Very Cool!!!

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

This is an inferior Buster Keaton feature film. Considering how brilliant Keaton was, and how marvellous many of his feature films are, this one is a serious disappointment. I do not believe it would necessarily have been regarded that way when it came out, however. A lot of sport has flowed under the bridge since then. The film is primarily about Buster trying and failing at every conceivable sport (except football) which was common then at 'college' (the American term for university). Buster plays a bookish student who has contempt for sports but in order to try to win the heart of the girl he loves, tries to become a sportsman. In the days before sport was on television ad nauseam every single day, this would have had much more appeal than it has now. Sport historians of course would find this film fascinating, if there are any sport historians, that is. All the expected things happen: Buster tries the shot-put but cannot lift the shot and falls over under its weight, he tries the high jump but crashes into the rod, he tries the hurdles but knocks them all over, and so on. Considering that this film came between Buster's famous films THE GENERAL (1926) and STEAMBOAT BILL JR. (1928), it is remarkable that it lacks a fraction of the appeal of either of them. The DVD is good quality, with a well-restored print, so there are no quality complaints. The silent era was coming to an end, and what one can say in favour of COLLEGE is that it could never have succeeded at all in the sound era, so if Keaton really wanted to explore sports, it is just as well that he squeezed this film in just in time. It may be that other people will enjoy this film far more than myself, especially if they are fascinated by the subject, and there is no questioning the brilliance of Keaton's comic timing and technique, which are up to their usual standard. He also co-directed the film. Another reviewer has justly observed that this film resembles in theme the excellent film THE FRESHMAN (1925) by Harold Lloyd, which I would say is far more amusing than this one. These days when there are so many teen flicks about, the subject of kids going to 'college' and being 'freshmen' has little novelty, but in the twenties, it was all of great interest, especially to the dazed parents trying to understand their increasingly wild children, an anxiety clearly demonstrated by the film THE WILD PARTY (1929) starring Clara Bow in a film about girls going wild at college. People interested in seeing anything and everything that clever Buster Keaton did can, of course, not afford to miss this major film of his, as long as they are prepared to be bored by parts of it and wonder why he bothered making it.

Incredible stunts and deadpan expressions were Buster Keaton's stock in trade, but his best films relied on more to interest audiences. "College" plays more like a filler project between more ambitious efforts, showcasing the talents of its silent comic star only in fits and starts.Buster plays Ronald, valedictorian of his high school class but too poor to afford college and a shot at the woman he loves, Clayton State College freshman Mary Haynes (Anne Cornwall). He enrolls at Clayton anyway, tries his hand at work, and jumps into scholastic athletics despite his grievous lack of physical coordination. Mary is impressed he's trying, but his old rival Jeff (Harold Goodwin) is one of many who block his path.Directed by James W. Horne and an uncredited Keaton as an excuse for a series of sports-related gags, "College" barely makes it to its running time of just over an hour, even with the padding of a long intro centered around Buster's high-school graduation. Ronald's college career seems to consist of alternating bouts of athletics and hazing, with some period shots of USC's campus for atmosphere.Buster's stone face is a little more expressive in this film, beginning with his big graduation speech, an ironic denunciation of sports he delivers with amusing, eye-bulging passion as he sways from side to side, feet planted on the floor. "What have Ty Ruth or Babe Dempsey done for Science!" he demands, angering his classmates so much they leave in mid-ceremony.Speaking of Ty Cobb, his former Tiger teammate Sam Crawford appears here as Clayton's baseball coach in one of the better sequences (he was really USC's baseball coach at the time). As the third baseman, Buster gets caught in a rundown, then as a baserunner manages to cause a triple play by himself. Crawford finally ends things by gives Buster the boot.The overall storyline is episodic and haphazard. For a job, Buster first works as a soda jerk, scattering milk and eggs hither and yon until Mary walks in and Buster ashamedly pretends to be a customer, too. This would seem a promising idea, but instead the boss confronts him and Buster walks out, ending that whole deal with a shrug. Later, he tries to be a "colored waiter" by donning blackface. The color comes off; the sequence doesn't.Even the celebrated visual trickery found in Keaton's other films gets short shrift here. The most prominent involves him being tossed up in the air holding an umbrella, which causes him to "slow" when falling. It's a poor device in service of a weak gag, involving a heavyset woman dressing at a window who gets annoyed at Buster's apparent peeping. Like much else in the film, it could have been eliminated without notice.Finally, with the help of a friendly dean who identifies with Buster's lovelorn state, he gets a varsity position as the coxswain, or "coaxer" as Buster calls it, for Clayton's crew team, which must win their big race or face elimination from the school program.There's an energetic ending, like the blackface humor rather dated, in which Buster must save Mary from a fate worse than death - being caught in her room with a boy. Never mind the couple's fully dressed and she's struggling to get out; it's instant expulsion for her if she's caught. Here, rushing to save her, Buster shows off the athleticism that he has been keeping under cover for the whole film, and it's a nice payoff in that you get laughs and thrills, standard fare in most Keaton films though only in evidence here in the last few minutes.Like many commenters have already noted, "College" is regarded as a lesser Keaton, though its last shot is jaw-droppingly memorable; Keaton's unsentimental sensibilities at their stoniest. It's a good thing he used the shot for a film like "College"; it might have spoiled one of his funnier efforts.

Once again, Buster as the little guy who always fails and is down on his luck...works every time. I think it was probably more challenging for him to fail at all those field events, except for the pole vaulting. This was the first movie I've seen him in without long sleeves, I had no idea he had actual muscles. This movie is my mom's favorite Buster Keaton movie and easily in my top ten. I had never watched a silent movie until six months ago, and now I have seen over fifty of Buster's, and a little Chaplin, who is not better than Buster, despite what many people think. One thing I don't like about Buster's movies is the girl is always shallow at the beginning of the movie, but then comes around by the end. This occurs again in this movie. If you love silent movies or if you don't because you're and illiterate sheep who thinks reading is "stoopid", I still recommend this one to you.

I am not a HUGE Buster Keaton fan. I am, however, beginning to like his movies more and more. Even though the emotion on his face doesn't change, he is still a pretty damn good actor. I bought this movie on DVD from the 99 cent store. I have seen his most famous movie (The General) and i must say that this movie entitled "College" is a lot better. Every single scene had great entertainment. Very well filmed for that time. This movie really made me see how times have changed. In the scene where he plays a black waiter is something that would never make it into a movie these days. The ending was really original. Lots of laughs and of course, his physical comedy was excellent as usual.