The result was College (1927). At that time, America was college crazy with collegiate songs filling the airwaves along with college football games, college slang and collegiate fashion styles. In addition, fellow screen comedian Harold Lloyd had his biggest success with the college comedy The Freshman (1925). Putting the stone-faced Keaton in a university setting seemed like a natural.
The movie's plot has Buster Keaton playing Ronald, the most academically successful student in high school and the 1920's equivalent of a "nerd." "Anyone prefers an athlete to a weak-kneed teacher's pet," his girl tells him. When the high school gang arrives at college, the physically inept Ronald must find a way to prove his manhood on the sporting field or lose his girl.
The storyline is ironic as Keaton was probably the most athletic comedian of all time. Obsessed with baseball, Keaton would halt production on his movies to squeeze in a quick game with his crew. However, he did have to limit his physical prowess slightly on this film. For a scene where Ronald pole-vaults through a window, Keaton had to use a stunt double (Lee Barnes) for the first time in his career. "I could not do the scene because I am no pole-vaulter and I didn't want to spend months in training to do the stunt myself."
There were more unfortunate firsts behind the scenes. Keaton's usual producer, Joseph Schenck, had just become the president of United Artists and was too busy to oversee the production. In his place, Schenck put his publicity chief Harry Brand who badgered Keaton throughout the shoot about costs and seized a special "Supervised by Harry Brand" screen credit that irritated Keaton. Nevertheless, Keaton remained persistent in his attention to detail. For example, Harold Goodwin, who plays the villain in College, recalled Keaton "trying to bounce a football off his skull several hundred times before finally admitting that it couldn't be done." (From Keaton: The Man Who Wouldn't Lie Down by Tom Dardis).
College may have seemed a sure bet, but critics at the time were lukewarm such as Variety which noted, "they'll laugh at College, but it will go down as just another program comedy resting for its pull on the excellent things Keaton has done before, rather than building on its own merits." Audiences took the hint and made College an even bigger flop than The General.
Keaton would make one more picture on his own, Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928), before departing for MGM and the end of his classic comedy movies. Now, with College, we see not only a great comic film, but a puzzle. Why couldn't audiences of the 1920's appreciate Keaton's movies?
Producer: Joseph M. Schenck
Director: James W. Horne
Screenplay: Bryan Foy, Carl Harbaugh
Cinematography: Bert Haines, Devereaux Jennings
Film Editing: Sherman Kell
Cast: Buster Keaton (Ronald), Anne Cornwall (The Girl), Flora Bramley (Her Friend), Harold Goodwin (A rival), Snitz Edwards (The Dean), Carl Harbaugh (Crew Coach).
BW-65m.
by Brian Cady
