It Happens Every Spring (1949)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Lloyd Bacon

Writers:

Valentine Davies (screenplay)
Valentine Davies (story)

Release Date:

8 August 1949 (Sweden)

Genre:

Comedy | Sci-Fi | Sport

Plot:

A scientist discovers a formula that makes a baseball which is repelled by wood. He promptly sets out to exploit his discovery.

Plot Keywords:

Baseball | Leave Of Absence | St. Louis | Discovery | Professor

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Ray Milland	...	Prof. Vernon K. Simpson aka King Kelly
Jean Peters	...	Deborah Greenleaf
Paul Douglas	...	Monk Lanigan
Ed Begley	...	Edgar Stone
Ted de Corsia	...	Manager Jimmy Dolan
Ray Collins	...	Prof. Alfred Greenleaf
Jessie Royce Landis	...	Mrs. Greenleaf
Alan Hale Jr.	...	Schmidt
William Murphy	...	Tommy Isabell (as Bill Murphy)

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Wrigley Field - 1060 W. Addison St., Lake View, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

All the baseball teams are identified by their city but never by their nicknames. Even the home team uniforms, which should have the team nicknames, list the city instead. The reason is because the commissioner of baseball, Happy Chandler, would not sanctioned the movie because of the cheating element in the movie. So 20th Century could not use the the name of the teams or even use cameo baseball player walk ons like the studio wanted to do.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Vernon asks his two students to meet him on the baseball field at 5am. No where in the US is it light at 5am in the spring.

Quotes:

Manager Jimmy Dolan: [Kelly has just walked off the field in the middle of a game and Jimmy wants to fine him] Kelly's not indispensable!
Monk Lanigan: I know, but the team can't get along without him.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Sports on the Silver Screen (1997) (TV)

Soundtrack:

I'm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover

Entertaining But Brutally Bad Baseball

Talk about dated! However, that's not a knock because dated many times means fun to watch, and nostalgic for some. This is an entertaining film and very likable.

But, if you are a baseball fan or know anything about the game, be prepared. This has the hokiest baseball scenes ever put on film. It's almost like those corny Ed Wood and others sci-fi films of the 1950s that are so bad, so corny that they are good, if you know what I mean.

The actors in here have NO CLUE how to throw a baseball or how to bat. Ray Milland is a pitcher and the star of the show and he has no idea but his catcher, played by Paul Douglas, is worse. He is embarrassingly bad. You remember the expression, "He throws like a girl!?" Well, that's Douglas. You mean with all the actors in Hollywood, they couldn't find ONE who knows how to throw a baseball?

There are so many bloopers in here - like "St. Louis" being replaced by "Chicago" on the jerseys when there are long-distance shots. You could write a novel on all the filming mistakes in here.

Yet, it's just a lighthearted comedy and, if taken in that context, easier to swallow and enjoy. The story is at its funniest when Milland pitches and the ball dispy- doodles around the baseball bats of all the hitters. (He had invented a substance that applied to something makes it avoid touching wood, so applied to a baseball, a bat could never make contact.....and, yes, as one reviewer points out, that is cheating.)

Dumb...but innocent fun and definitely has enough laughs to make it worthwhile watching.