cult film freak: DANA ANDREWS AND BETTY HUTTON FLING IN 'SPRING REUNION'

Dana Andrews & Betty Hutton Year: 1957 Rates: ***1/2

By the middle of the 1950's, Dana Andrews had swung full circle, back to playing either the secondary handsome guy... who doesn't get the girl... or in the case of SPRING REUNION, the handsome guy whose part is secondary to the leading actress, and was basically cast because... well... he's handsome enough for her...

And the picture's biggest flaw is that the entire cast looks far too old to be celebrating their 15-year high school reunion, including flaky-cute Jean Hagan in a troubled marriage, almost hooking up with jovially oblivious has-been footballer (also in a troubled marriage) Gordon Jones....

But this REUNION belongs almost entirely to former musical darling Betty Hutton, suffering from too much contentment and way too much love from daddy (she still lives with her parents); and that actor, Robert F. Simon, doesn't think his little girl is good enough for anyone, including the successful Dana Andrews: A popular fella voted most likely to succeed, Dana's Fred Davis only partially lives up to the title since he walks away from any successful job he tires of...

What is it so great about Foreign Posters anyway?

So basically what's here is a kind of romantic programmer (ghost-produced by Dana's future IN HARM'S WAY co-star Kirk Douglas) that serves a bittersweet reminder of the post-war years when idle time seemed to stand still...

And while the scenes at the REUNION itself are corny and fun (featuring drunken chaperone Irene Ryan; snarky Ken Curtis; and deliberately untalented celebrity-impersonator Sara Berner), it's the moments between Andrews (despite being an impatient grouch whose striped shirt annoyingly morays) and Hutton that, in what pans out like its own cozy stage play... even at sea and under a romantic lighthouse beacon... is worth the reclining hour-long viewing.