A Case of Spring Fever (1940) User Reviews

What would life be without spring, George Bailey?

[CelluloidRehab · 2/10 · 2 April 2009]

This is a typical short film in the genre of the "what would life be like if we didn't have 'this'?" . This can be anything from an element to a specific technology. We are typically given situations without said thing and then we repeat the same situations with the thing in question, for comparison. This short deals with springs.

The main character is fixing a coach for his wife instead of going golfing with the boys (sadly not a euphemism). He places a dreaded curse upon the spring's existence and an animated character appears. It calls itself Coily the Spring Sprite and it is there to make the man's existence a living, spring-less hell.

Coily gets the utmost pleasure from making all the springs disappear and making the man miserable to the point of acquiescing his mistake. After that, the man takes to his reprogramming like a fish to water. He becomes a spring-aficionado and proceeds to harass all his friends, in a Coily-like fashion. The man, once a victim, continues the vicious cycle of psychological abuse.

One of the funnier MST3k shorts (and the guy's presence is always a blessing), but by the end, we ALL get it; springs are everywhere. Shut up already.

-Celluloid Rehab

No talent either. *SPOILERS*

[icehole4 · 2/10 · 23 January 2002]

This short deals with a guy who has to fix a couch, and this makes him miss his golf game. He then wishes he never had to deal with springs again. Then Coily, an evil spring sprite comes to him and grants his wish. He then finds out how dumb that wish was. He tries to dial on a rotary phone, but it won't go back; he pulls down a shade, and it falls apart. He tries to stop his car, but he can't do that either. In the end the guy becomes a spring convert and goes around telling people the virtues of springs. The main thing that shoots this one down is Coily's voice. Coily sounds like a grouchy old man who enjoys ruining the days of others. His laugh is very grating on the nerves, which he does often. "No springs! HEHEHEHEHEHE!" AAGGH! Rightfully skewered on Mystery Science Theater 3000 for its bad acting.

MST3K: "No springs? I don't care. There's still butter and meatloaf!"

[ackstasis · 3/10 · 17 September 2010]

This 1940 educational short, memorably hounded by the folk at Mystery Science Theatre 3000, is a little peculiar in that it seems to recognise that it is annoying and boring. In a chilling fantasy scenario that no doubt had Frank Capra scrambling for pen-and-paper, a befuddled old man, while repairing a couch, wishes the non-existence of springs. A sprightly little animated pooka called Coily materialises out of thin air to grant the man's wish. Want to make a phone call, old man? NOOOOOO SPRINGS! Want to close your front door, old man? NOOOOOO SPRINGS! Want to drive in your car, old man? NOOOOOOOOOO SPRINGS! Okay, at this stage the film has made its point, and ought to quit while it's not too far behind. But it doesn't. Having apparently stopped by the library on his way to the golf course, the old man serenades his golf-buddies with an extended lecture on the usefulness of springs in everyday life. His companions, mirroring the audience's reaction, are at first annoyed, and then promptly fall asleep.

Cheery short of the "I wish there were no such thing as _____" genre

[Mike Sh. · 23 December 2003]

A big wholesome slice of 1940's Americana is presented in the guise of this instructional short film on the utility of springs by the good folks at Jam Handy Productions, who were rightly renowned in their day for this sort of thing.

The People of the Conveniently Located Fruit Spreads begin their tale with a frog-faced old coot whose struggles to repair the broken supporting springs on his living room sofa are conflicting with his scheduled tee time. Falling back on a well-weathered instructional short film cliche, our ranine protagonist temeritously shouts to the heavens his wish that springs had never been created. Up pops without delay a snaggle toothed, Grandpa-hillbilly-accented elfin creature who proclaims himself to be Coily the Spring Sprite. "You'll get your wish!" coily croaks testily, and with that word, it is done - springs are no more.

Froggy the Coot, at first delighted that this brave new springless world offers no further obstacle to his putting on silly knee pants and swatting a small white ball around a large well-mown lawn, soon realizes that his foolish words have wrought a veritable dystopia - nothing works! "No springs!" cackles Grandpa Coily every time Old Frog-Face tries to do anything - dial a phone, raise his window shades, keep his front door shut, start his car - and finds himself foiled for want of springs! Reduced to the most wretched and abject repentance, Uncle Froggy is pitied by our springy friend (perhaps Coily pities the coot's odd taste in clothes), who then returns the world to its previous spring-loaded condition with a stern warning: "Don't ever wish for anything like that again!"

The blubberingly grateful frogman then applies himself to proclaiming the Gospel of Springs with the dedication of a zealot. His endless gassing on about springs ruins his friends' golf game, but they are unfortunately too polite to beat him to death with baseball bats.

A cautionary tale, this film makes me apprehensive about wishing (however lightly) for the eradication of any household item, however trivial.

I wonder how this film would have been if the old coot had wished for "No caulking"?

Was there a lot of apathy towards springs in the 1940s?

[Aaron1375 · 1/10 · 19 February 2012]

I, like many others, saw this short on the episode of MST3k featuring the film Squirm. Of course I saw it there! I am doubting there are to many people out there that saw this thing without Mike and the bots as it is an extremely old short from the 40s that is a promotion piece for springs. Like I ask in my summary, was there a lot of hatred and such for springs in the 1940s? It makes no sense that anyone wasted time and money making this short just so they could tell the world the importance of springs. What? They could not pull together a short telling us of the importance of water, eating, or air? This one features a grumpy guy forced by his wife to fix the couch with all its springs rather than go golfing with his buddies. He says he wishes he would never see another spring and he is visited by the insane spring sprite Coily! I make statements such as the grumpy man's all the time, yet I have yet to visited by an insane sprite or imp or elf or whatever that thing is. Probably a good thing for humans in general as I often wish I was the last person left and all other humans were gone! Well, Coily shows the man a world without springs and the man quickly wishes springs back into his life before joining his golf buddies and using his annoying new information to destroy his friends at golf as he keeps talking. Pointless is the word best used to describe this short, besides of course short.

Might Be Interesting For a First Year Physics Class

[gavin6942 · 4/10 · 5 April 2015]

An animated pixie named Coily grants a man his wish that all springs disappear... a wish that he soon regrets.

Between 1935 and 1968, the Jam Handy Organization produced 72 films, many of them short, and probably most notably a series of movies about the 1955 Chevrolet. Today (2015) we might laugh at most of them, but they had their place.

This one is particularly interesting in the context of a first-year physics class. If you were to show this to freshmen in high school, they would probably learn a thing or two. Younger students might even appreciate it more. When taught about simple machines, springs are often overlooked.

This film, although short, suffers from its second half because it seems to keep going long after the point is made that springs are important. Did they just need to fill time? And unfortunately the actors involved have had their names lost to history...

Why Does It HAVE To Be Seen? Well...

[abyoussef · 8/10 · 25 September 2015]

by Dane Youssef

IT'S THE KIND OF THING that happened all the time back in those days. And by such, I mean that they had these sort of tales in books, movies, magazines and tales around a roaring campfire. They were everywhere at the time. The whole "It's A Wonderful Life" gimmick applying to some product or device. Ordinary average people cursing the frustration of some product—and wished it away with all their heart.

A man in the glorious year of 1940 is simply tired of looking at springs when he has to fix the busted couch in his home. He misses a golf game with his buddies. Fed up with even so much as the sight of springs, he utters those words that a lot of the folk in these things would utter: "I wish I'd never been born—er, I mean I wish this particular substance doesn't existence anymore!" Then right on cue, a little Jiminy Cricket-like cartoon conscience-like character pops up — obnoxiously cheerful and perky. He's literally a cartoon spring—goes by the moniker of "Coily the Spring Sprite." Why bother wishing upon a star?

And we then have to witness how every product that uses this substance just instantly falls apart. He wishes that "I never have to look at a spring as long as I live." And… every product with a spring in it… now… simply doesn't. Little "Coily the Spring Sprite" casts a spell… sending all the springs in the dear man's life away. Forever and ever… Well, no. Just until our hero wises up. Not even a full minute, I think.

Our hero, after getting the inevitable good fortune to un-wish a world free of the burden of springs, is a changed man. He is now over the moon that springs exist. And when he's finally able to play a game of golf with his buddies, he kills on the golf course. His game puts theirs to shame—while he bores and irritates them to tears by talking about the importance and usage to springs. His pals p It's like he just had a near-death experience. He becomes the spokesman for spring use. Well, thanks Mr… Hey, you know… they never gave us his name.

Jam Handy made a nice little string of films to let you know how important and life-crucial the products he and his company was cranking out were.

Jam Handy wants you to know damn well they're making a product that's as important to life on this planet as water—as oxygen itself. OK, OK, OK. Springs serve a vital purpose. Point made. But we knew that already.

How good it is? Oh, it needs to be seen. Why? Because the good people at the affiliate of "Mystery Science Theatre 3000" gave it a good once-over. Now we've all heard that immortal expression metaphor more than one point in our lifetime: "You can't turn a sow's ear into a silk purse." I mean… how do you do that? Well, you can turn literal you-know-what into grade A+++ fertilizer. And that's what "MST3K" always did. Hell, it's what everyone seems to be doing nowadays. Huh. We're all living in a very good time.

"A CASE OF SPRING FEVER" is pretty much pure camp… entirely laughable all by itself. We might not even have needed our beloved angels of salvation from "MST3K" to roast it at the stake. But… I say we should be grateful they showed up anyway. Hell, no one in this day and age would have seen this now- embarrassingly tacky educational ad newsreel if the "MST3K" band hadn't had their way with it. God Bless them. And everyone else bless them too.

But… our beloved friends, our guardian angels… the boys at MST3K give it the essential treatment it deserves.

--Now Fully Realizing The Importance of Springs, Nostalgia and Spoof, Dane Youssef

No Springs! EHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!

[Hancock_the_Superb · 7/10 · 10 July 2002]

This has to be one of the stupidest, funniest things ever made! It follows the exploits of a "spring sprite" named Coily who comes to torment a guy who looks like Ernest Borgnine but has the voice of James Stewart who doesn't want springs for some reason. His evil call "No Springs!" gets me everytime!

The MST3K version of it was better than any of their full-length episodes ("More gray a$$es!" "You'll be the first to die!" "Guns, huh?"), but this thing can keep you entertained by itself.

Seven stars (yes, you read right) for "A Case Of Spring Fever"; 10 for the MST3K version.

"NO SPINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Chilling

[Domitian · 9 November 2001]

NOOOOOOOO SPRINGS MY FRIEND, NOOOOOOOOOOO SPRINGS!!!!!!! HEHEHEHEHEH!!!! BOING This is easily one of the most disturbing of all the "I wish that ____ didn't exist" type of 1950's short films ever made. A man, who looks like Eleanor Roosevelt, gets fed up from fixing his sofa and wishes never to see another spring as long as he lives. It's up to COILY (I kid you not, that's his name) the spring sprite they call him, to show him the error of his ways. Possibly one of the top 5 funniest shorts ever to be mocked on MST3K, up there with Chicken of Tomorrow and MR. B Natural.

"So, Coily waited thousands of years to make his point, and then he backed down almost instantly?"

[filmbuff-36 · 19 October 2002]

No springs! (followed by sound effect that sounds like "woo hoo")

An awful short detailing the importance of springs in everyday life. The worst thing is, only half the short is about a world without springs, and the second half is about the man (who is now apparently a full member of the Spring Religion) harassing his golf buddies about why they should thank God (God being Coily the spring sprite in this situation) that there are so many springs in the world.

2/10 for the short itself (it's gets some points because it made me understand the importance of springs!), and 10/10 for the MST3K episode it was featured in.

The single most vile thing ever on MST3K

[Tricer1447 · 21 July 2003]

Manos Hands of Fate. Quest of the Delta Knights. Invasion of the Neptune Men. Squirm. OH WHAT THE HELL! O I'm crying.. AWAWAWA! O this short o that demon sprite "NO SPRINGS! No SPRINGS! Insert many crying noisese here. This is more painful than any of those accursed movies (except for revenge of the creature, the black scorpion and the deadly mantis cause those movies are good, just chessy but good. O yea, Gorgo and Teenaged Werewolf 2) All I am going to say is that I'm surprised that damn sprite Coily and that obbsessive freak who has got to be more spring loving than anyone! Mike and the Bots should be praised (agian!) for bashing this.



I love you MST3K!