Bonzo Goes to College * (1952, Maureen O’Sullivan, Edmund Gwenn, Charles Drake, Gigi Perreau Gene Lockhart) – Classic Movie Review 11,019

The super-chimp that Ronald Reagan brought up as a human baby in 1951’s Bedtime for Bonzo is back, alas without Ronnie, in this fair 1952 slapstick comedy sequel Bonzo Goes to College, in which literate chimp Bonzo now belongs to Betsy Drew (Gigi Perreau), the daughter of professor Malcolm Drew (Charles Drake). Betsy is the granddaughter of football coach ‘Pop’ Drew (Edmund Gwenn), who needs new good players.

The sweet and hard-working cast is way better than the material about college footballers up to monkey business after Bonzo manages to get into their college and starts playing ball.

Also in the cast are Gene Lockhart, Irene Ryan, David Janssen, Guy Williams, John Miljan, Jerry Paris, Frank Nelson, Richard Garrick, and Tom Harmon (as himself).

Tom Harmon (1919–1990) was a legendary college football player who became a sportscaster and sired TV superstar Mark Harmon, who also played college football at UCLA.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,019

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