College is a 1927 American silent comedy film directed by James W. Horne and an uncredited Buster Keaton, who also stars.
Ronald (Keaton) is valedictorian of his high school, and a scholar. The bookish Ronald gives his valedictorian speech on "The Curse of Athletics", claiming that athletics are useless and stand in the way of learning. The object of his affections, Mary, prefers dumb jocks, so she rejects poor Ronald, preferring Jeff the athlete.
Ronald won't give up, however. He follows Jeff and Mary to local Clayton College. Determined to win Mary's love, he tries out for various sports, making a fool of himself at both baseball and track and field. Finally, the kindly dean gets Ronald a spot on the rowing team. Can Ronald win the big race, and win Mary?
Suspiciously similar to Harold Lloyd's college- and college-sports themed comedy, The Freshman.
Tropes:
- Accidental Pervert:
- A gang of bullies catch Ronald in a blanket and are flipping him up in the air. He keeps flying up to the open window of the ladies' dorm supervisor, who is changing. She thinks Ronald is The Peeping Tom.
- By the end of the race Ronald has managed to get the yacht's rudder tied to his waist and sticking out from behind like a tail. He accidentally pokes a couple of ladies' bottoms.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Subverted with Mary. At first she starts out dating the Jerk Jock, Jeff. However, she soon comes to admire Ronald's spirit as he tries to compete athletically, and soon starts to see Jeff for the jerk he is and eventually gets together with Ronald.
- And Now You Must Marry Me: During the climax of the film, Jeff locks himself and Mary in her dorm room until she's willing to marry him.
- Bar Slide: The soda jerk has a bunch of fancy tricks that he does when making floats and milkshakes, like when he slides a milkshake down the bar to a customer at the end. Ronald tries it, and slides his milkshake right off the end of the bar and into the customer's lap.
- Big Game: The big boat race, with Ronald as coxswain of the Clayton College team.
- Blackface: Ronald needs a job to pay tuition. He sees an advertisement for a "Colored Waiter". Cue Ronald in blackface. The gag ends when Ronald unknowingly wipes the blackface off one cheek.
- Call-Back: All the athletic skills that Ronald was so apparently bad at in baseball and track pay off at the climax, when he races back to Mary's room to save her from Jeff. He has to leap a series of hedges—just like the hurdles. He has to leap across a pond—just like the long jump. He pole vaults into Mary's second-floor window. As Jeff is running away, Ronald flings a lamppost at him like a javelin.
- Chekhov's Gag: The rainstorm is first funny when we see Ronald and his mom caught in the monsoon, Ronald getting soaked as he tries to cover his mom with a tiny umbrella. It pays off again later when Ronald's rain-soaked suit starts to rapidly shrink as Ronald is giving his speech.
- College Is "High School, Part 2": Ronald, Mary, and Jeff all go to the same college, which apparently is nearby.
- Cool Teacher: The dean, who is not Dean Bitterman but instead is a mentor to Ronald, eventually getting him a spot on the rowing team. It's revealed that the dean wound up losing a girl to academics in his youth.
- Entitled to Have You: Jeff certainly feels this way towards Mary when she starts to lose interest in him.
- Grow Old with Me: Subverted in the ending that briefly shows Ronald and Mary as a squabbling, apparently unhappy elderly couple, before showing adjoining graves.
- Ironic Juxtaposition: The opening title sets the scene as "On the sunkist slopes of the Pacific....California." The film then cuts to a torrential rainstorm as Ronald's high school graduation is underway.
- Jerk Jock: Jeff. At first, he's a simple bully. But over the course of the film he becomes more possessive and domineering over Mary, to the point in the climax that he locks himself in her dorm room, wanting to force her into marrying him.
- Poisoned Chalice Switcheroo: Accidentally. The former coxswain puts down one cup of coffee for himself and one for Ronald; Ronald's is drugged. Ronald carelessly dunks his toast in the other guy's coffee, then, after he notices, switches cups. The other coxswain is knocked out and Ronald is in the race.
- Race for Your Love: When Ronald gets an urgent phone call from Mary, who is being held against her will by Jeff, he springs into action, performing all manner of athletic feats he initially struggled with in order to save Mary.
- Slipping a Mickey: The former coxswain of the rowing team, on the orders of the coach, slips a sedative into Ronald's coffee to knock him out before the race. It fails when Ronald performs an accidental Poisoned Chalice Switcheroo.
- Sudden Downer Ending: Or maybe a sudden cynical ending, but either way a very weird ending. We see a shot of Ronald carrying Mary into a church for the ceremony. Then there's a cut to them leaving. Then there's a cut to an older Ronald and Mary with a bunch of kids. Then there's a cut to an obviously unhappy, elderly Ronald and Mary, with him yelling at her. Then there's a cut to side-by-side graves, then the movie ends. The whole sequence lasts ten seconds.
