So This Is College

(3 stars)

"Are you afraid of me?" "Yeah, I'm afraid you'll bite me." "Don't be silly, you know I'm a vegetarian."

An odd little film, combining wacky college humor, a love triangle, musical numbers, and footage from the 1928 USC and Stanford football game at the L. A. Memorial Coliseum, then just five years old. It's too long at 98 minutes but it had its moments, and was an interesting window into the spirit of the Roaring Twenties. Released just a couple of weeks after the stock market crash, it felt a little like the end of an era.

On the positive side, the playful banter and teasing between the college kids yields some occasional amusing moments. It was Robert Montgomery's first starring role, and Sally Starr is charismatic as the plucky young woman playing him off of his buddy (Elliott Nugent). Watch also for uncredited appearances from Joel McCrea and Ann Dvorak. The carefree dancing at a party was a lot of fun, including some wild moves from Nugent (at roughly the 32:29 point), and you get little bits like jazz inspired vocal riffs and Starr tooling around in a 1927 Chrysler Series 70 roadster. The football footage goes on a little long, but it's always interesting to see the plays being run way back when, and how primitive the equipment was (those helmets!). If you're not into football, I'm sure the last 10 minutes or so will overstay their welcome.

The film never quite makes it because the two male leads often engage in boorish behavior, hazing the freshmen and going after the same women aggressively. It's all meant to be great fun, e.g. Oh those crazy college kids, and while they never do anything egregiously bad, they're not very likeable either. It's certainly a male point of view and the moral, essentially "bro's before ho's," wasn't all that appealing to me. Also, despite it being pre-Code, it's all very safe and rather bland, with no eyebrow-raising moments. It might be worth a look though.

In Robert Montgomery's third film for MGM he and Elliott Nugent play a couple of BMOCs on campus and the biggest guys on campus are football players and seniors. The two have a goodnatured rivalry over all things including women they date. But along comes flapper Sally Starr and these two have their mojos in overdrive.

It's as the Bard said it Antony And Cleopatra, Cleo leaves all the men not just satisfied but wanting more. Nugent and Montgomery are both hot to trot for her and it threatens all with them including their team work on the gridiron.

Lots of music, 20s style in So This Is College mostly provided by Cliff 'Ukelele Ike' Edwards. Starr also shows her stuff in some 20s style dancing.

The climax is the big game USC versus Stanford and there's quite an ironical postscript for these two yoyos. It's a good introduction for the work of Robert Montgomery who was starting to be noticed they don't want you.

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.

I finally watched SO THIS IS COLLEGE, a 1929 MGM college film with music. I bought it from Warners a while back, but Robert Montgomery is not a fave so I shelved it.

Right off the bat, I was surprised to see Elliott Nugent billed over Montgomery and at 33, a pretty old college senior (Montgomery was 25). Nugent acted in 17 or so films and some TV but is better known as a writer/director. He was son of actor J.C. Nugent. This might be Montgomery's first starring role.

Anyway. In another of those "2 pals who fall for the same girl" plots, Nugent and Montgomery are college football heroes and roomies. They both fall for Babs (Sally Starr, her talkie debut), have lots of parties (it is college after all), and are endlessly singing, listening to, or dancing to "I Don't Want Your Kisses if I Can't Have Your Love." Starr falls for Nugent which sends Montgomery into a petulant sulk. Can the 2 pals make up in time for the "big game"? Real footage of a USC/Stanford game is used along with lots of location shooting on USC campus.

On hand in support are Cliff Edwards (another mid-30s college senior) who sings a snappy "Sophomore Prom," Lee Shumway as the coach, Polly Moran as the cook, and Phyllis Crane as Betty. Among the bit players are Joel McCrea, Ward Bond, Ann Dvorak, Ray Cooke, Richard Carle, Delmer Daves, and of course Grady Sutton.

There's a bizarre subplot about a dry cleaner, his wife, and a pair of pants. Max Davidson and Ann Brody are the couple.

Funniest bit has Polly Moran running back to the kitchen after the "boys" sitting at a U-shaped table pelt her with saltines while they scream, "Polly want a cracker?'

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.