Sportif par amour

While this may seem a rather lightweight effort considering it came in the same year that produced 'The General (1927),' 'College' is an excellent little film in which Buster Keaton exploits the endless slapstick possibilities offered by sporting activities. Keaton plays Ronald, an unpopular bookworm whose public condemnation of athletics leads his girlfriend (Anne Cornwall) to dump him in favour of a more physically-capable jock (Harold Goodwin). In an attempt to win back the love of his life, Ronald enrolls himself in college and tries his hands at every sport in sight, with hilarious consequences. The two preceding sentences pretty much summarise the entire film. However, this inkling of a narrative is more than enough to open up a vast range of entertaining gags, and Keaton snatches a laugh at every opportunity.

How do I begin to list my favourite moments from 'College?' Though some have complained of the repetitiveness of the sequence in which Keaton tries every athletics activity in the book, I thought it was the highlight of the film. The scenes follow a very strict comedic routine: first we see how it is supposed to be done, then we see Ronald's absurdly inept attempt. Wash, rinse, repeat; this time with a completely different sport. Of course the routine becomes somewhat predictable, but Buster Keaton is always the uncertain variable. We don't know how his next effort is going to fail, but we know it is, and that it's going to be a spectacular failure. Ronald is a hopeless case, but you can't deny that he's got heart. Whether he is being out-sprinted by a pair of young children, falling short of the long-jump sandpit, snapping a pole-vaulting stick in half or planting his face two feet underground after clearing the high-jump bar, he is always courageous enough to get up, brush himself off and try again.

I've read that Harold Lloyd explored similar territory two years earlier with 'The Freshman (1925),' a film I haven't seen yet, so that one's probably a good film to look up if you, like me, enjoyed this one. It is also believed that there was originally a sequence showing Ronald's attempts to play American football, though this was ulimately cut to avoid comparisons with Lloyd's movie. Additionally, I was interested to read that Ronald's pole-vault through the window was one of the few times in Keaton's career that he didn't perform his own stunts. I'm certain that the danger-level was definitely not the problem {anybody who's seen 'Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)' will attest to that}, but pole-vaulting must have been one activity that he simply couldn't pull off. I don't blame him.

While not one of Buster Keaton's very best films, this one has some enjoyable sequences and some good comedy material.

The plot is fairly simple, with Buster as a bookish college student who feels that he must succeed at athletics in order to win the girl he wants. It doesn't have the brilliant creativity of Keaton at his best, but on the other hand it does have some very funny moments.

Some of the best parts are the misadventures of Buster's character as he tries his hand at various sports. Even in portraying a character who is athletically inept, Buster demonstrates his own great ability at physical comedy. There are some fine gags in these scenes, and there is some good subtle material in the other parts of the movie.

For those who are not familiar with Keaton, there are several better examples of what he could do. But if you enjoy his brand of humor, you'll certainly want to see "College" too. It's more low-key than usual, but it has plenty of good material that makes it worth watching.

College (1927) was an interesting film that Buster Keaton made during the later days of the silent movie period. In "College", he plays a student who tries all kinds of school sports just so he could impress a girl he's fallen head over heels for. As usual the film is a showcase for Buster Keaton's talents as a stuntman, comedian and director. A little known film but it's one of his better ones. If you're a fan of the silent cinema or a Buster Keaton fan I advise you to pick up a copy of "College". A nice little film that has a "sweet" ending.

Recommended.

A I don't know how many different running times there are for this movie.

The one I saw clocked in at a little over an hour.

Here Keaton plays Ronald the bookworm. He graduates from high school, apparently the valedictorian, and gives a graduation speech on the evils of athletics. The girl he loves - Mary - tells him she won't consider him as a suitor unless he changes his attitude. Ronald enters Clayton College where his endeavors in a number of sports - and jobs - are rich with gags. The villain of the picture is played by Harold Goodwin, who was actually a lifetime friend of Keaton's.

"College" is no doubt one of Keaton's weaker features. It was made right after his pride and joy, "The General", failed miserably at the box office. Thus, Keaton wasn't really in the mood to exert himself either physically or creatively in his next picture. The irony in this film is, of course, that Keaton was a superb athlete and even acrobat. He was good enough at baseball that many feel he could have played professionally, so the scene where he messes up the baseball game for Clayton College is particularly ironic.

Have always had great admiration for Buster Keaton, one of the funniest, boldest and most important comedy geniuses of his time and to exist. His best work was hilarious, and not only is there very few people in comedy at the time and since as jaw-droppingly daring but he was one of not many, and possibly the best at it, to make deadpan work. There really were few people like him before, during and since, despite loving comedy of all decades and most kinds of styles Keaton was a true original.

Being somebody that really liked to loved a vast majority of his silent feature films from the 20s, 1927's 'College' left me somewhat disappointed. It is still worth watching, even when Keaton was not at his very best he fared better than most in the same position, but when it comes to his feature films from this period 'College' is one of the weakest. Actually preferred a majority of his short films over it, a number of gems in this bunch too with a few disappointments.

'College' has good things. Keaton is fine, he has great comic timing and gives it his all, his athleticism is enough to make anybody envious and he is immensely likeable as a character not hard to endear to. He is also very expressive, his deadpan facial expressions quite nuanced. There are some great moments here, the standouts being the graduation speech, the soda jerk gag, the wonderfully wild climax and the initially cute but eventually sombre ending.

While there is nothing technically innovative here, which is a shame as 'College' came straight after one of silent film's visual accomplishments 'The General', the film is well shot and edited. The cast are good.

The story however felt very weak. It felt rather over-stretched with nowhere near enough content to sustain its short length, so some of it felt like filler. As well as repetitive and feeling like a stringing along of gags rather than a cohesive story.

Gags that quality wise were inconsistent, some of the sports related gags are quite fun but others felt very tired and lacked variety. There are signs of Keaton's bold physical comedy, but stunts-wise there isn't enough and what there is has little risk taking. Keaton had been doing short and feature films for some time before this and had found his style long before 'College', yet this felt like sometimes it was made during a period where he was still starting out and not sure what his strengths were.

On the whole, worth watching but disappointing. 6/10