Bernardine Reviews

BERNARDINE is Fox's answer to the Presley films. Boone, who first achieved national recognition on Arthur Godfrey's TV show, is the white on white hero, one of several young and definitely unsleazy students who create a mythical girl named Bernardine that they would all love to love. Moore is new in town. She's a telephone operator who meets the exact standards that the boys have laid down for their dream woman. The slim story has Sargent (later to replace Dick York on TV's "Bewitched") falling in love with Moore, then having to cease seeing her while he studies for finals. Boone has his older brother, Drury (who became "The Virginian"), take Moore out to keep her away from the clutching lounge lizards in the town. Drury and Moore fall in love, Sargent runs off to join the service, and returns home 18 months later, sadder but wiser. BERNARDINE doesn't have much to recommend it. Boone says "gee" a lot and looks as though he's doing an imitation of himself. Janet Gaynor returned to the screen in this film after a long absence. One would have hoped she might have chosen a better vehicle. The original play is by Mary Chase, who wrote HARVEY.