The Happy Years

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The Happy Years
Happy years.jpg
Film poster
Directed by William Wellman
Written by Harry Ruskin
Based on
The Varmint: A Lawrenceville Story
by
Produced by Carey Wilson
Starring Dean Stockwell
Darryl Hickman
Scotty Beckett
Leon Ames
Margalo Gillmore
Cinematography Paul C. Vogel
Edited by John Dunning
Music by Leigh Harline
Color process Technicolor
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • July 14, 1950 (1950-07-14)(Los Angeles)
Running time
109-110 mins
CountryUnited States
Language English
Budget$1,393,000 [1]
Box office$855,000 [1]

The Happy Years is a 1950 Technicolor MGM film starring Dean Stockwell and based on the 1910 novel The Varmint by Owen Johnson. It concerns the adventures of Dink Stover, a boy attending the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey.

Contents

Plot

Expelled from numerous preparatory schools, most recently after causing a campus explosion, young John Humperdink Stover is given one last chance by his father to find maturity and discipline along with a proper education. On the way to a new academy, Stover disrupts the trip of fellow carriage passenger Mr. Hopkins by causing the horse to break into a gallop. He is unaware that Hopkins is the Latin teacher and housemaster at his school.

Given the nickname "Dink," he becomes acquainted with other students, such as "Tough" McCarty and "Tennessee" Shad, and becomes engaged in fights with the other boys. The rivalry spills onto the football field and also includes elaborate pranks played on several neighborhood girls, starting with Connie Brown, during the summer break. On the verge of being expelled from yet another school, Dink comes to his senses just in time, making his father proud at last.

Cast

The film marked Wagner's screen debut.

Production

The film's working title was Dink Stover but was changed to The Happy Years in March 1950. [3]

Reception

Reviewer Marjory Adams of The Boston Globe called the film "a pleasant, flavorsome story" that "manages to instill nostalgic humor and sentiment into the fairly mild plot." [4]

According to MGM records, the movie earned $680,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $175,000 elsewhere, resulting in a loss of $1,096,000. [1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  2. ↑ Hanson, Patricia King, ed. (1999). AFI Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States; Volume F4: Feature Films, 1941-1950; Film Entries A-L . p. 978. ISBN   0-520-21521-4.
  3. ↑ Hopper, Hedda (1950-03-27). "Hollywood". Hartford Courant . p. 15.
  4. ↑ Adams, Marjory (1950-07-20). "New Film: "The Happy Years" at Metropolitan a Bright Story of School Days". The Boston Globe . p. 32.


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