College (1927) User Reviews

Keaton's Version Of The Freshman

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 1 September 2006]

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

[lugonian · 7/10 · 19 July 2003]

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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Athletics provides Keaton with a goldmine of great gags

[ackstasis · 7/10 · 14 November 2007]

While this may seem a rather lightweight effort considering it came in the same year that produced 'The General (1927),' 'College' is an excellent little film in which Buster Keaton exploits the endless slapstick possibilities offered by sporting activities. Keaton plays Ronald, an unpopular bookworm whose public condemnation of athletics leads his girlfriend (Anne Cornwall) to dump him in favour of a more physically-capable jock (Harold Goodwin). In an attempt to win back the love of his life, Ronald enrolls himself in college and tries his hands at every sport in sight, with hilarious consequences. The two preceding sentences pretty much summarise the entire film. However, this inkling of a narrative is more than enough to open up a vast range of entertaining gags, and Keaton snatches a laugh at every opportunity.

How do I begin to list my favourite moments from 'College?' Though some have complained of the repetitiveness of the sequence in which Keaton tries every athletics activity in the book, I thought it was the highlight of the film. The scenes follow a very strict comedic routine: first we see how it is supposed to be done, then we see Ronald's absurdly inept attempt. Wash, rinse, repeat; this time with a completely different sport. Of course the routine becomes somewhat predictable, but Buster Keaton is always the uncertain variable. We don't know how his next effort is going to fail, but we know it is, and that it's going to be a spectacular failure. Ronald is a hopeless case, but you can't deny that he's got heart. Whether he is being out-sprinted by a pair of young children, falling short of the long-jump sandpit, snapping a pole-vaulting stick in half or planting his face two feet underground after clearing the high-jump bar, he is always courageous enough to get up, brush himself off and try again.

I've read that Harold Lloyd explored similar territory two years earlier with 'The Freshman (1925),' a film I haven't seen yet, so that one's probably a good film to look up if you, like me, enjoyed this one. It is also believed that there was originally a sequence showing Ronald's attempts to play American football, though this was ulimately cut to avoid comparisons with Lloyd's movie. Additionally, I was interested to read that Ronald's pole-vault through the window was one of the few times in Keaton's career that he didn't perform his own stunts. I'm certain that the danger-level was definitely not the problem {anybody who's seen 'Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)' will attest to that}, but pole-vaulting must have been one activity that he simply couldn't pull off. I don't blame him.

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

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 10 June 2007]

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.

Buster Keaton goes to "College".

[H_A_Wellington_IV · 8 October 2004]

College (1927) was an interesting film that Buster Keaton made during the later days of the silent movie period. In "College", he plays a student who tries all kinds of school sports just so he could impress a girl he's fallen head over heels for. As usual the film is a showcase for Buster Keaton's talents as a stuntman, comedian and director. A little known film but it's one of his better ones. If you're a fan of the silent cinema or a Buster Keaton fan I advise you to pick up a copy of "College". A nice little film that has a "sweet" ending.

Recommended.

A I don't know how many different running times there are for this movie.

The one I saw clocked in at a little over an hour.

Keaton's Interesting Achievement

[marcin_kukuczka · 7/10 · 30 December 2012]

"In films that combined comedy with extraordinary physical risks, Buster Keaton played a brave spirit who took the universe on its own terms, and gave no quarter" (Roger Ebert)

Among many silent movies which we are lucky to see these days (and which have not been lost after all), COLLEGE by James W. Horne and Buster Keaton was a real surprise for the audiences in my town's movie theater. Seeing silent comedies on the big screen exceptionally proves to be an uncommon experience. I think that there are hardly any viewers who may leave the cinema disappointed. Simply because the humor of COLLEGE seems to have stood a test of time combining comedy features with some notions of what a good movie entertainment is all about. What is it about?

It is to amuse us, to bring relief, to educate a bit being at the same time not too tense. Roger Ebert, in the quotations that marks the beginning of my review, nicely observes that Keaton was able to execute tremendous physical abilities, which makes his films interesting even today. That is particularly noticeable in COLLEGE and calls our attention throughout. His character of young Ronald who does anything to make himself attractive to Mary (Anne Cornwall), the girl he loves, executes much of timeless humor. Combined with wit, the effect is outstanding: awe and laughter go in pairs and substitute each other. Who can forget the hilarious scenes on the sports field? How can you remain indifferent to his efforts? A lot of such moments when he moves like a true athlete do not allow you to concentrate elsewhere. That makes COLLEGE vibrant and surprising.

Keaton's character is quite different than Charlie Chaplin's roles. He is quite a flamboyant young man who makes us laugh but ALSO makes us identify with his dilemma. Just to note what there is at the heart of his efforts: to win the heart of his 'sweetheart.' Consider the scenes with his mother (Florence Turner) when the humor is somehow directed towards his umbrella but also supplied with a clue of such a young man's personality, his dealing with the world and his dealing with simple situations. When he is in the arms of his Mary at last (the moment that he reaches thanks to extraordinary pains taken), it is a truly genuine moment, a moment of a dream fulfilled...expressed in the face of a performer.

Among the supporting cast, Snitz Edwards is fabulously funny as the Dean, the old bachelor who only claims to be indifferent to a woman's love.

To draw a humorous conclusion, COLLEGE is a light hearted entertainment which, though it is silent, does not let you resort to silence. Having seen it, you still feel a desire to share your thoughts with other people. A gem of its time!

Educate yourself in it

[hte-trasme · 7/10 · 19 April 2010]

The consensus seems to be that "College" is good, but it isn't up to the level of Buster Keaton's best other efforts from this era. Having watched it, I can't really disagree with that assessment. There's plenty of good material here and the star, of course but it's difficult not to compare it with Keaton's other work, and somehow it doesn't really feel like a Buster Keaton feature in certain ways.

The line of the story is less unified and forceful than in his other films; Buster is a bookworm who goes to college and must pay his way while taking up sports to prove himself to a girl. Instead of the kind of logical sequence of events that drives "The General" or flight of stunningly bizarre imagination that marks "Sherlock Jr," "College" is more of an episodic series of sequences in which Buster tries out various new sports and jobs at his new school.

This keeps the story from moving quickly or becoming as involving as it could be, but the upside is that these are mainly handled in a very funny way, with Buster showing off his seemingly innate ability to turn any setting (i.e. a soda jerk's counter) into a treasure chest of natural physical comedy. Probably the highlight of the film is the extended sequence where we get to see Buster have fun generating comedy from his and my favorites sport -- baseball. One can see the enthusiasm as he plays third base in catcher's gear and finds a way to make three outs for his team in one play.

One could believe that Buster's character here is a younger version of his sheltered professor from "Speak Easily," and like that later film this one is funny even if it doesn't always make full use of his particular comedy abilities and style. It feels a little more typical than most of his best comedies, and doesn't feature many of the large-scale and involved mechanical gag sequences that he excelled at until the thrill ending in which Keaton gets the girl. Perhaps as a contrast to the more conventional nature of the story and some of the comedy in this feature, Keaton ends the film which a brilliant gag that subverts the typical "Hollywood ending" in just a few utterly logical and hilarious seconds.

This is a good comedy and well worth a viewing for the comedy Buster Keaton brings to failure at the various sports and jobs at attempts in it, but as a film it has to be said that it is less than well-structured and dynamic.

Keaton does 'The Freshman' his way

[mjneu59 · 8/10 · 11 November 2010]

Purists like to dismiss Buster Keaton's ninth feature as an atypical and thus somehow unworthy commercial compromise forced by the relative failure of his previous masterpiece 'The General'. But while it may not have the deeper resonance of other Keaton comedies it certainly isn't lacking for laughs. The scenario itself is common enough, presenting a variation of Harold Lloyd's popular college comedy 'The Freshman', featuring Buster as an Ivy League bookworm attempting athletic competition to impress a disinterested girlfriend. But the bits of comedy in between the plot lines are unique and many, making this a film of details, some of them quite startling: Buster, carrying a tray of soup, doing a backward somersault without spilling a drop, or trying his hand at every possible track and field event with predictably embarrassing but inventive results, or adding a hilariously cold-blooded epilogue to the happily-ever-after fadeout. No matter how familiar it might appear in outline, the world inhabited by Keaton was all his own, and always contained surprises enough to delight the unwary, inattentive viewer.

A few good bits, but pretty lackluster overall

[MissSimonetta · 7/10 · 17 December 2012]

Though hailed as a masterpiece now, Keaton's magnum opus The General (1926) was both a huge flop at the box office and given lukewarm reception by the critics upon its initial release. This led Keaton's producer Joseph M. Schenck to force Keaton to play it safe the next time around; he stripped away some of his creative control and had him appear in a college picture in the hopes of riding upon the success of Harold Lloyd's The Freshman (1925). The result was a lackluster picture which managed to lose more money than The General, and unlike its predecessor, time has not improved its reputation.

As many others have noted, Buster does not pull off the "unathletic milquetoast" character in this. He does fine when he's wearing baggy clothes and such, but the moment he puts on those tight athletic outfits you can see every muscle on his body. (This is bad when it comes to making the character believable, but a plus as well since he's so good-looking.)

Most of the story is rather repetitive: Buster tries and fails to make sports teams on campus. It becomes rather dull fast. There are some good bits in between however: the soda jerk scene is great and then there's the climax where Buster has to rush to save his girl from the unwanted advances of a romantic rival. The ending is the best of all, one of the darkest Keaton ever made: we see he and the girl go off to be wed, and it seems as though they will live happily ever after. However, the film does not end there: we flash forward to the couple's life together, raising children and growing old. (In the "growing old" scene, the couple seem rather upset with each other, perhaps inferring that theirs was not a match made in heaven?) The final shot is that of two tombstones, followed by "The End". It almost makes up for the dull sequences which have gone on before, but not quite.

Not Top-Notch Keaton But Still Worth Watching

[zardoz-13 · 8/10 · 26 March 2008]

The sophomoric 1927 Buster Keaton silent comedy "College" lacks the overall creativity of "The General" (1927), "Steamboat Bill, Jr.," (1928) and "The Cameraman" (1928). Buster's gags and routines are tame compared with the three aforementioned epics. Nevertheless, "College" isn't completely without merit. The irony, for example, is that the physically fit Buster plays a protagonist without any athletic ability until the villain endangers our hero's sweetheart. Like Charles Chaplin, Buster exploited incongruity as the source for his comedy. "College" is basically your boy wants girl, boy loses girl, and then boy wins girl nonsense.

"On the sunkist slopes of the Pacific where land and water meet—California" reads the opening title card. Rain pelts Union High School auditorium as people huddle under newspapers and umbrellas. The opening 10 minute-plus scene depicts Buster's high school graduation day "where the next step is either to go to college or go to work." Buster arrives at graduation with his mother. Although Ronald has brought an umbrella, his cheap $15 suit shrinks up on him as that he looks ridiculous. This gag and his problems closing an umbrella gag are clever and cute. This is the most non-traditional graduation because nobody wears caps and gowns. They had to otherwise everybody would have looked the same and we would never have seen Buster's suit shrink. All in all, this is the most thought out and calculated sequence in "College."

Mary Haynes—the heroine--has a memorable introduction. The male students remove several coats that they had generously allowed her to bundle up in to avoid getting drenched. She is described as "the winner of every popular contest in which the boys were allowed to vote. When she receives his diploma, the principal predicts that she will fit in at Clayton College as she did at Union High School. Star athlete Jeff Brown (Harold Goodwin) appears amid fanfare. He is described "as a man who loved exercise so much that he has made many a girl walk home." When the principal hands Jeff his diploma, he notes that Jeff took seven years to earn it. Lastly, the principal congratulates Buster for being "the most brilliant scholar." Of course, everybody laughs at Buster because his suit has shrunken so much that the buttons on his vest have popped off and his sleeves have retreated virtually to his elbows.

Buster alienates everybody at graduation with his anti-athletic speech. As the top student, he receives an honor medal. "The student who wastes his time on athletics rather than study show only ignorance." His words anger Jeff and the other fellows. "Future generations depend upon brains and not upon jumping the discus or hurdling the javelin." Mary (Anne Cornwall) criticizes Ronald. "When you change your mind about athletics then I'll change my mind about you." She rides away with Jeff.

Mary enters Clayton College. Neither Ronald nor his mother can afford the tuition, so Ronald looks for a job so he can work his way through school. He gets a temporary job as a soda jerk clerk. He carries a picture of Mary around in his suitcase and boards in the dormitory. The soda clerk job doesn't last long because Ronald is afraid that Mary will see him in such a lowly job and ridicule him so he quits.

Dean Edwards (Snitz Edwards) congratulates Ronald about his maturity. He praises him, "A boy like you can make this athlete infested college a seat of learning once more." Eventually, Ronald quits his soda jerk job when Mary enters the shop. Ronald decides he wants to take a try at sports. Ronald gets on the baseball team and his idiotic antics result in his team losing. Jeff and some guys catch him walking home from the disastrous baseball game and toss him on a blanket in the air. He sails so high that he can see an old battle axe dressing through her balcony window. Infuriated, she storms onto the balcony and swats at him with an umbrella. More umbrella buffoonery! He seizes the umbrella and floats up and down until he tears down a balcony and brings down the battle axe on it.

Ronald tries out for track and other related athletics and again fails miserably. Pay close attention to these shenanigans because they play an important part in the conclusion. Looking for work, Buster masquerades as an African-American in a restaurant. The black paint on his face smears off when he is serving Jeff and Mary on a date. When the blacks discover that he's an imposter, they run him off. Eventually, the Dean summons our hero to his office and complains about Ronald's failing grades. "I took up athletics because the girl I love thinks I'm a weakling," Buster explains in his own defense. The Dean requests that the rowing coach make Buster the coxswain on the rowboat team. The coach, however, has other ideas and he slips Buster a mickey. Things don't work out for the coach and the person intended to replace Buster gulps the potion. The photography for the boat rowing race is incredibly good. One of the boats has the semi-profane name 'Damfino.' This too must have been pretty risqué for its day.

Ultimately, Jeff shows his true antagonistic colors when he locks Mary in her dorm room and stays with her. She warns him that his being caught in her room will mean expulsion for both of them. Jeff points out that he has been expelled already. Mary calls Ronald for help and he responds with alacrity. The last nine minutes of "College" portray Ronald as an entirely different kind of guy and the ending is truly odd. Again, "College" is not top-notch Keaton, but it is worth watching and the DVD is available in a Kino International print on Genius Entertainment for under a dollar in some stores.

David Jeffers for Tablet SIFFblog

[rdjeffers · 7/10 · 19 September 2005]

Monday September 19, 2005 7:00pm The Seattle Paramount Theater

"Young man, it's time you graduated. You've been here seven years."

Ronald (Keaton) delivers his High School valedictory speech on the "Curse of Athletics" in "College" and his girl (Anne Cornwall) wants nothing more to do with him. "When you change your mind about athletics, then I'll change my mind about you." Off he goes to Clayton College (USC) with a suitcase full of sporting goods and a picture of his sweetie only to fail miserably at every sport and every job he tries. His less than successful attempt as a soda jerk is particularly funny. Buster answers an ad for a "colored waiter" in blackface, an unfortunate and regrettable sign of the times. When the Dean, played by Keaton regular Snitz Edwards, forces the crew to use Buster as coxswain or "coaxer" in competition, he sinks the first boat and ends up steering with the rudder tied to his backside. Buster's crew wins and his rival kidnaps the girl out of jealousy. In his race to rescue her Keaton ironically displays the athletic skills of a champion! Most notable is the use of Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, built just five years earlier, for the hysterical track sequence and the extremely rare use of a stunt double in a pole vaulting shot made with 1932 Olympic gold medallist Lee Barnes. The name of the ill-fated first boat in the crew sequence is an amusing inside joke.

Old Myth in 1927 Fashion

[daxbeach · 8/10 · 7 December 2016]

College is just one of the three Buster Keaton movies I have ever seen. and in this old tale of boy-gets-girl, you can truly see how Keaton was masterful talent in showing AND pantomiming comedy. In short, this is an old tale taken from countless myths and narratives from millennia back, that tells the tale of an unlikely lad that falls (perhaps wrongly so) for a girl that is perhaps outside his class and/or possibilities.

The antagonist humorously and recklessly does any and all things he thinks the girl in question would love him for! To include football, rowing, tack and field and more. He problem is, is that he's a bit of an intellect and a nerd. The opening of the movie even shows him denouncing such things as athletics as ridiculous and silly. Nonetheless he tries his hardest, and actually does fair in some of his sporting endeavors. AND he get's the girl at the end. Fun tale. As a father though, I'm not sure if I would encourage such a stance like this on winning relationships! There's a better route to take.

College athletics

[TheLittleSongbird · 6/10 · 1 January 2021]

Have always had great admiration for Buster Keaton, one of the funniest, boldest and most important comedy geniuses of his time and to exist. His best work was hilarious, and not only is there very few people in comedy at the time and since as jaw-droppingly daring but he was one of not many, and possibly the best at it, to make deadpan work. There really were few people like him before, during and since, despite loving comedy of all decades and most kinds of styles Keaton was a true original.

Being somebody that really liked to loved a vast majority of his silent feature films from the 20s, 1927's 'College' left me somewhat disappointed. It is still worth watching, even when Keaton was not at his very best he fared better than most in the same position, but when it comes to his feature films from this period 'College' is one of the weakest. Actually preferred a majority of his short films over it, a number of gems in this bunch too with a few disappointments.

'College' has good things. Keaton is fine, he has great comic timing and gives it his all, his athleticism is enough to make anybody envious and he is immensely likeable as a character not hard to endear to. He is also very expressive, his deadpan facial expressions quite nuanced. There are some great moments here, the standouts being the graduation speech, the soda jerk gag, the wonderfully wild climax and the initially cute but eventually sombre ending.

While there is nothing technically innovative here, which is a shame as 'College' came straight after one of silent film's visual accomplishments 'The General', the film is well shot and edited. The cast are good.

The story however felt very weak. It felt rather over-stretched with nowhere near enough content to sustain its short length, so some of it felt like filler. As well as repetitive and feeling like a stringing along of gags rather than a cohesive story.

Gags that quality wise were inconsistent, some of the sports related gags are quite fun but others felt very tired and lacked variety. There are signs of Keaton's bold physical comedy, but stunts-wise there isn't enough and what there is has little risk taking. Keaton had been doing short and feature films for some time before this and had found his style long before 'College', yet this felt like sometimes it was made during a period where he was still starting out and not sure what his strengths were.

On the whole, worth watching but disappointing. 6/10

Bookworm Buster Gets "Fizzical"

[slokes · 5/10 · 8 December 2008]

Incredible stunts and deadpan expressions were Buster Keaton's stock in trade, but his best films relied on more to interest audiences. "College" plays more like a filler project between more ambitious efforts, showcasing the talents of its silent comic star only in fits and starts.

Buster plays Ronald, valedictorian of his high school class but too poor to afford college and a shot at the woman he loves, Clayton State College freshman Mary Haynes (Anne Cornwall). He enrolls at Clayton anyway, tries his hand at work, and jumps into scholastic athletics despite his grievous lack of physical coordination. Mary is impressed he's trying, but his old rival Jeff (Harold Goodwin) is one of many who block his path.

Directed by James W. Horne and an uncredited Keaton as an excuse for a series of sports-related gags, "College" barely makes it to its running time of just over an hour, even with the padding of a long intro centered around Buster's high-school graduation. Ronald's college career seems to consist of alternating bouts of athletics and hazing, with some period shots of USC's campus for atmosphere.

Buster's stone face is a little more expressive in this film, beginning with his big graduation speech, an ironic denunciation of sports he delivers with amusing, eye-bulging passion as he sways from side to side, feet planted on the floor. "What have Ty Ruth or Babe Dempsey done for Science!" he demands, angering his classmates so much they leave in mid-ceremony.

Speaking of Ty Cobb, his former Tiger teammate Sam Crawford appears here as Clayton's baseball coach in one of the better sequences (he was really USC's baseball coach at the time). As the third baseman, Buster gets caught in a rundown, then as a baserunner manages to cause a triple play by himself. Crawford finally ends things by gives Buster the boot.

The overall storyline is episodic and haphazard. For a job, Buster first works as a soda jerk, scattering milk and eggs hither and yon until Mary walks in and Buster ashamedly pretends to be a customer, too. This would seem a promising idea, but instead the boss confronts him and Buster walks out, ending that whole deal with a shrug. Later, he tries to be a "colored waiter" by donning blackface. The color comes off; the sequence doesn't.

Even the celebrated visual trickery found in Keaton's other films gets short shrift here. The most prominent involves him being tossed up in the air holding an umbrella, which causes him to "slow" when falling. It's a poor device in service of a weak gag, involving a heavyset woman dressing at a window who gets annoyed at Buster's apparent peeping. Like much else in the film, it could have been eliminated without notice.

Finally, with the help of a friendly dean who identifies with Buster's lovelorn state, he gets a varsity position as the coxswain, or "coaxer" as Buster calls it, for Clayton's crew team, which must win their big race or face elimination from the school program.

There's an energetic ending, like the blackface humor rather dated, in which Buster must save Mary from a fate worse than death - being caught in her room with a boy. Never mind the couple's fully dressed and she's struggling to get out; it's instant expulsion for her if she's caught. Here, rushing to save her, Buster shows off the athleticism that he has been keeping under cover for the whole film, and it's a nice payoff in that you get laughs and thrills, standard fare in most Keaton films though only in evidence here in the last few minutes.

Like many commenters have already noted, "College" is regarded as a lesser Keaton, though its last shot is jaw-droppingly memorable; Keaton's unsentimental sensibilities at their stoniest. It's a good thing he used the shot for a film like "College"; it might have spoiled one of his funnier efforts.

Has Some Enjoyable Sequences & Good Gags

[Snow Leopard · 22 August 2001]

While not one of Buster Keaton's very best films, this one has some enjoyable sequences and some good comedy material.

The plot is fairly simple, with Buster as a bookish college student who feels that he must succeed at athletics in order to win the girl he wants. It doesn't have the brilliant creativity of Keaton at his best, but on the other hand it does have some very funny moments.

Some of the best parts are the misadventures of Buster's character as he tries his hand at various sports. Even in portraying a character who is athletically inept, Buster demonstrates his own great ability at physical comedy. There are some fine gags in these scenes, and there is some good subtle material in the other parts of the movie.

For those who are not familiar with Keaton, there are several better examples of what he could do. But if you enjoy his brand of humor, you'll certainly want to see "College" too. It's more low-key than usual, but it has plenty of good material that makes it worth watching.

Keaton playing against type

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 10 October 2020]

Here Keaton plays Ronald the bookworm. He graduates from high school, apparently the valedictorian, and gives a graduation speech on the evils of athletics. The girl he loves - Mary - tells him she won't consider him as a suitor unless he changes his attitude. Ronald enters Clayton College where his endeavors in a number of sports - and jobs - are rich with gags. The villain of the picture is played by Harold Goodwin, who was actually a lifetime friend of Keaton's.

"College" is no doubt one of Keaton's weaker features. It was made right after his pride and joy, "The General", failed miserably at the box office. Thus, Keaton wasn't really in the mood to exert himself either physically or creatively in his next picture. The irony in this film is, of course, that Keaton was a superb athlete and even acrobat. He was good enough at baseball that many feel he could have played professionally, so the scene where he messes up the baseball game for Clayton College is particularly ironic.

Buster lacks lustre in this one

[robert-temple-1 · 7/10 · 17 February 2015]

This is an inferior Buster Keaton feature film. Considering how brilliant Keaton was, and how marvellous many of his feature films are, this one is a serious disappointment. I do not believe it would necessarily have been regarded that way when it came out, however. A lot of sport has flowed under the bridge since then. The film is primarily about Buster trying and failing at every conceivable sport (except football) which was common then at 'college' (the American term for university). Buster plays a bookish student who has contempt for sports but in order to try to win the heart of the girl he loves, tries to become a sportsman. In the days before sport was on television ad nauseam every single day, this would have had much more appeal than it has now. Sport historians of course would find this film fascinating, if there are any sport historians, that is. All the expected things happen: Buster tries the shot-put but cannot lift the shot and falls over under its weight, he tries the high jump but crashes into the rod, he tries the hurdles but knocks them all over, and so on. Considering that this film came between Buster's famous films THE GENERAL (1926) and STEAMBOAT BILL JR. (1928), it is remarkable that it lacks a fraction of the appeal of either of them. The DVD is good quality, with a well-restored print, so there are no quality complaints. The silent era was coming to an end, and what one can say in favour of COLLEGE is that it could never have succeeded at all in the sound era, so if Keaton really wanted to explore sports, it is just as well that he squeezed this film in just in time. It may be that other people will enjoy this film far more than myself, especially if they are fascinated by the subject, and there is no questioning the brilliance of Keaton's comic timing and technique, which are up to their usual standard. He also co-directed the film. Another reviewer has justly observed that this film resembles in theme the excellent film THE FRESHMAN (1925) by Harold Lloyd, which I would say is far more amusing than this one. These days when there are so many teen flicks about, the subject of kids going to 'college' and being 'freshmen' has little novelty, but in the twenties, it was all of great interest, especially to the dazed parents trying to understand their increasingly wild children, an anxiety clearly demonstrated by the film THE WILD PARTY (1929) starring Clara Bow in a film about girls going wild at college. People interested in seeing anything and everything that clever Buster Keaton did can, of course, not afford to miss this major film of his, as long as they are prepared to be bored by parts of it and wonder why he bothered making it.

Buster's higher education

[lee_eisenberg · 7/10 · 26 January 2012]

The title reminded me of John Belushi's sweatshirt in "Animal House", but Buster Keaton's "College" is a totally different kind of movie. Keaton plays a bookish student whose girlfriend leaves him after he disses athletics in his graduation speech. Still in love with her, he decides to attend the same college that she does. From there, most of the movie is Keaton showing off his physical humor.

There is one very politically incorrect scene, but I suspect that the sign on the restaurant is an accurate depiction of that era. The best parts are the scenes where Keaton attempts to play sports. They must have really had fun filming the boat race.

So, even though this isn't Keaton's best movie, there's no shortage of laughs. The soda fountain was certainly a hoot (as are the scenes of pranks at the hands of the other students). Definitely worth seeing.

Enjoyable Keaton film

[pocca · 8/10 · 29 August 2005]

In "College" Buster Keaton has the sort of role that Woody Allen played 50 years later—a nebbishy intellectual whose pluck and decency eventually wins over the beautiful leading lady. Keaton's famous stone-faced demeanor is particularly well suited to the self serious Ronald who at his high school graduation makes an ill advised speech about how athletics are a waste of time. Naturally, he is then compelled to spend the rest of the film trying to become accomplished at various sports, from baseball to jumping hurtles (interspersed with occasional, equally awkward attempts at restaurant work). The various sports training sessions seem episodic at first but all come together very nicely at the end when Keaton is called upon to save the female lead from her lecherous dumb jock of a boyfriend.

On a side note—although students in college movies of the 1920's are far better dressed than their modern counterparts, they seem to spend just as little time in the classroom.

Movie Odyssey Review #020: College

[Cyke · 6/10 · 11 August 2006]

020: College (1927) - released 9/10/27, viewed 8/19/05

1000 people a week die of influenza in Britain during March. The Bell Telephone Company executes the first successful long distance demonstration of television. The Great Mississippi Flood becomes the greatest national disaster in US history. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is founded. Charles Lindbergh makes the first Trans-Atlantic flight. An 8.6 earthquake kills 200,000 in Xining, China. A clash between police and protesters in Vienna leaves 90 dead. Italian-born anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti are tried and executed.

BIRTHS: Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Cesar Chavez, Pope Benedict XVI, Phil Hill, Coretta Scott King, Robert Ludlum, Clint Walker, Jerry Stiller, Bob Fosse, Janet Leigh. DEATHS: Joe Start, Victoria Woodhull.

KEVIN: So far, College is the least of all the Buster Keaton movies we've watched. There are lots of great gags and great laughs, but it still seems pretty average. I imagine part of the inspiration for this film was Harold Lloyd's The Freshman, which had some great football gags. Either way, Keaton figured out that there was a wealth of great gags in sports. Keaton's character in this film seems much more pathetic than in his other films. But don't worry, even though he's the worst athlete in the world at the beginning, all his athletic potential comes to the fore when he has to save the woman he loves.

DOUG: One of Buster Keaton's lesser efforts, College follows a bookish high school graduate who goes to great lengths to prove to his girlfriend that he really can get into sports after all. It's always about a girl in these silent movies. I just realized it would have been nice if there were a female comedic silent film star who was as prolific as Keaton or Lloyd. Anyway, I call this one of Keaton's lesser efforts because it just doesn't stand up to The General or The Navigator in terms of clever gags or stunt sequences. I feel like Keaton saw Harold Lloyd's The Freshman and thought "Hey, I should do a sports movie. There's some good gags there." However, in an effort to avoid comparisons with Lloyd, Keaton doesn't do any football bits in the final film.

Last film viewed: The General (1927). Last film chronologically: It (1927). Next film viewed: My Best Girl (1927). Next film chronologically: Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927).

The Movie Odyssey is an exhaustive, chronological project where we watch as many milestone films as possible, starting with D.W. Griffith's Intolerance in 1916 and working our way through, year by year, one film at a time. We also write a short review for each and every film. In this project, we hope to gain a deeper understanding of the time period, the films of the era, and each film in context, while at the same time just watching a lot of great movies, most of which we never would have watched otherwise.

That Old College Try!

[bsmith5552 · 8/10 · 10 July 2016]

"College" is essentially about Buster Keaton's efforts to win his lady fair (Anne Cornwall)....the hard way.

The film opens at Buster's high school graduation (Keaton was actually a little too old to play an eighteen year old at the time). Buster it seems is an academic who condemns athletes. Buster's rival (Harold Goodwin) laughs at Buster's ideas.

The next fall the trio enroll at Clayton College. Buster has vowed to impress his girl by trying out for various athletic teams. He "plays" baseball and enters several track and field events with disastrous results. Finally the Dean (Snitz Edwards) orders the rowing coach to install Buster as the rowing team's coxswain. Buster instills his own methods in the race and...........

Although the story is a simple one, boy loves girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl, there are several memorable comedic moments. When Buster and his mother (Florence Turner) attend the High School Graduation, they are soaked in a downpour. As Buster delivers his speech, his newly bought suit begins to gradually shrink. He takes on two jobs to help pay his way, first as a soda jerk where he pales in comparison to his fellow employee, and later as a "colored" waiter in black face. Remember, this was 1927 and many vaudeville performers of the day used black face in their acts, so it was not out of the ordinary for Keaton to do so as well.

Buster's baseball antics are hilarious as he tries to play third base. In the track and field segments, he fails at shot put, javelin, pole vaulting, hammer throw, hurdles and racing with equal aplomb.

Buster's rescue of his girl from his nasty rival is mile a minute entertainment as he races to her aid. The finale of the film based on the "'til death do you part" scenario was I thought, a little unusual.

This was I believe, the first of Keaton's films in which he was not credited as Director on screen.

I'm not a silent movie fan, but I got pulled in.

[Listmstr · 7/10 · 24 June 1999]

There I was surfing channels. There on American Movie Classics they were showing this guy who was running around an athletic field trying to do something. He'd try to do the high jump, and he'd knock the bar off. He'd try to put the bar back on and it would not stay on, and he'd try again and he'd hit the coach with it, and it just got funnier and funnier.

Awesome!

[MissyH316 · 9/10 · 4 March 2012]

Ah, the never-ending debate of academics vs. athletics. Well in this case, Buster proves he's a rare winner at both!

While I very much enjoyed the film overall, I kept thinking back to a YouTube clip I saw of Lillian Gish introducing this movie (sorta like they do on TCM). Her commentary alone is what made me decide that this would be the then-next BK film I'd watch! She made the introduction in her usual gentle, elegant way, especially in giving some first-hand perspective to what nowadays would be a very "politically incorrect" scene.

But when she made a comment to the effect of, "Poor Buster! Imagine how difficult it probably was for a great athlete like him to do so many athletic feats 'wrong'!", that was all *I* needed to hear!

So does "poor Buster", the top academic student, win over the girl he loves with all his clumsy (and sometimes painful!) attempts at athletics? You wouldn't think so, but then again, efforts and results don't necessarily always follow a clear path. Remember "wax on, wax off"? ;-D

Mostly hit and miss Buster Keaton movie

[zetes · 7/10 · 17 December 2001]

Certainly not one of Keaton's best films. There are a lot of funny jokes, few of which provide belly laughs (maybe only one or two really big laughs). A lot of the less funny jokes are still cute and smile-inducing. Buster Keaton is as great as ever. His stunts in this film are amazing. I prefer almost every other Keaton movie I've seen, save for his most famous, The General, with which I was unimpressed. 7/10.

Buster Keaton looks muscle bound

[SnoopyStyle · 5/10 · 15 July 2015]

In California, Ronald (Buster Keaton) graduates from high school as he receives the honor medal. Jeff Brown is the popular star athlete who has spend 7 years in school. Ronald makes a speech on the 'Curse of the Athletics' that entrances the teacher but the only person left in the audience is his mother. He's infatuated with Mary Haynes and follows her to athletic centric Clayton college. The dean wants him to be a scholastic star but he keeps trying to be an athletic star to impress Mary.

Keaton does do blackface in this but it's not deliberately offensive. If I have any problems with this, it's that I don't buy that Mary is worth the trouble. It's simply a given that she's a dreamgirl. Also Buster Keaton is a true athlete and he can't hide that in this movie. He looks more muscle bound that many of the athletes here. He can't do nerdy convincingly in a tank top. The story struggles to fit. There are some minor funny bits. The stunts are not really that big and mostly just silly slapstick.