College (1927)

• Year: 1927
• Released: 01 Nov 1927
• Country: United States
• Adwords: 1 nomination
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017765/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/college
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: Not Rated
• Genre: Comedy, Drama, Sport
• Runtime: 66 min
• Writer: Carl Harbaugh, Bryan Foy
• Director: James W. Horne, Buster Keaton
• Cast: Buster Keaton, Anne Cornwall, Flora Bramley
• Keywords:

7.0/10

College Storyline

The Boy graduates from high school with interscholastic honors, and as class orator he speaks on “Brains vs. Brawn,” demeaning athletics, thereby winning the favor of the pedagogs but not that of the students. His college sweetheart requires that he become an athlete, so he spends his savings and tries out for all sports and is a perfect flop. He goes to work to pay his way through school, but every job adds to his blunders. His rival takes delight in maneuvering The Girl to his place of employment and further humiliating him. Then the college dean takes an interest in The Boy and insists that the varsity coach give him a chance; through coincidence, he thwarts a plot against him and wins a race. Learning that his rival has locked The Girl in the dormitory, The Boy goes to the rescue, performing all the athletic feats he dreamed about, and knocks the rival cold; thus the weakling becomes the college idol.

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College Movie Reviews

Keaton goes to college…just like Rodney Dangerfield would later on…

BUSTER KEATON, in his silent film comedies, was a forerunner of the type of comedian later embodied by the clumsy antics of WOODY ALLEN or RODNEY DANGERFIELD.

This is especially true of COLLEGE, in which our hero is a man who wants to impress his sweetheart with his athletic abilities–and seems to fail miserably. It’s a theme that was handled with a bit more finesse years later when Dangerfield went BACK TO SCHOOL (’86) and tried making his own distinct impression.

But Keaton, of course, has his moments even if they aren’t the most inspired bits of nonsense in his repertoire. The plot is simple enough–he has a girlfriend who prefers brawn over brains and is insulted when he blasts athletics in his graduation speech as the school’s brightest bookworm.

He follows her to college and intends to prove he can handle athletics as well as books. Most of the gags that follow are not as screamingly funny as they’re meant to be–mildly amusing is what I made of most of the film. And the politically correct will not be wild about his impersonation of “a colored waiter”.

Sorry, but there was too little plot to really engage my interest and I was bored long before the rowing crew ending. I definitely enjoyed Buster more in some of his other outings.

Nonetheless, we do have Keaton and Chaplin today, as Robert Osborne pointed out–and both of them have their following and cult status among a lot of the younger viewers. It’s just that COLLEGE is not among Keaton’s best work, in my opinion.

Keaton’s Version Of The Freshman

This film reminded me a lot of Harold Lloyd’s “The Freshman,” in which Harold goes out for sports in college to impress a girl – same story – and made two years earlier. I am partial to Lloyd’s version but I enjoyed this, too.

Keaton’s version starts off with the high school graduation ceremony. “Ronald” (Keaton), the scholar of the class, gives a speech denouncing athletics as a total waste of time and promoting being a bookworm over anything else. This speech is so offensive to the crowd that everyone leaves but Keaton’s mom, who applauds. By the way, all the high school graduates look between 25-35 years of age. These are the oldest-looking high school seniors in history!!

Anyway, a girl Buster is trying to impress “Mary Haynes” (Anne Cornwall), was among those not impressed with his snobby “scholar” speech. She’d rather have an athletic man. So, upon entering college, “Ronald” tries a variety of sports, to gain the approval of the girl. (Does this theme sound familiar, not just in the Lloyd film but so many of Keaton’s other films?)

He attempts to play baseball but is so clueless he puts on all the catcher’s equipment to play third base. Suffice to say, after a number of plays ensue, it’s more than evident that “Ronald” is a little bit out of his element! Next, he goes out for track, but gets discouraged when two little kids speed by him on the track. Throwing the discus and javelin are not good ideas, either. His high-jumping routine is very funny. He isn’t bad in the hurdles, however. Obviously, pole vaulting doesn’t work and the hammer throw almost gets his teammates killed, so he’s told to leave.

He gets a call from the Dean’s office. The Dean, who liked him from the start because he preferred studies over sports, is distressed because Buster’s grades are bad. Buster explains his problems and the Dean (played by the always-funny Snitz Edwards) sympathizes because, being a wimpy little guy, he same problem years ago with a woman he liked. So, as a favor, Dean Edwards orders the rowing coach to install Buster as the coxswain of the team. The coach and the crew don’t want this, as “Little Lord Fauntleroy” or “Mama’s Boy” and other names he’s called, has a reputation already at college as an athletic loser. They try to sabotage his attempt at being part of their crew, but he turns the tables. The funniest scene is when the new coxswain literally becomes the boat’s rudder.

The neatest part of the film is the ending, which is usually the case in silent comedies. Suffice to say that Buster puts all of his athletic talents, which were not effective on the sports fields, to good use to get the girl. It’s a memorable ending.

Wild World of Sports

COLLEGE (United Artists, 1927), directed by James W. Horne, is something of a sort-after silent classic inspired by Harold Lloyd’s more successful college comedy, THE FRESHMAN (1925), starring Buster Keaton demonstrating on how to fail as an athlete without really trying.

The story opens one rainy afternoon with Ronald (Buster Keaton), carrying his umbrella, walking along side with his mother (Florence Turner) to attend his high school graduation ceremony along with his other classmates: Mary Haines (Anne Cornwall), the girl he loves, and Jeff Brown (Harold Goodwin), his rival for Mary’s affection and star athlete who is finally graduating after seven years. Ronald, the school’s “most brilliant scholar,” receives his diploma, and is asked by the members of the faculty to speak on the “Curse of Athletics,” which he does. After degrading sports by saying “The student who wastes his time on athletics rather than study, shows ignorance” and “Where would I be without my books,” wins approval with the teachers but not with his classmates, especially Mary, who finds his speech ridiculous. Because Ronald loves Mary, he finds he might now really lose her to Jeff (Harold Goodwin). As Mary and Jeff register at Clayton College, Ronald decides to enroll there also, and with no financial support from his mother, he decides to work his way through college where he intends to win back Mary’s affection by becoming an athlete himself.

In true Keaton fashion, he tries out in all sports imaginable, ranging from baseball, track and field events, shot-put and finally as a coxswain on a varsity crew team in an important race, and flunks. Even while working as a soda jerk and as a waiter, he fails at that, too. But after he learns that his girl is in trouble does he pull out all stops in making himself a success without realizing how good he actually is.

COLLEGE may not be as well known as Buster Keaton’s other silent film comedies, including two of which come to mind, SHERLOCK Jr. (1924) and, of course his masterpiece, THE GENERAL (1926), but it’s a simple-minded story set against a college backdrop that features plenty of sight gags and sports activity to make this one enjoyable, especially to any avid sports fan.

The supporting players include: Snitz Edwards as the college dean; Grant Withers, Sam Crawford, Buddy Mason and Flora Bramley. While these names are not particularly well-known, it’s the Buster Keaton name heading the cast that has generated interest in this comedy, then and now.

COLLEGE was one of the twelve selected films to appear during the summer months on public television’s 1975 weekly presentation of “The Silent Years” as hosted by Lillian Gish, with a piano score and color tints from the Paul Killiam collection. Before the airing of the feature-length silent comedy, Gish would talk a little about Keaton’s career and how he became known as “Buster,”, present a 20-minute comedy short, ONE WEEK (1920), and then ask for the viewers awaiting to see COLLEGE to not be offended with one particular scene where Keaton’s character of Harold is working in a restaurant disguised as a “colored” waiter. This plea would still reflect upon viewers of today.

COLLEGE, which is available on video cassette and DVD, can be seen in various ways, depending on the distributor, especially with its time length. Blackhawk Video’s version accompanied with the same piano score that was used in “The Silent Years,” runs at 60 minutes; while Video Yesteryear’s accu-speed version with organ score runs close to 100 minutes. A more recent and recommended (1992) restored version with clearer picture and a fine new organ score by John Muri, running at 65 minutes, was the one formerly shown on cable television’s American Movie Classics (1997-2001), and later on Silent Sunday Nights on Turner Classic Movies.

In spite of a handful of college-sports films produced during this period, it’s interesting to point out that such legends of screen comedy as Charlie Chaplin and/or WC Fields have never attempted this. Future film comedians as Lou Costello and Jerry Lewis have done such, and probably were inspired by the likes of Lloyd or Keaton. However, COLLEGE is minor but enjoyable Keaton at best that would be a fine addition to any film buff’s video or DVD library. (***)

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