Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Sammy-Jo Cervantes There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Skyler Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

vincentlynch-moonoi When a director tackles a film project that combines comedy and drama...well, the result can be a big thumbs up or a big thumbs down. In this case, it's a big thumbs up.The dramatic aspect here is a college professor who decides to read a controversial piece in his English class -- Vanzetti, a real-life anarchist. If he goes through with it, a rich alumni may go to war over the college curriculum. A subplot involves the wife having innocent fun with a former flame.The comic aspect here revolves around 2 characters -- the former flame and the rich alumni.It all works pretty well, and despite the laughs still makes the point about freedom of speech and freedom of thought. There are a couple of flaws, including a way too long drunk scene; it needed to be in the film, but it went on and on. On the other hand, Fonda's penultimate scene in the auditorium was very well done.Henry Fonda is ideal as the professor who goes on a limb. Olivia de Havilland is just fine as his wife, who is torn between having a little fun and being all too serious. Jack Carson is appropriately buffoonish as the old flame (and football player). Eugene Palette is a hoot as the alumnus...with that wonderfully odd voice. Hattie McDaniel is here as, what else, the maid. Ivan Simpson is good as the Dean. And Don DeFore is pretty good as the somewhat clueless (in social situations) football captain.I like this film a lot, and I think you will if you're a Fonda or deHavilland fan.

mejedwa I was born in one year before this movie was made. Therefore, I went to public school where the teachers were terrorized by HUAC. While the film reflects the racism that prevailed in the country, at the time, with the character of the maid, the censorship of the Professors makes the film relevant to our time. Many of the teachers of the fifties were blacklisted for similar acts of instruction that are reflected in this movie. Such political statements are as relevant today as when the film was made. Simply exchange the label "Liberalisism" for "Radical Islam," and the mood of those in control is very similar. In addition to the racism, the film is hurt by the stereotypes of the intellectuals as weak and whinny, and the jocks as too dumb to understand what is happening around them. This was one of Jack Carson's better films.

Patrick King The lyrics of Jerome Kern's "Who" resonate throughout this movie as the lead characters battle one another, both rhetorically and physically, for answers to the big question "Who?" Who does Ellen Turner (Olivia de Havilland) really love? Who does Ed Keller (Eugene Palette) like? Who invited Joe Ferguson (Jack Carson), erstwhile beau to Ellen and football hero/legend at Midwestern U.? Who will save Ellen and Tommy from themselves? Who can save Michael Barnes (Herbert Anderson) from "Hot Garters" Gardner (Jean Ames)? Who is Wally Myers (Don DeFoe), the current football hero, really courting? Joe or Patricia (Joan Leslie)? And who is Bartolomeo Vanzetti? and what does he have in common with people like these? Tune in to the song: i.e. "Who stole my heart away?/Who makes me dream all day,/Dreams I know will never come true,/Seems like I'll always be blue./Who makes my happiness?/Who would I answer yes to?/Well, you oughta guess, Who? No one but you." Don't guess.See the movie. You not only gotta see the movie, but you gotta hear it, too.

aromatic-2 The parallels of the Fonda-DeHavilland-Carson triangle with the younger Anderson-Leslie-DeFore triangle are played against each other to good advantage in this well-scripted and well-acted farce. DeHavilland is at her best, never losing her poise, and De Fore's scenes are hilarious. This is a movie to be enjoyed, not analyzed.