Mr. Belvedere Goes to College

Clifton Webb is at his supercilious and pompous best in this outing for his supremely self-confident "Belvedere" character. It seems he has spent all of his book proceeds defending libel actions and so needs to enrol in college to get a basic degree that will enable him to claim a much needed $10,000 prize. He breezes through the entrance exams but is nowhere near as adept when it comes to co-exisiting with his far younger colleagues from the student body. Things only become more complex when he encounters budding school journalist "Ellen" (Shirley Temple). She's also got a few issues, not least being a widowed single mother and having a lively relationship with her current beau "Bill" (Tom Drake) who's still reeling from learning of her own domestic arrangements. It now falls to our eponymous character to try and juggle his needs to keep low-key to claim his funds whilst acting as a sort of match-maker for the young couple. Though Temple acquits herself adequately here, and there are also some fun frat-contributions from Alan Young and Alvin Greenman, this is all just a vehicle for a Webb who manages to keep the increasingly ridiculous scenarios in which he finds himself out of the realms of slapstick. His is a characterful effort that depicts this frankly rather irritating man in an engaging fashion for an eighty minutes that's pithily written and snappily delivered. Along the way, it takes a swipe at all things collegiate, including the snobbishness of the faculty and the daftness of their sorority/fraternity cultures which proves quiet entertaining at times, too. It does rather run out of steam at the end, though, which is a shame but it's still fun to watch this skilled comedy actor in his element.