The Freshman's Goat

"The Freshman's Goat" is a short film from Educational Pictures, a company that occasionally made great films (such as "Bridge Wives") but often just seemed to make subpar comedies....at least in my experience.

The story is set at some college. A couple Freshman arrive on campus with a goat which they're going to make the class' mascot. However, the Sophomores are big jerks and get into a brawl in order to steal the poor animal. Now here's where it makes no sense...the fight is interrupted by the faculty and they announce that there will be a road rally to decide who gets the goats...the freshman or sophomores. Now considering the goat WAS owned by the freshman, this contest seems pretty stupid. What follows is a mostly unfunny race, punctuated with a few terrific sight gags. But the story and dialog never really elicit any laughs....making caring about all this a bit difficult. Of interest mostly to obsessive film nuts like me...but not most others.

In an institute of higher learning, freshmen and sophmores riot over who gets possession of a goat. Then they decide to hold an automobile race to settle the question.

There's quite a cast of skilled comic actors, including Iris Adrian, Ray Cooke, Marion Shockley, and two alumni of Universal's COLLEGIANS series, Ronald Rondell and Churchill Ross. There's also a couple of good gags I recognized from better-remembered works, including two men in one pair of pants.

So it's a competent short comedy for the year it came out, which I find annoying because there's no sign that anyone learns anything on a college campus.