So This Is College

Could anybody be as obnoxious as the frat boys in the first 20 minutes of this antique? They throw food, they argue about who gets the most girls, they make the freshmen carry their trunks up the fraternity house steps....On the screen it's less funny than that sounds.

Elliott Nugent and Robert Montgomery play football stars entering their senior year. As soon as they are all moved in, they get right down to the intelligent dialog:

Montgomery: The team's got a tough schedule this year.

Nugent: Yeah, we sure have.

Montgomery: I've decided we're gonna cut out the women until after the football season's over.

Nugent: You – hey, are you serious?

Soon enough, the pair cross paths with cute co-ed Sally Star, who enchants them both. Nugent's approach is pushy, Montgomery's more polite, but she shows interest in both and rather quickly the picture develops into a fairly standard two-fellows-in-love-with-the-same- girl story.

The farce takes a more serious turn at about the one hour mark— Nugent, in particular, becomes suddenly human and much more sympathetic. The climax of the story hangs not on which of them will get the girl but a much more important question:

With their friendship all busted up, will Nugent and Montgomery blow the big game against Stanford?

Technically, it's an early talkie fraught with the typical weaknesses—static camera work, dropped dialog—of that brief period during which filmmakers rushed to adopt a new and imperfect technology, making it up as they went. Dramatically, it's really pretty silly.

Still….There is some lively football action in the closing minutes. Also, Cliff Edwards sings a couple of okay tunes.

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"

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.

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?'