Diagonaldi Very well executed

UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

tavm Just watched this, the first film in the Hardy Family series. Lionel Barrymore, who I'll always first think of as Mr. Potter in It's a Wonderful Life-my favorite movie, is the Judge Hardy character who's in it with threats of no renomination because of something he's against resulting in his offspring not liking him as well. Mickay Rooney is here as Andy Hardy. He was 16 at the time. Spring Byington is the mother. Both she and Barrymore would reunite for You Can't Take It With You a year later. Nice mix of drama and comedy throughout. Mickey is especially funny but there's also a turn by screen drunk Arthur Housman who I usually associate with Laurel & Hardy. So on that note, I highly recommend A Family Affair.

Robert J. Maxwell This was the first of the Andy Hardy series, in which Mickey Rooney is the spry young man who croons about cars and is attracted to girls, although he doesn't understand them, or why he's attracted to them. Rooney seems not to walk. He darts from place to place, his skull spins on its axis, hair flopping from side to side. I'd love to have his adrenals.This being fundamentally one of MGM's "happy family" movies -- nobody could foresee the myriad sequels -- Rooney is ranked fourth in the credits, and the pater familias is not the stolid Lewis Stone but the whiney-voiced and more expensive Lionel Barrymore. But this established the framework for the imitations that were to come. Today, it would be a pilot for a TV series.Rooney actually doesn't have all that much screen time. He's attracted to a young girl whom he innocently offends, there is a rift in their relationship, and it's resolved at the end. Ditto for his sister and her boyfriend. Exciting car/truck chase on an unpaved mountain road.The main plot thread involves community pressure being put by the citizens of Carvel on Judge Lionel Barrymore to permit the construction of an aqueduct that will mean lots of jobs for the town. (This is 1937, when jobs were very nice to come by.) Barrymore is a man of principle and insists on making his own judgment about the aqueduct. This earns him the disrespect of his neighbors and there is a great protest against him until, with an imaginary trumpet fanfare, he mounts the podium, waves the mob into silence, and finally explains why he opposes the construction.The apologia takes him about three minutes which, had he spent that time doing the same thing ten minutes into the movie, there would have BEEN no movie.But no matter. The audience applauds wildly, even his most determined adversaries. Judge Hardy wins the election, accepts the Nobel Prize with gratitude and humility, and is offered a long-term movie contract.

MartinHafer This is the first of the Hardy family movies from MGM. While Mickey Rooney starred in all of them, most of the family members (other than Cecilia Parker who appeared in most of the films) were replaced by other actors in the next installment of the series. Perhaps Lionel Barrymore and Spring Byington were considered too valuable to waste in this series and were needed by other projects--whatever the reason, this is the only film where you'll see them playing Andy's parents. He also has a sister in this film who doesn't appear in future films.The main theme of the film is Judge Hardy's job. It seems that when the Judge does his job according to the law, he ruffles some feathers and the town big-shots threaten to prevent his re-election. Despite repeated warnings, the ever-decent Judge is a man of the law and refuses to bend. This makes it hard on his family, as people who were once their friends begin to act like big dumb jerks.The secondary theme is the oldest Hardy daughter. It seems that her marriage is on the rocks and she's come back home to her parents. Later, in order to try to pressure the judge, this daughter is pulled into the fight--as innuendos and half-truths are tossed about by the town scum.As for Andy, he's really an ancillary character here--even though later films make him THE star. In fact, many of the later films have his name in the title due to his pre-eminence in the cast (such as "Love Finds Andy Hardy" and others). Because of this, the film is much more a film about Judge Hardy and is supported by his family.The overall package is excellent--especially since it is really a B-movie plot with an A-picture cast. Enjoyable and pleasant--I can see why this led to more films like it.

grantch This was a charming movie which I unfortunately tuned into half way through, shown on Turner Classic Movies in the wee hours on May 19, 2004. I'll look for it again and tape it. I was surprised to see Lionel Barrymore as Judge Hardy. Very creditable performance. Probably he wasn't used again in the resultant series because of his ill health, but I'm just guessing. It was indeed a treat to see pre-December Bride Spring Byngton (how many of you readers can name her co-stars in that sit com?). And who can name the Western series she was featured in some 40 years ago? I digress. Turner has just started Judge Hardy's Children with Lewis Stone taking his rightful place as Judge Hardy. It's 4:32 am and I think I'm hooked on the students of Carvel High. Check out A Family Affair, you'll like it. Ted Turner must own the rights, so how about an Andy Hardy DVD box?