College (1927)

To reconcile with his girlfriend, a bookish college student tries to become an athlete.

Directors:

James W. Horne, Buster Keaton (uncredited)

Writers:

Carl Harbaugh (story), Bryan Foy (story)

Stars:

Buster Keaton, Anne Cornwall, Flora Bramley

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Buster Keaton	...	A Son
Anne Cornwall	...	The Girl
Flora Bramley	...	Her Friend
Harold Goodwin	...	A Rival
Snitz Edwards	...	The Dean
Carl Harbaugh	...	Crew Coach
Sam Crawford	...	Baseball Coach
Florence Turner	...	A Mother

Storyline

Ronald's high school valedictory address praises books and condemns sports. His girlfriend Mary condemns his attitude. He fears losing her to rival Jeff, decides to go to college and pay more attention to sports.

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Plot Keywords:

college | student | athlete | college student | school | 

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Taglines:

HE TAKES THE COURSES YOU TAKE THE LAUGHS (Print ad- Crawfordsville Review, ((Crawfordsville, Ind.)) 3 January 1928)

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Sport

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Despite playing a high school and college student, Buster Keaton was actually 31 during filming.

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Quotes

The Girl: Your speech was ridiculous. Anyone prefers an athlete to a weak-kneed, teacher's pet. When you change your mind about athletes, then I'll change my mind about you.

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Connections

Featured in Every Frame a Painting: Buster Keaton - The Art of the Gag (2015)

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Soundtracks

The Entertainer
written by Scott Joplin

User Reviews

Keaton does 'The Freshman' his way

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.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

None English

Release Date:

November 1927 (USA)

Also Known As:

College

Filming Locations:

Exposition Park, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Joseph M. Schenck Productions

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1