‘The Andy Hardy Collection, Vol. 1’ new on DVD

This generation of young film-goers has the “Harry Potter” and “Twilight” movie franchises. But more than 70 years ago, audiences couldn’t get enough of MGM’s wholesome “Andy Hardy” series. It starred Mickey Rooney as energetic teenager Andy Hardy, Lewis Stone as his wise father, Fay Holden as his mother, Cecilia Parker as sister Marian and Ann Rutherford as girlfriend Polly Benedict. This white-picket-fence, idealized vision of small-town America spawned 16 films between 1937 and 1958. The series even won MGM a special 1942 Oscar for the studio’s “achievement in representing the American Way of Life in the production of the ‘Andy Hardy’ series of films.” Warner Archive recently released “The Andy Hardy Collection, Vol. 1” on DVD. It features six films, including 1940’s “Andy Hardy Meets Debutante” with Judy Garland.