So This Is College

SO THIS IS COLLEGE is one of those movies that has such an antique look to it you can't help but to stop and see what it is when you're flipping through the TV channels. It is a pretty good musical. The cast works well. Max Davidson is a great Jewish character actor. I recall seeing him in some of the early Laurel and Hardy silents. This film from 1929 gives an interesting look at college life in the late '20s. It's a lot of fun. It includes a big football game sequence. Robert Montgomery stars, in one of his earliest film roles.

This is very much a pre-code movie. It depicts two male college students who are very much in love with each other, though they don't know that. What does that mean? You mean: do they have sex? No, I don't think so. But they are VERY affectionate physically, especially near the end. They are also physically attracted to co-eds. Sp they're bi-sexual, or whatever you want to call that. I'd say that they are two straight men who have fallen in love with each other. We haven't got a term for that yet.

Other than their relationship, there isn't a lot to this movie. The second half is a very long football game between USC and Stanford that goes on way too long.

If you're interested in the history of college football, you might like the second half of this. If you're interested in how Hollywood portrayed same-sex romance, this might interest you. Otherwise, I didn't find it a very engaging movie.

Unlike many films about college, this one actually names the location - USC, although you never see anybody here crack a book. If you like the early talkies, and in particular if you like Robert Montgomery, I do recommend this one. It is typical of MGM's output in 1929 and 1930 in that if they made a movie that was the least bit comical, then it had to be at least partially musical. This one has some drama in it, but it is mainly a comedy.

Eddie (Elliott Nugent) and Biff (Robert Montgomery) are popular senior football stars playing at USC, moving into their dorm room for the fourth and last time. They're buddies through thick and thin, but then a beautiful coed comes along that neither encourages nor discourages either of them enough to make them believe they are not in the hunt for her affections. At that point, a four-year friendship on campus and on the football field becomes strained. Will the young woman (Sally Starr) choose Eddie? Biff? none of the above? Watch and find out.

This film is notable for being Robert Montgomery's third film role and Cliff Edwards' second. As such, at this point, Elliott Nugent is billed ahead of Montgomery, but that will soon change as Montgomery is a big hit with audiences and begins to compete with William Haines for the kind of leading man roles that normally had gone to Haines. Cliff Edwards doesn't have a huge role here, and frankly he looks way too old to be playing a college student, but he is still fun to watch as always. He is mainly comic relief and musical accompaniment in the musical numbers carrying his trademark ukulele. Also note Polly Moran as the cook at the fraternity house where Biff and Eddie live. She doesn't have many lines, but what she does have goes a long way. I also enjoyed the dance scene as some of the wilder dance numbers echo the exuberance that is the hallmark of the end of the roaring 20's.

Leading lady Sally Starr isn't that well known today, but she was heavily promoted by MGM in the early talkie era as an answer to Clara Bow, and you can't help but see the similarities in everything from her demeanor to her voice that sounds quite a bit like Ms. Bow.

Others have called this film creaky and static, but I really enjoyed it and thought it moved along nicely. There are no halting long-winded scenes, no gestures left over from the silent era - everyone involved seems to "get" acting in the talkie era. The only problem I could see is that occasionally the soundtrack would overpower the speech of the actors and make conversation hard to pick up, but this didn't happen very often. Just don't come to this one looking for a heavy dramatic storyline or even one that makes a lot of sense. It is pure escapism.

Never has college been presented on screen with so many over-age players posing as college kids. How can we explain CLIFF EDWARDS (who was 35), ELLIOT NUGENT (34) and youngster ROBERT MONTGOMERY (25), all playing college seniors in a flimsy vehicle about friendships spoiled when a pretty girl causes the break-up of male roommates. It's the sort of routine college comedy done many times before without any new twists.

It's fun seeing ROBERT MONTGOMERY looking so youthful, but he's the only one who convincingly portrays a college guy. Nugent plays the kind of football hero he satirized when he co-wrote "The Male Animal" with James Thurber, a spoof on college life and brawn over brains.

Nugent at least looks a bit more believable as a football player than the slim Montgomery, but he's just satisfactory in a role that requires him to be earnestly in love with the girl his roommate has also taken a fancy to. Nugent's talent as an actor is about on a level with the bumbling but earnest Sonny Tufts (at a later era), and he wisely turned his talents toward directing by the late '30s.

It's primitive fluff, watchable if you're curious about how college life was depicted by Hollywood in the late '20s--but quite forgettable as a piece of light entertainment.

This film is one of a genre very popular in late-20's and early 30's;in which college boys agonize over "loving" the same girl. Usually a girl they've just met. Our movie explores this issue in a rather uninspired manner . A dedicated "cinemaphile" has to endure lots of abject silliness in order to stay with it. Of main interest is that Robert Montgomery makes his initial "talkie" appearance here;and later-to-be successful playwright Elliot Nugent is also on display as actor only. And for just a few moments toward the end of the film one can view a very charismatic Joel Mccrea in the stands of the football stadium with the lead actress.He even has a few lines to say.Incidentally, following the storyline is a tad difficult. Continuity is apparently of little importance to the film makers, thus scenes and characters pop up seemingly out of nowhere. The actors constantly say and do the same things over and over in different ways scene after scene. And it would be absolutely fascinating to know how the lead female was selected .The poor actress is given the thankless role of 'femme fatale ' despite the physical appearance of a chubby 15 year old. From an historical viewpoint if you care about movies you almost have to watch it, but be prepared for a "bumpy night"