It Happens Every Spring (1949)

That was an excellent one.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Ray Milland although an academy award winning actor always plays a dour, serious kind of actor. This film is sort of an aberration for Milland taking part in this baseball fairy tale comedy. Milland plays a college professor Vernon Simpson who is a baseball fan. One day while running an experiment in his lab, a baseball crashes through his window breaking beakers and glassware. The fluids combined with a fictitious substance methylethylpropylbutyl creates this holy grail that only major league pitchers were looking for in the quest of greatness, a chemical that repels wood. The mild mannered Vernon takes leave from the university and goes into obscurity. Vernon immediately tries out for the St. Louis club as a pitcher. On first impression by the owner and coaches was not a good one despite his slow delivery and lack of velocity until the teams top slugger was whiffing at ball soaked pitches after pitch. Catcher and second banana Paul Douglas plays the room mate Monk to the green Major Leager/ professor King Kelly as his alias. Meanhile back at the Campus Vernon's fiancé Deborah (Jean Peters) is worried as there's no word on his whereabouts. Our new phenom King Kelly is making headlines across the country setting strikeout records and victories using a sponge inserted in his catching glove. Reporters try to find out where he's from. Protected by Monk, King Kelly's personal catcher who is constantly harassed by his wife via the telephone borrows that formula mistaking it for hair tonic. The results are astounding as at one point the hair goes one way and the opposite way when using a wooden brush. This baseball fantasy plays itself out and in 9 beautiful innings.

Shy and reserved chemistry professor Ray Milland (as Vernon "King Kelly" Simpson) becomes absent-minded every spring. It happens. Following a disruptive class, he accidentally creates a liquid compound that repels wood. The solution gets on a baseball and something unusual happens. The baseball avoids contact with anything wooden, so Mr. Milland decides to "play ball." He joins the St. Louis team as a pitcher, telling roommate and catcher Paul Douglas (as Monk Lanigan) his magic liquid is a hair tonic. One problem is that – being absent-minded – Milland is unable to make any new bottles of the wood repellent. This could prove interesting if there is to be a big game. Another concern is pretty girlfriend Jean Peters (as Deborah "Debbie" Greenleaf), who suspects Milland is leading a more nefarious double life...Directed by Lloyd Bacon, this whimsical comedy may have been the inspiration for Disney studio's "The Absent-Minded Professor" (1961). Screenplay writer Valentine Davies had little time to find bemusement in the homage, felled by a heart attack just after the Disney picture's release. What makes "It Happens Every Spring" so enjoyable is that it's sheer nonsense and does not overindulge in mugging. Milland is a seventh inning stretch as a young graduate student, but he makes a fine impression. Milland sometimes suggests a screwball Cary Grant, but without suffering in the comparison. Of course, Mr. Douglas and the supporting cast assist admirably. Watch big names in little places as former "silent" film star Mae Marsh walks on as a housekeeper and future "Gilligan's Island" skipper Alan Hale Jr. makes the team.******* It Happens Every Spring (6/10/49) Lloyd Bacon ~ Ray Milland, Paul Douglas, Jean Peters, Ray Collins

Sometimes Hollywood gets it right. This is one of those times.While aiming for the funny bone, this delightful comedy scores a home run. Ray Milland is cast in the lead role as an absent-minded professor who becomes a hit in the world of baseball thanks to a wood-repellent formula he has invented. It prevents batters from getting to first base. Jean Peters plays the love interest, and she manages to get to first base in other ways. There's a good turn by veteran character actor Ray Collins, but the one to watch is Paul Douglas, in a supporting role. If you like this film, watch Disney's The Absent-Minded Professor starring Fred MacMurray.

"Field of Dreams" is the best baseball fantasy yet filmed, followed closely by "The Natural". In this picture, Prof. Vernon Simpson (Ray MIlland) invents a chemical which makes any object avoid wood. This property is invaluable to baseball pitchers who wish that their pitches avoid contact by batters. Simpson, tests his invention himself as he gets himself hired by the St. Louis baseball team. Their is decent comedy in this movie as Simpson tries to hide the reason for his success from his teammates, such as Monk (Paul Douglas), and his manager, Jimmy Dolan. The reason Simpson has for pitching, in addition to proving that his invention works, is to earn money so he can marry his girlfriend Debbie (Jean Peters), but he wants her not to find out why he has departed his college campus. I like this movie, it would probably play better during spring training, not the dead of winter, so it get a grade of C+ and a modest recommendation.