We Went to College
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Joseph Santley
Charles Butterworth
Walter Abel
Hugh Herbert
Una Merkel
Edith Atwater
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Ellery Standish, a professor at Sutter College, is so devoted to his students and the book he has been writing for years, that he has little time for his pretty wife Susan. As the football homecoming weekend approaches, Susan dreams of their college days, and is very excited when he says that he has invited their old friend Phil Talbot to come down for the weekend. In New York, Phil, a former football hero, is a successful businessman, but a nervous wreck. He spends most of his time worrying about the brick business and neglects his understanding wife Nina and their children. Phil thinks he is too busy for the homecoming weekend, but when his former college pal and business associate, Glenn Harvey, tells him that the weekend would be a wonderful time to obtain the brick contract for the school's new physics building, Phil goes. Arriving at Sutter, Phil is at first annoyed by the celebrating old alumni, and prefers to talk about business, but Ellery is so involved in the school's activities that he doesn't have time to discuss bricks. Susan, who had a crush on Phil while they were in college, renews her infatuation with him and determines to have a good time. On the night of the school's performance of Othello , Susan, who has played Desdemona continully since her college days, convinces Phil, who had been her Othello in school, to go with her to the theater, then charms him into taking a small part in the play. Though Glenn warns Nina that Susan is very determined, she doesn't mind the flirtation and hopes that it will do Phil some good. At the president's reception, Phil gets drunk and goes for a stroll with Susan, while Ellery stays to sing old school songs with his friends. When Phil and Susan go canoeing and fall in the lake, Susan talks about seizing the moment and interprets Phil's drunken enthusiasm for a proposal. After Phil takes Susan home, she is berated by Glenn for chasing after Phil behind Nina's back and decides to call Nina to confess that she and Phil are in love and plan to marry. Finally realizing that the situation is serious, Nina is furious when Phil wakes up the next morning with a hangover, but she doesn't tell him why she is angry. After Phil and Susan appear together as Venus and Neptune on the alumni float, everyone returns to Ellery and Susan's house. Though Nina wants to tell Ellery about Phil and Susan, Phil's shock at what Susan has said finally makes her realize that Susan was exaggerating Phil's amorous advances. Now realizing that Phil really loves Nina, Susan tells Ellery that she had a terrible nightmare the night before and telephoned Nina to tell her about it. Ellery then tells Susan she has been working too hard and promises to take her to her father's farm for a vacation as soon as he completes his book. With everyone's romantic life on the right track, Glenn finally asks Ellery about the brick contract and discovers that the school now plans to build a swimming pool instead of a physics building and will be using concrete instead of bricks.
Director
Joseph Santley
Cast
Charles Butterworth
Walter Abel
Hugh Herbert
Una Merkel
Edith Atwater
Walter Catlett
Charles Trowbridge
Tom Ricketts
Virginia Brissac
Harry C. Bradley
Charles King
Jack Mclallen
Victor Potel
Don Barclay
Jack Mack
Paul Regan
Drew Demarest
Shirley Mcdonald
Si Jenks
Nora Cecil
Lillian Harmer
Crew
Dr. William Axt
Finley Peter Dunne Jr.
Fredric Hope
Horace Hough
Richard Maibaum
James E. Newcom
George Oppenheimer
Paul Palmentola
Harry Rapf
Maurice Rapf
Douglas Shearer
Dolly Tree
Lester White
Edwin B. Willis
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
According to news items and production charts in Hollywood Reporter, this picture began filming with Edmund Lowe in the part taken over by Walter Abel, and Frank Morgan in the part taken over by Hugh Herbert. Other actors listed in early production charts whose participation in the completed film have not been confirmed include Maude Allen, Mahlon Hamilton, Mabel Colcord, Robert Wayne, King Baggot, Jack Grey, Billy Dooley, Don Barclay, Pat West and E. Alyn Warren. Actors listed in later production charts who were were not in the viewed print and whose participation in the completed film has not been confirmed include Edgar Kennedy, Arthur Aylesworth, and Leila McIntyre. The Variety review notes that the scene in the film in which Charles Butterworth's character runs from the stands out onto the football field to help his team, was inspired by an actual incident that took place the previous autumn at a Princeton game. According to an Hollywood Reporter news item, this was to be the last contract film for Charles Butterworth, who was leaving M-G-M.
