Our Miss Brooks (1956)

Film: Our Miss Brooks (1956)

Stars: Eve Arden, Gale Gordon, Don Porter, Robert Rockwell, Jane Morgan, Richard Crenna, Nick Adams

Director: Al Lewis

Oscar History: No nominations

Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

Each month, as part of our 2022 Saturdays with the Stars series, we highlight a different Classical Hollywood star who made their name in the early days of television.  This month, our focus is on Eve Arden: click here to learn more about Ms. Arden (and why I picked her), and click here for other Saturdays with the Stars articles.

I am going to attempt something that I don't entirely know if I'll be able to pull off today with another Saturdays with the Stars double-feature (it's entirely possible that this becomes briefly into Sunday).  The copy of the movie that I wanted to watch later today for a double feature (I'm aware we missed last week) isn't great, but I'm going to hunt for a better copy later today or I'm going to find a different movie as I don't like leaving Eve Arden totally in the lurch with only three films for the month (she's such a good & varied actress, I want at least one of her post-Our Miss Brooks films to be watched).  So for now, with hope in my eyes, we're going to start out with Our Miss Brooks the big-screen adaptation, and hopefully we'll finish off her month later today or early tomorrow (and in April, we get back to once a week...that's more me begging the universe to calm down after an unmanageable March).

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie is about Connie Brooks (Arden), an English teacher who has recently moved to town and gotten a job at a local school.  It's there that she meets the biology teacher Mr. Boynton (Rockwell), whom she becomes enamored with who largely is oblivious to her romantic pursuits of him.  Meanwhile, Connie is asked to tutor Gary Nolan (Adams), the son of the richest man in town Lawrence Nolan (Porter), who also takes a shine to Connie.  A side plot involves Connie's boss Mr. Conklin (Gordon) trying to run for school superintendent, in hopes of gaining more power over his situation.  These two worlds collide when Connie becomes his campaign manager after Conklin promises Boynton a promotion...and a salary that would grant her an engagement ring.  In the end, while Conklin doesn't get that job (he quits after he realizes it won't pay well enough), Connie still gets her man (even if her engagement ring is stolen by a chimpanzee at the zoo).

We're used to the concept of big-screen continuations of television series today, with shows like Sex and the City and The Simpsons pulling their universe onto the big-screen and using that as a new launchpad for the future of the show, but that's not really what Our Miss Brooks is.  While much of the original show's cast (including Arden, Gordon, Rockwell, Morgan, & Crenna) were brought in for this, it was a reboot.  After all, the original series (which had gone off of the air in 1956, when this was released) had ended with Connie marrying Mr. Boynton as well, so this was duplicative of the show, and basically started it from the beginning again.

As a result, the movie, while charming, plays as a stretched out episode of a sitcom more than a film, and doesn't quite work.  It's easy to see why this was a successful sitcom through this lens, of course-Arden is funny, making every lusty side eye from Connie pull off beautifully, and she & Gordon are quite fun together as adversaries turned reluctant partners.  But the movie repeats itself & the comedic bits feel too sitcom-y to work in the confines of a larger movie...it isn't really adapted for the big screen in this sense.  I liked it for what it was, but the seams are showing.  As a result, I leave a bit mixed on the idea of this, but like that Arden had success, and get why this was the role that would win her an Emmy Award.