Pretty funny take on the perennial college conflict between football and scholars. The bookish Turner (Fonda) fumbles around trying to keep wife (de Havilland) from old flame and ex- football star Joe Ferguson (Carson). But, Turner's really in trouble since the big game is on and everybody's talking football. I love that pep rally, more like a tribal event than the eve of a sporting event ("fight", "fight" gets chanted over and over). And catch that roaring bon-fire in the background, big enough for a human sacrifice. So what's poor skinny Turner to do when it's the muscles that reign.
Fonda is perfect as the dithering husband and professor. Ditto, Carson as his egotistic rival who never does figure out where the disappearing teacup went. Their little dust-up is a hoot of physical comedy, but then Turner has picked a battleground where he's bound to lose. That's because he thinks he should do what males of the animal world do, a world where unfortunately the strongest win and he loses. Good thing he's drunk when he challenges Joe, otherwise we might wonder how he got to be a teacher in the first place.
It's also a good thing for the professor that there's a more serious side to the film. And that's the realm of ideas, Turner's true battleground where he's got the muscles. The trouble is that college trustees (Palette) don't want him flexing them by reading to his class from the pages of notorious anarchist Vanzetti. In fact they threaten to fire him if he does. But Turner stays strong and defies the agents of censorship. In the process, he also wins the undying affection of a now unconflicted wife. For she recognizes there is a different kind of strength that only humans have—the strength of commitment to ideas, in this case, a respect for eloquence whatever its source. (Too bad the screenplay fudges by making the Vanzetti quote harmlessly bland in content.)
So brains wins out over brawn after all and makes a good point at the same time. The movie's adapted from a James Thurber play, so some of the snappy lines along with the story's moral should not be surprising. All in all, it's an entertaining 90-minutes, both funny and thoughtful, including a good glimpse of 1940's youth (unfortunately, on the eve of a great war).
Fonda is perfect as the dithering husband and professor. Ditto, Carson as his egotistic rival who never does figure out where the disappearing teacup went. Their little dust-up is a hoot of physical comedy, but then Turner has picked a battleground where he's bound to lose. That's because he thinks he should do what males of the animal world do, a world where unfortunately the strongest win and he loses. Good thing he's drunk when he challenges Joe, otherwise we might wonder how he got to be a teacher in the first place.
It's also a good thing for the professor that there's a more serious side to the film. And that's the realm of ideas, Turner's true battleground where he's got the muscles. The trouble is that college trustees (Palette) don't want him flexing them by reading to his class from the pages of notorious anarchist Vanzetti. In fact they threaten to fire him if he does. But Turner stays strong and defies the agents of censorship. In the process, he also wins the undying affection of a now unconflicted wife. For she recognizes there is a different kind of strength that only humans have—the strength of commitment to ideas, in this case, a respect for eloquence whatever its source. (Too bad the screenplay fudges by making the Vanzetti quote harmlessly bland in content.)
So brains wins out over brawn after all and makes a good point at the same time. The movie's adapted from a James Thurber play, so some of the snappy lines along with the story's moral should not be surprising. All in all, it's an entertaining 90-minutes, both funny and thoughtful, including a good glimpse of 1940's youth (unfortunately, on the eve of a great war).