I'm glad to see that TCM has chosen to include this film in its lineup. I have, however, noted an error in the TCM and Wikipedia summaries regarding filming location. Both cite Occidental College in Eagle Rock, Calif. as the site for outdoor scene filming. In fact, most if not all were shot on the University of Redlands campus in Redlands, Calif. I attended the U. of R. for 4 years and graduated in the outdoor Greek Theater that appears in the film. Other scenes show the U. of R.'s distinctive chapel with the San Bernardino Mountains beyond, as well as the school's administration building on Ad Hill, its quadrangle and residence halls. The movie was shot two years before I enrolled there. Perhaps Warner Bros. had originally intended to film Goodbye My Fancy on the Occidental campus (much closer to the studio) and for whatever reason had to switch at the last minute to Redlands, but the planned LA area location remained on the studio's records.

Although I gave this film a "7" last time around, I was still a bit harsh about it. Now, having watched it a second time, my "7" will remain, but I'm going to chill out a bit about the film.Here a brash Congresswoman (Crawford) Agatha Reed returns to her alma mater to receive an honorary degree, although her prime motive is to rekindle an old romance with the college president (Robert Young). But, a reporter is after her, too (Frank Lovejoy).It's not the "Mommie Dearest" thing, but -- particularly this late in her career -- I have a difficult time seeing Joan Crawford as a sentimental character, or even being in a romantic comedy. But, Crawford comes across pretty well in the other half of her role here --a Congresswoman. So. it's a balance.Having Crawford as a brass Congresswoman is just about enough brashness for any film, but here we also have -- as her secretary -- Eve Arden. Arden excelled at being brash, and is no less so here. And only she could have pulled this off without the film going overboard in the brashness department.In a way, it almost seems to me that Robert Young was trying out his "Father Knows Best" persona here...just 3 years before that iconic role came his way. I enjoy him here; this is one of his better performances.It's a little difficult to understand why a mellow Young would be so attracted to the brash Congresswoman here. That's one of my biggest problems with this film. She seems more suited to Frank Lovejoy's newspaperman character...but of course, in real life they'd almost certainly end up in a divorce court a few years down the road.There's an interesting subplot about a teacher's freedom to teach students to think...although it falls flat at the end of the film...seems to have been forgotten about. The bottom line here, for me, was why this film grates on me a bit. And I think I finally figured it out. Joan Crawford as a Congresswoman...well maybe. But Joan Crawford fighting for education and freedom and democracy? I just can't buy that. Pretty good movie, but terribly miscast in terms of Crawford. (And her eyes drive me crazy...spooky!). Well worth watching it...once. Oops. Guess I should say twice.

While this picture ranks as a pretty heady Joan Crawford fantasy, this picture is NOT Joan! It is, however, Joan as she wanted to be seen -- younger than her peer Clara Bow, glamorous, caring about mothers and constituents and others, and hopelessly romantic. Truth be known, her only care for others was for her fans -- that they continued to write her, to adore her, to idolize what they believed to be her! Only one other reviewer tells the truth about the tawdry life of Joan before she was 18; none tells of the continuance of that life when she embarked on Hollywood and had her three or four careers there. That same reviewer, incidentally, is the only one who mentions that "Goodbye, My Fancy" was a hit play before it fell into the clutches of La Crawford, so while its premise and material might be heady for behind-the-times Hollywood, Broadway and the "road" had seen and enjoyed the play for a while before Hollywood tackled it! The 6-star rating is for the fact that this Crawford epic is meatier than the films-about-nothing that she usually made!While Robert Young played the usual stalwart, faceless, and characterless version of Robert Young that he usually played, and while Eve Arden managed to steal every scene in which she appeared -- even if only in the background -- no one mentions the name of the real man in the film, the really masculine character and actor who could more than handle La Crawford: Frank Lovejoy! He waited in the background, as he says, until she stops playing Little Nell from the Country and comes back to Earth! He and Arden are easily the best actors -- and give the best performances -- in the film."Goodbye, My Fancy" is better for these two actors, for the rest of the supporting cast, and for the production values than its two stars -- Crawford and Young, in case you forgot -- deserved!

What plays on the surface as a "romantic triangle" film carries a strong anti-McCarthyism message. Robert Young is the once-idealistic President of an exclusive Women's College who years earlier had trysted with Joan Crawford, a Congresswoman who has made a film depicting aspects of injustice. Crawford wants to reunite with Young and have the film played during Graduation Weekend. The school's trustees don't want the film shown, thinking it too "dangerous" for their students to see. The characters' arguments about democratic values play well with a modern audience, and both the political and the romantic aspects of the plot unfold in an engrossing and entertaining manner.