Maybe It's Love

Along with the extraordinary output of William Wellman -- "Public Enemy, "Wings," "Wild Boys on the Road," "A Star is Born" and so forth -- there are a number of fairly ordinary entertainment films such as the studio would have wanted made. "Eleven Men and a Girl" -- which is the title I saw it under -- is one of them, a college football comedy played by Joan Bennett, Joe E. Brown and a squad of non-acting football players drawn from the ranks of the top teams of the two previous seasons. There are several visual touches that drive this above the purely ordinary, such as a graph of a football field, with positions indicated, each marked by a photo of the heroine (Bennett), whose gentle scheme is to get all of the fellas to believe that they have a sweetheart in her order to pump them up to greatness, as per George Ade's play "The College Widow," already filmed twice before. As the camera moves along the photos, cutaways are used to show the boys practicing hard, striving to make their game better. The film is dominated, however, by rubber-faced comedian Joe E. Brown, and this picture was important in establishing his popularity among film goers, although he would make better ones. Brown's trademark yowl is perhaps too much in evidence in the course of this picture, but audiences got the gag, and it was a sound-specific gag, important in 1930. Drawbacks, however, include Bennett's under-baked performance and those of the football players who prove that, in 1930 as now, the vast majority of footballers cannot act, despite whatever acumen they may have on the gridiron. For Wellman, this project may have just been something to get out of the way so that he could start work on "Public Enemy," but the film is at its best when he decides to linger on a detail; otherwise, it could have been a two-reeler.

Do yourself a favor. When this movie comes on, don't watch it, just save it. Then fast forward to about 15 or 20 minutes into the film, when Joan Bennett falls out of a canoe and climbs out of the water. Watch the one minute or so when she stands on the shore, soaking wet and apparently underwear-less in a clinging and largely transparent white dress. Then erase the movie. You've seen the best that this film has to offer.

I love Joe E. Brown, but he was a work in progress when this film was made. He greatly overdoes his loud, siren-like voice, and his slapstick is broad and unsubtle. All of the acting is wooden and stiff. And the gimmick of using real all-star football players in the cast certainly didn't add to the overall acting quality.

The script is nearly devoid of any actually funny lines, and the romantic "tension" that is supposed to develop isn't at all dramatic or interesting. There's not a bit of chemistry between the two actors who are supposed to fall in love. If you are a Joe E. Brown fan, he's made much better films. Although if you are a Joan Bennett fan, I have to admit, her other films probably never showed her off in quite the same way...

A young woman, the college president's daughter (20 year old Joan Bennett) is convinced that to fix the school's penchant for losing football games, she should seduce the best players from around the country to come play for good old Upton College. While it sounds flirty and naughty, it's really quite tepid, and the film meanders listlessly through romance, dopey comedy, a few short musical numbers, and football footage. Seeing actual college football players playing themselves was of some interest, e.g. Bill Banker, nicknamed the "Blond Blizzard" because of his hair and his playing without a helmet(!), as was seeing Bennett soaking wet (ahem). The antics of Joe E. Brown are mostly a nuisance, though his cheer of Uppppppppppton is pretty cool. Overall, just not much here.

The only reason to watch this film is Joe E. Brown, who is funny under most any circumstances. But here he is not given good material and relies on his outsized mouth to holler from time to time. The other reason is to see Joan Bennett as a blonde. She is forced to carry the picture as best she can, and at least she is lovely to look at. Also on hand is the 1930 All-America Football team playing themselves and not given much to do acting-wise.

Interesting to note how popular tastes have changed. In 1930 there was a lot more enthusiasm for football and for those football heroes they called Big Man On Campus. Now it seems societal values are different and football is bigger off-campus than on. Most of the crowd here wore suits and ties and in one scene Brown wore the traditional raccoon coat of yesteryears football fan. Not much fun or excitement here and the plot is threadbare by now. Wonder if it was more watchable a long time ago.

I'm a Joe E. Brown fan from way back, but this film doesn't give him much to work with. He does his usual open-mouthed scream that starts out like a siren a few times, but little else other than move the story along. The idea of getting eleven of the All-American football stars from the 1928 - 29 season in a movie about football may have been a good one in 1929, but their names are meaningless (to me anyway) 70 years later. And their acting is awful. Even Joan Bennett, who uses her sexual wiles to get them to come to the college to form a winning team, seems to act very stiffly. Unless you are a football fan and enjoy watching some action, there isn't much to recommend.