It Happens Every Spring

It's the time of year when every American's fancy turns to baseball, and this is an original (if blinkered) little comedy about chemistry professor Ray Milland inventing a substance that causes baseballs to veer away from the bats. Quite obviously, he then gives up the distinguished groves of Academe to become a star pitcher. This daffy nonsense is endearingly played, particularly by Milland and co-stars Jean Peters and Paul Douglas. The inventive screenplay is by Valentine Davies, who had just won an Oscar for his original story Miracle on 34th Street, a classic tale of whimsy, but with more international appeal than this.