Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Good news! That good old showbiz standard, the college musical, is back with a future T.V. series character, and this time, it isn't the big football game that is in jeopardy, it is the whole school. Poor Charles Lane, the chemistry professor, who has to find new educational quarters to continue his Freshman science class, that is if Bobby Van's Dobie doesn't drive him into an early retirement. And really, is English professor Hans Conreid so naive that he doesn't notice that Dobie's essay is plagiarized? So don't expect a campus reality film, just a future sitcom with songs and dances, and that includes a hillbilly number featuring Jerry Lewis's long-time foil, Kathleen Freeman.It all starts at their orientation date where happy-go-lucky future roommates Bobby Van and Bob Fosse meet and instantly attract two females, the studious but closeted fun-loving Debbie Reynolds and the boy crazy Barbara Ruick who is wild about Dobie who only has eyes for Debbie. She gets to sing a slower version of "All I Do is Dream of You" than the one she danced to as part of the chorus in "Singin' in the Rain", but does get to perform a juke box dance # with her three co-stars. In fact, it's obvious after "Singin' in the Rain" that MGM was promoting her more than the three co-stars, the two males who soon went off to Broadway. Fosse even gets to show off his signature hat turn here, obviously having invented that himself. Young Ms. Ruick, best known for playing Carrie in the movie version of "Carousel" and one of the stepsisters in the 1965 "Cinderella", reminds me a lot of a young Gloria DeHaven here and gets to be both perky and impish without being annoying.A great cast of character actors support the four youngsters, with Almira Sessions very funny as Reynolds' imperious aunt and Hanley Stafford over the top as Reynolds' possessive father. MGM was making very few black and white films at this point, let alone a musical, which makes this one appear almost like an after thought and one that doesn't stand out when compared to everything which came before and those which would come after. The stars are perky and fun, but the story (what little there is of it) seems forced and artificial.

What a pleasant surprise for a hardened old cynic like me. Ordinarily I would avoid a title like The Affairs of Dobie Gillis as if it were the plague. But the sheer bounce and charm of Weis's direction along with Van and Reynolds proved completely beguiling. Sure it's dated. The innocence and idealized portrayal of college-age youth belong to a bygone era. Still, Van's easy way with a song and a smile continues to captivate, while even Reynolds' manages an energized side that doesn't annoy (the sight of her pony-tailed wholesomeness crouched demonically over a boiling witch's brew is hilarious). Surely these two were made for each other in some malt-shop heaven. There are so many nice touches, including: Hans Conreid's arrogant professor (his tight-lipped barbs at Dobie are priceless), Kathleen Freeman's gap- toothed Polish band (I'm sorry we didn't hear more), and the utterly delightful song and dance numbers (a whole lot simpler and more spontaneous than MGM's over-produced foot- stompers of the day). Clearly, the studio dribbled out a bare-bones budget to give their younger talent a chance, and the youngsters responded in spades. I'm only sorry that Van didn't get the career his talent deserved-- watching him and Fosse was a treat. All in all, this is a much better movie than it had any right to be, and a fine piece of unexpected pleasure for viewers of any age.

A very attractive cast and a couple of good musical numbers make for reasonably good entertainment. Far different from the TV series that came a few years later (and not as good in my opinion), this feature was actually inspired by the Max Shulman Dobie Gillis stories from the forties. Shulman, who also wrote the the screenplay for this movie, does manage to work in bits and pieces of his short stories into the script, but not too successfully. The reason for this is that the original stories were stand-alone brilliant comic masterpieces. Here we just see a little scene from this one, and one from that one, and so on. The way to really, really enjoy Dobie Gillis is to track down the out-of-print collection, "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis"(easily available at Amazon). I'm a fan of the TV series, and I like this movie, but neither can hold a candle to the hilarious short stories that served as the original inspiration for both the TV and screen versions.By the way, it was only about two years ago that I read the original stories. They are every bit as wonderful today as when they were originally written.

This comedy/musical is a rather silly but quite entertaining college romance. The dialogue and situations is extremely dated, having come out in the early '50s, but if you enjoy films from that period you'll probably like this one. Some of the situations made me laugh out loud which is more than I can say for many films of today. The characters from this film were later used in the television series The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.