Un affare di famiglia

"A Family Affair" takes us back to a less complicated time in America. It's sobering to see how different everything was back then. It was a more innocent era in our country and we watch a 'functional' family dealing in things together. The film also marks the beginning of the series featuring the Hardy family.

The film, directed by George Seitz, is based on a successful play. Judge James Hardy, and his wife Emmily, are facing a domestic crisis that must be dealt with. Married daughter Joan comes home after she has committed a social blunder and her husband holds her responsible. At the same time, another daughter, Marion, brings home a beau, who is clear will clash with her father. The happy teen ager Andy, seems to be the only one without a problem until his mother makes him escort Polly to the dance, something he is reluctant to do.

Needless to say, Judge Hardy will prove why he knows best as he puts a plan into action to get everyone together again. After all, he is a man that understands, not only the law, but how to deal with those outside forces that threatens his standing in the community and what will make his family happy.

Lionel Barrymore plays Judge Hardy with conviction. He is the glue that holds everything together. Spring Byington is seen as Emily, the mother. Mickey Rooney has a small part in this film, but he is as always, fun to watch. Cecilia Parker and Julie Haydon appeared as the daughters, Marion and Joan. Sara Hayden and Margaret Marquis are also featured in the film as Aunt Milly and Polly, the girl that surprises Andy with her beauty.

"A Family Affair" is a good way to observe our past through the positive image painted of an American family.

This is the first of the Hardy Family series of movies. The formula for that series is well known and a part of film lore. This film helps establish some of the values that made America fall in love with The Hardy's, but there are differences in this film that set it apart.

The actors who portray the Hardy's are not all the same. Mickey Rooney, who later became the focus of the family by dint of his energetic and lovable performances, is here. But Judge Hardy and his wife are played by Lionel Barrymore and Spring Byington. It would be easy to prefer the actors who carried on these roles in the later episodes, but Barrymore plays the judge with an energy that is suited for this story (see the scene where he physically throws a man out of his chambers) and Byington, in a subordinate role, really displays the love of a mother and wife (note her reaction when her eldest daughter reveals the path her marriage has taken).

It is true that the Andy Hardy movies are anchored in the values that middle America sees as sacrosanct: good citizenship, democracy, the primacy of the family, a religious outlook. This film establishes those values, but if one looks closer, it is easy to see (in this film) how flimsy those values may be. In even a more dramatic way than Inge's Picnic demonstrates, A Family Affair reveals how shallow people and society may be.

Good citizenship may be an established basis for societies and their governments, but the political process is depicted in this film as run by a corrupt political machine designed to profit ruthless men who care only about their own wealth. Judge Hardy is an exception--an educated man who is willing to suffer scorn in the name of duty and the concept of justice.

Religious values may be advertised as charitable and forgiving, but this film shows that the measure of a town's morals is not how many churches dot the landscape or how many Bible verses are read. In a small town where a man's reputation is his measure and agreements are made on the basis of handshakes, we see that many delight in ruining reputations and that the mob mentality prevails when times get tough.

Democracy might be touted as the cornerstone of American governmental process, but the rule of the majority is nothing more than mob rule. Government's true rule is to protect the rights of those in the minority also.

In the end, it is strength of the Hardy family unit--personified by Judge Hardy--that pulls the family through the crises of its individuals and its external stresses. When Judge Hardy strides into the convention and Andy yells "Give it to them with both barrels, Dad," he has no inkling what his father intends. He displays a fundamental faith in his father and the principles he stands for. His father beams in response, because it is that trust he most cherishes, knowing it binds the family and protects them against any threats.

The primacy of the family is a theme that runs through all of the Hardy Family films and it is one of the reasons this series was so popular.

A Family Affair is well worth seeing, both because it is the first in a series and because it stands apart from the others. There is even a great chase scene. Such action was not used in the later Hardy Family films, which focused entirely on personal interactions.

First in the wonderful Andy Hardy series from MGM. For those who don't know, this series was as wholesome and American as apple pie. It draws snickers and insults from the "too cool for school" crowd but don't let that put you off of trying these fine films. They were quality dramas with dashes of comedy and lots of heart. The plot to this one has Judge Hardy (Lionel Barrymore) ticking off some businessmen and local politicians over a land deal. So the big shots, including former friends of the judge, band together to try to stop his re-election. There's also a subplot involving the judge's eldest daughter's troubled marriage that intersects with the judge's problems. Meanwhile, son Andy (Mickey Rooney) has the first of many girl problems in this series.

This is the only entry to feature sister Joan. Not sure why she was dropped but the series isn't hurt by it. The roles of Judge Hardy and his wife would be recast in the next film with Lewis Stone and Fay Holden, who would play the roles for the remainder of the series. Once you see them in the parts it will be hard to imagine that anybody else could do the roles justice. Also Mickey Rooney's Andy would become the star of the later films, whereas in the early films (such as this) Judge Hardy is clearly the star. It's a fantastic series that gets its start here in this somewhat atypical but still high quality movie.

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?

The Hardy Family made its debut for MGM in this film, A Family Affair. But to those who've seen other films of the series it looks like Mickey Rooney, Cecilia Parker, and Sara Haden were all dropped into another family of Hardys in an alternate universe Carvel.

Judge and Mrs. Hardy started out here as Lionel Barrymore and Spring Byington and they had another older daughter played by Julia Haydon. Haydon has marriage problems with her estranged husband Allen Vincent. Parker is quarreling with her boyfriend Eric Linden and Mickey Rooney is having his eternal problems with the opposite sex. All that however plays into the main plot line of this film, Judge Hardy's re-election is in peril over an injunction he issued against building a dam.

That was the difference between this Hardy films and the rest to follow with Lewis Stone and Fay Holden as the Hardy parents. The kids even Mickey Rooney are clearly in support of Lionel Barrymore. That would not be the case in the rest of the series.

Talk about judicial activism, when the man who originally brought the suit wants to the withdraw because he's been bribed, Barrymore throws him out on his ear. I can't think of another judge anywhere in the real world who wouldn't want to clear his docket if the parties settled out of court. He continues on and Barrymore's political opponents who have a vested and hidden interest in the dam played by Selmer Jackson and Charley Grapewin try to block his party from renominating him.

Of course it all works out in the end as it always did. Lionel Barrymore was no less wise and no less honest than Lewis Stone in subsequent films.

A Family Affair is certainly a tribute to the simpler times it was made in, but still nice viewing.