Opening with the title card "Any similarity to actual college life depicted in this film is purely coincidental," All-American Co-Ed tells the fanciful tale of an all-male college whose cross-dressing frat boys decide to get back at the uppity females at Mar Brynn women's college by sending one of their best female impersonators (Downs) there to win a major scholarship. When love for a pretty co-ed (Langford) blunts his purpose, his brothers in drag follow him, leading to a big musical finale.
One of Hal Roach, Jr.'s "streamlined features," All-American Co-Ed was intended to provide a short, snappy bottom half for double bills. In the leads he cast radio singing star Langford and former "Our Gang" star Downs, both of whom had strong followings as musical performers. Although most of Langford's screen musicals were minor league, she had introduced such standards in them as "I'm in the Mood for Love" (her theme song) and "You Are My Lucky Star." Downs had outgrown the Our Gang comedies before the coming of sound, but then had carved a niche as a singing, dancing college boy in films like Pigskin Parade (1936). In supporting roles Roach cast future television stars Noah Beery, Jr. (The Rockford Files) and Alan Hale, Jr. (Gilligan's Island) and, in an unbilled bit, future film noir queen Marie Windsor (best known for 1956's The Killing).
Roach assigned choreographer LeRoy Prinz to make his directing debut, which may not have been a stretch since the film's four musical numbers comprise a quarter of its 48-minute running time. Prinz's homosexuality (during the war, he once quipped about doing his bit for "Aunt Sam") rarely kept him from finding work, though it's hard not to speculate about its influence on All-American Co-Ed, one of the most sexually confused films in Hollywood history. It all starts with the name of the men's college, Quinceton, a queenly play on Princeton. Mar Brynn's headmistress (Esther Dale) has a fondness for checking the bosoms of one of her students and, when faced with a photo of a girl holding a dazzling array of vegetables, can't resist commenting on the woman's "tomatoes." The college girls are introduced singing a love song, apparently to each other. And even though the prevalence of shoulder pads in '40s female fashions would seem to provide the perfect disguise for the male cast's broader shoulders, Downs and his frat fellows are some of the screen's least convincing female impersonators.
For all that (and some embarrassing racial stereotypes), Prinz's musical staging keeps things moving along and Roach's commitment to low-budget films made with quality provides for solid production elements (and a surprisingly well-preserved print). All-American Co-Ed even managed to snag two Oscar® nominations for Best Song ("Out of the Silence") and Best Scoring of a Musical Picture. Nevertheless, a B film with no songs on the hit parade, All-American Co-Ed was far from a frontrunner. It would lose the former award to "The Last Time I Saw Paris" in MGM's Lady Be Good and the latter to Disney's Dumbo.
Of special interest for silent-film buffs is a late career performance by silent screen clown Langdon as an ambitious press agent. The comic's childish character had made him one of the biggest stars of the late silent era. Ego had brought his stardom to an end. Thinking he was solely responsible for his success, he fired Frank Capra, the writer-director who had helped shape his screen image. After years of lackluster shorts, he was beginning to regain some ground as a comedy writer for Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, and as a character actor in films such as All-American Co-Ed, but he died only three years later at the age of 60.
Producer-Director: LeRoy Prinz
Screenplay: Cortland Fitzsimmons, Kenneth Higgins & LeRoy Prinz
From an original story by Hal Roach, Jr.
Cinematography: Robert Pittack
Art Direction: Charles D. Hall
Music: Edward Ward
CAST: Frances Langford (Virginia), Johnny Downs (Bob Sheppard/Bobbie De Wolfe), Marjorie Woodworth (Bunny), Noah Beery, Jr. (Slinky), Esther Dale (Matilda Collinge), Harry Langdon (Hap Holden), Alan Hale, Jr. (Tiny), Marie Windsor (Carrot Queen).
by Frank Miller
