. And, in addition to Rooney and Ms. Garland, sterling performances are contributed by the Hardy regulars (Lewis Stone, never more sage or heartrending as Andy's concerned father); the lovely Patricia Dane, as Andy's office co-worker and would-be seducer; and Ray McDonald, heartbreaking as a penniless aspiring actor reduced to living (and starving) in Central Park. A tacked-on happy ending and jarring lapses in continuity (indicating heavy studio re-cutting and re-shooting) fail to undermine the sweet sadness of this most unusual MGM drama--flirting with themes that would be dealt with far more candidly and cruelly some 20 years later in such innocents-lost-in-the-city classics as "The Rat Race" and "Breakfast at Tiffanys," of which "Life Begins for Andy Hardy" is a most poignant pre-cursor.

AL01-3 Although I have enjoyed every Andy Hardy movie that I have seen, this is probably my favorite entry in the series. It is admittedly a departure from the usual light-hearted comedy of the Hardy movies, but in this case, it works.In the film, Andy leaves his sheltered small-town life for the city of New York in order to decide whether he wants to go to college or directly join the professional ranks. Andy's dilemma hit home with me when I first saw this film a few years ago since it was a decision that I was facing myself. Many younger viewers will probably be able to relate to the issues and problems that Andy must deal with as he attempts to make the transition from carefree adolescence to adulthood.Mickey Rooney gives a good performance as Andy Hardy, as does Judy Garland in the role of Betsey Booth. This picture is not as cheerful as most entries in the series, but the most melancholy aspect of this film is the fact that it is Garland's last appearance as Betsey. Betsey is one of the most entertaining characters in the series of movies, and it's unfortunate that she only appears in three of the films.Overall, this is a very good, although different, entry into the Andy Hardy series of movies.