Rex Lease is the football hero whose temper and drinking threaten his spot on the team, and his romantic life..but his naive comical roommate (Benny Rubin) remains his steadfast supporter. R... Read allRex Lease is the football hero whose temper and drinking threaten his spot on the team, and his romantic life..but his naive comical roommate (Benny Rubin) remains his steadfast supporter. Rubin's brush with death becomes the impetus for Lease to turn his life around.Rex Lease is the football hero whose temper and drinking threaten his spot on the team, and his romantic life..but his naive comical roommate (Benny Rubin) remains his steadfast supporter. Rubin's brush with death becomes the impetus for Lease to turn his life around.
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I've noticed that in just about every college film made during the 1930s that the students never are show in class! And, although it's also about college football, very, very little of the film shows any football!
When Jim (Rex Lease) arrives at college, he's a decent guy and you can see that when a group of students are picking on poor Benny (Benny Rubin). Jim saves the day and instantly becomes Benny's friend. However, as the school year progresses, the star player, Jim, starts drinking, his grades slip and he even injures a member of the team in a fight. Not surprisingly, he's tossed out of school. But, being a good guy down deep, Jim works hard to get back in school and on the team. But that isn't enough for him...and he more than proves his worth by the end of the film.
In many ways, Jim is playing the sort of part William Haines made popular at MGM--a guy who is talented lets it all go to his head and his disappoints everyone...only to prove by the end he's a stand-up fellow after all. Soon after this, Lease and Rubin returned with a very similar film, but this time about baseball..."Hot Curves".
Overall, this is an enjoyable time-passer from tiny little Tiffany Studios. Not brilliant by any stretch but for 1930, it's a nice little film.
When Jim (Rex Lease) arrives at college, he's a decent guy and you can see that when a group of students are picking on poor Benny (Benny Rubin). Jim saves the day and instantly becomes Benny's friend. However, as the school year progresses, the star player, Jim, starts drinking, his grades slip and he even injures a member of the team in a fight. Not surprisingly, he's tossed out of school. But, being a good guy down deep, Jim works hard to get back in school and on the team. But that isn't enough for him...and he more than proves his worth by the end of the film.
In many ways, Jim is playing the sort of part William Haines made popular at MGM--a guy who is talented lets it all go to his head and his disappoints everyone...only to prove by the end he's a stand-up fellow after all. Soon after this, Lease and Rubin returned with a very similar film, but this time about baseball..."Hot Curves".
Overall, this is an enjoyable time-passer from tiny little Tiffany Studios. Not brilliant by any stretch but for 1930, it's a nice little film.
At Stantech College, Rex Lease tries out for football and Marceline Day. Marjorie Kane tries out for Benny Rubin. When his grades drop -- there's nary a professor to be seen -- he's scrubbed from the starting lineup and accidentally puts the team's other good player out of commission right before the big game. He leaves the school in disgrace.
It's another of the innumerable college musicals of the era, one of the plethora that made musicals a drug on the market until Warner Brothers revived the genre in 1933. Director Norman Taurog shoots the movie in natural-looking settings, but dialogue director George Cleveland paces the line readings awkwardly, Rex Lease looks like he's wearing lipstick -- and only about half the songs are worth listening to. Babe Kane has a dynamite song-and-dance routine and Rex Lease croons a romantic ballad pretty well.
It's another of the innumerable college musicals of the era, one of the plethora that made musicals a drug on the market until Warner Brothers revived the genre in 1933. Director Norman Taurog shoots the movie in natural-looking settings, but dialogue director George Cleveland paces the line readings awkwardly, Rex Lease looks like he's wearing lipstick -- and only about half the songs are worth listening to. Babe Kane has a dynamite song-and-dance routine and Rex Lease croons a romantic ballad pretty well.
This was OK, but not a great movie. There were a few laughs. Before I actually watched it, I'd read that it was a "precode gay classic", but that is not at all accurate. It is really the trajectories of two freshman at college. One losing his innocence and finding his burgeoning manhood, and another man full of confidence discovering his vulnerability and finding redemption. A minor 1930 comedy / drama.
More than a nice film , for themes - from young new guy in campus , naif and easy ridiculous , to the love, gay impulse for roommate, comradery and sacrifice for best buddy.
Nost last, the beautiful performances of Benny Rubin and Rex Lease.
The result - absolutely a charming one, including dance moments , not ignoring the absurd Benny accident.
So, a good puzzle , not impressive, not memorable but working just well scene by scene , generous in clichees and crowned by fair moral.
And smart crafted about sensitive subjects, sujested in simple - precise way.
In short, a nice discovery and the air of 1930 s.
Nost last, the beautiful performances of Benny Rubin and Rex Lease.
The result - absolutely a charming one, including dance moments , not ignoring the absurd Benny accident.
So, a good puzzle , not impressive, not memorable but working just well scene by scene , generous in clichees and crowned by fair moral.
And smart crafted about sensitive subjects, sujested in simple - precise way.
In short, a nice discovery and the air of 1930 s.
This pre-Code low budgeted Tiffany Productions feature showcases Benny Rubin, a vaudeville performer whose hallmark is dialect, in this instance Yiddish (although he also is adept throughout his lengthy career with many other characterizations, including blackface) and whose forte, contention with the English language, is in evidence within his every scene here. The continuity is thin, primarily to do with light romantic episodes of two couples who have met in a college and an assortment of improbable difficulties that they face, but this early sound film is highlighted by some sprightly songs composed by Will Jason and Val Burton, performed by three of the leads and one of the more loopy assemblages of extras to be found. Direction by Norman Taurog, who later bestowed his lack of skill upon an assortment of deserving Elvis Presley movies, is slack, and some of the acting rivals its lumpishness, but there are notable exceptions, particularly from uncommonly animated Patsy "Babe" Kane and elegant Marceline Day, with little anywhere to compare with the hilarious specialty dancing of Rubin, a talent which he never lost. Those with interest in American social history and mores will find a great deal to favour, after quickly parrying the storyline, with particular value present for cinema specialists in the disciplines of production design, costume, and dance, and for all who enjoy the study of linguistics and vernacular speech, particularly as these apply to the 1920s.
Did you know
- TriviaThe film is preserved at the Library of Congress.
- SoundtracksWanna Find a Boy
(uncredited)
Written by Will Jason and Val Burton
Performed by Marjorie Kane and students
Details
- Runtime
- 1h 15m(75 min)
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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