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Cult Review
Archivist John
Senior Editor
You should watch this today if you have a soft spot for silent movies that don't try too hard to be art. If you hate old-fashioned college humor or plots where men act like total idiots, you will probably want to skip it.
William Shelby is our lead, and he starts the movie looking like his dog just died because Joan Kendricks dumped him. It’s that very specific 1920s kind of pining where the actor looks like he’s trying to swallow a lemon.
His friends are the real problem here. They have this awful idea that all girls are basically the same and he just needs a high volume of them to get over his ex.
They basically trick him into a job at an all-girls school. I’m pretty sure this would be a horror movie plot today, but here it's played for maximum goofiness.
The way the girls react to him is hilarious. They swarm him like he’s the last bottle of water in a desert.
There is one shot where he is standing in the middle of a hallway and at least twenty girls are just staring at him. One girl in the back has this expression that says she forgot her lines, and she just keeps blinking at the camera. 😅
Jack Oakie shows up and he is, well, he is Jack Oakie. He does that thing with his eyebrows that makes you wonder if he's having a twitch or just being funny.
It’s a lot more energetic than something like Little Women from the same era. While that one is all about feelings, this one is about running around.
The plot is paper thin. You can tell they were just making up excuses to have Buddy Rogers look overwhelmed by pretty women in flapper hats.
I noticed that in the classroom scenes, the chalkboards actually have real math on them. Someone actually took the time to write out equations that nobody was going to read.
William is still obsessed with Joan, though. He carries this torch for her that is basically a forest fire at this point.
Joan is played by Mary Brian, and she mostly just looks bored or mildly annoyed. I kind of liked her for that.
There’s a scene where William tries to act cool and fails miserably. It’s the most relatable part of the whole film.
It reminds me of the chaotic energy in Wolf's Clothing. Just people doing things because the script told them to, logic be damned.
The intertitles are a bit wordy. Some of them stay on screen so long I had time to check my watch and see how much longer the scene would last.
But the physical comedy is decent. Rogers has a way of tripping that looks genuinely painful.
I wonder if the school set was just a repurposed office. The doors look way too heavy for a dorm room.
There is a bit of a tangent where one of the friends tries to demonstrate how to flirt. It goes on for about three minutes too long and feels like a different movie entirely.
It’s not as clever as She Hired a Husband when it comes to the gender dynamics. It's very much of its time, which means some of the jokes about "how women are" feel like they came out of a dusty old cracker box.
Still, the energy is infectious. You can’t really be mad at a movie that moves this fast.
I liked the ending, even if I saw it coming from the first ten minutes. It has a nice little beat of sincerity that the rest of the movie lacks.
The cinematography is mostly just functional. Nothing fancy, just pointing the camera at the people and hoping they do something funny.
I did catch a weird shadow in the corner of the garden scene. It looks like a stagehand's arm for a split second.
Small mistakes like that make these old movies feel more alive to me. It’s like you’re watching a play that someone happened to record.
Is it a masterpiece? Absolutely not. It’s barely a complete story.
But if you want to see Buddy Rogers look confused for an hour, it’s the best choice you’ve got. It’s a lightweight snack of a film. 🍿
I think I liked the dog in the opening scene more than most of the human characters. He had a very expressive tail.
Anyway, it’s worth a look if you’re doing a deep dive into 1928. Just don't expect it to stay in your head for more than a day.
IMDb 6.4
1923
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