I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

Don't listen to the negative reviews

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Please don't let the low IMDb rating prevent you from enjoying the last Hardy Family film in which Andy is still a young (characteristically callow) fellow dealing with another romantic adventure after returning from military service in WWII. In fact, Rooney had served in the army with distinction, so aspects of the situation here parallel his real-life return to Hollywood. Although its storyline proves as intriguing as earlier dilemmas that Andy had faced, the dialogue is not quite as sparkling this time around. Perhaps the toning down was unavoidable in a badly-disquieted America so soon after the unspeakable horrors of NAZI and Japanese atrocities as well as the new terror of atomic warfare weighing heavily on audiences' minds. Rooney loved being a performer, and notwithstanding his rusty timing in the slapstick scenes such as when he locks himself out of the house on a freezing night in mid-winter, he still displays more charisma than a dozen other post-war young actors combined. Above all, he turns many serious conversations here that were potentially maudlin or dreary into genuinely involving moments. None of the Andy Hardy films were steeped in profundities. All the same, the Hardy Family saga propelled by its invariably strong supporting casts constitutes one of Hollywood's finest entertainments ---- and "LLAAH'" has improved with age to a greater extent than most of the entries in this series. Enjoy!

In the fifteenth Andy Hardy film, he--like so many other military men--returns home after the war. During his time away, he has been thinking a lot about Kay (Bonita Granville), who is still at college. For her part, she has been thinking a lot about him since their last film, two years earlier. Each has a big announcement for the other.A side story has Andy being matched with an attractive Amazon (Dorothy Ford) who serves to further emphasize his diminutive stature. They make the best of it and enjoy their evening at the frosh dance.This film is not one of the better Hardy family stories, though it contains the last man-to-man chat between Judge Hardy (Lewis Stone) and Andy. Dorothy Ford steals the show with her vivacious personality. Andy's crisis du jour eventually fizzles to nothingness when he spots the next comely coed.There is a serious subject hidden inside this episode--the fact that the passage of years (and the experiences in those years) can result in unexpected expectations from lovers or spouses. But the matter is dispatched with quickly as if Andy were still a younger teen.

The problem with this Andy Hardy movie is that Andy is no longer in High School and has just arrived home from the war. The plot about Andy wanting to marry some girl is contrived, as are the dancing sequences. Mickey seems to be just going through the numbers, and the other performances are nothing to see the film for. There are a few funny sequences, and all the Hardy clichés are in place, from the man to man talk, and Mickey coming to his senses after the talking to with The Judge. The film feels flat without Ann Rutherford or Judy Garland in it, and the girls in it instead are simply there to elicit a few cheap laughs. Mickey Rooney certainly gives the script his best effort, but not even he can save it. It feels like MGM stopped caring about the quality of the script and just about the Hardy name. This is a cheap cash in on the usually outstanding Hardy series and cheapens their memory! The worst of all the Andy Hardy movies!

Andy arrives back in Carvel, tumbling off the back of an army truck in front of his folks. The family reunion in the middle of the main street, blocking the traffic flow to the amusement of all concerned, is the best scene in the movie. Andy's been separated (demobbed) from the Army and has but one thought on his mind, proposing to Kay Wilson who he'd met at college.'Kay Wilson' is played by the (in this movie) maternal Bonita Granville who unfortunately doesn't sing for once. Mickey Rooney looks appropriately much older than his previous movie (he has, after all, come back from service in the Army) in the series but still manages to play the irrepressible 'Andy' as only he could. Lewis Stone and Fay Holden as his folks are wonderful as usual, despite the often insipid script. That's the main problem with this movie. The script is at times puerile and it's only the mostly excellent cast which makes it worth watching. We miss 'Marion' and Polly', while the charming Sarah Haden as 'Aunt Milly' is given few lines. She might as well not be there. Marion is apparently working in New York (it is she who wires the family that Andy is on his way) while we, so far as I noticed, are given no reason for Polly's absence, despite her father's presence.The standout guest in this movie is the stunning Dorothy Ford as 'Coffy Smith'. Not only is Dorothy tall at 6ft 4", she is both graceful and beautiful. Though as before (and after), the script remains puerile, but the cast do their best to rise above it.The high point in most Hardy movies - those without Judy Garland, anyway - is the father and son or rather 'man to man' talk between Lewis Stone and Mickey Rooney. In this movie it's on the subject of Andy either going to college and following in the Judge's footsteps, or running off to South America to make his fortune. Unfortunately, the problematic script results in an awkward, almost embarrassing scene between the two. Lewis Stone doesn't look at all well; he was in his late 60s at the time but looks much older (he died in 1953, chasing vandals off his property). Lina Romay as 'Isolbel' sings on two occasions but she's an unsatisfactory substitute for Polly. Hal Hackett as 'Duke' is unimpressive but again, maybe that's the fault of that script.Overall, this is a necessary part of the Hardy series but it deserved a much better script. Despite this reservation, I can still recommend it. My copy came as one half of a double bill region 4 DVD (with 'The Perils of Pauline'). It was made from an extremely poor print and should be avoided at all costs.