Mother Is a Freshman ** (1949, Loretta Young, Van Johnson, Rudy Vallee, Barbara Lawrence, Betty Lynn, Robert Arthur) – Classic Movie Review 7247

Director Lloyd Bacon’s gently amusing 1948 20th Century Fox comedy Mother Is a Freshman stars Loretta Young as a widowed mother who gets a scholarship left to her in a will, and so she and her daughter (Betty Lynn) go to college together and romance the same tutor (Van Johnson). Well, that is awkward!

Happily, Johnson returns Young’s love and young love is assured when a boy (Robert Arthur) falls for Lynn. So that’s okay, then!

Mother Is a Freshman (also known as Mother Knows Best) is undemanding, easy-going, good-natured fun, made in splashy Technicolor, quite brightly handled by Bacon and zestily performed by players who are better than Mary Loos and Richard Sale’s screenplay, based on a story by Raphael Blau. It is not a problem that it is very brief at just 81 minutes, quite the reverse.

Mother Is a Freshman also features Rudy Vallee, Barbara Lawrence, Griff Barnett, Kathleen Hughes, Eddie Dunn, Clair Meade, Virginia Brissac, Charles Lane, Kathryn Card, Henri Letondal, Jeff Richards and Marietta Canty.

Kay Nelson was Oscar nominated for Best Costume Design, Color.

Van Johnson’s former wife Eve Abbott alleged after his death in December 2008 at age 92 that their marriage was engineered by MGM as a cover for Johnson’s alleged homosexuality. It is said that MGM studio boss Louis B Mayer made strenuous efforts to quash any potential scandal regarding Johnson or any of his actor friends. At any rate, Van Johnson is fondly remembered as one of the last surviving matinée idols of Hollywood’s Golden Age.

Loretta Young won an Oscar for The Farmer’s Daughter (1947) and was nominated for Come to the Stable (1949).

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7247

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