All-American Co-Ed
United Artists/Hal Roach Pictures, 1941
Starring Frances Langford, Johnny Downs, Noah Beery Jr, and Marjorie Woodworth
Directed by LeRoy Prinz
Music and Lyrics by various
The Story: Quniceton's all-male revue in drag attracts the attention of dean of all-girl's agricultural college Mar Brynn Hap Holden (Harry Langdon). He suggests to Matilda Collinge (Esther Dale), the school's president, that she bump up her failing school by giving scholarships to the winners of pageants with the names of produce and showcase them at their upcoming Fall Festival. He and her niece Virginia (Langford) convince her to make fun of Quinceton's Zeta fraternity as "the least likely to succeed" and ban them from campus. In revenge, the Zeta president Bob Sheppard (Johnny Downs) dresses in drag and enters the contest...but he never expected to fall for Virginia...
The Song and Dance: Decent music and a few funny performances highlight this battle of the sexes. I also love the costumes at the actual pageant that makes the ladies look like the fruits and vegetables they represent. Downs in particular is hilarious as the young man trying to navigate in an all-woman's world, including getting into a girdle. And at least they're honest about how little this resembles actual college life, even adding it as a disclaimer in the opening. This is also one of the few college movies I know of that doesn't revolve around sports or a big dance. The Fall Festival and pageant more-or-less replace both.
Favorite Number: We open with long lines of legs under the credits...until Downs comes out to reveal that those "legs" belong to attractive guys! He sings "I've Got a Chip On My Shoulder" dolled up in an incredible long gown and wig. Langford does a more traditional version later at Mar Brynn. She also gets the sole ballad, the Oscar-nominated "Out of the Silence." Downs in drag and the Tanner Sisters join Langford for the very funny "Up at the Crack of Dawn." The film ends with the girls singing the tale of "The Farmer's Daughter" in nifty overalls and gingham costumes at the pageant.
Trivia: This is the only film directed by long-time Warner Bros choreographer LeRoy Prinz.
What I Don't Like: The story may be relatively original for collegiate musicals, but it's also pretty silly, even for collegiate musicals. Two colleges get into a pranking war that involves a guy running around in drag? Most of the supporting cast, including silent comedian Langdon and Alan Hale Jr. and Noah Beery Jr. as jocks pursuing Downs, are saddled with dull material or don't have that much to do. It's also marred by a few black stereotype jokes with a porter (Dudley Dickerson) near the end.
The Big Finale: The not-bad numbers alone makes this worth checking out for fans of Langford or the music of the 30's and 40's.
Home Media: It's in the public domain, so it can pretty much be found anywhere, including streaming for free on Tubi and Pluto TV.
Let's Go Collegiate
Monogram Pictures, 1941
Starring Frankie Darro, Marcia Mae Jones, Jackie Moran, and Frank Sully
Directed by Jean Yarbrough
Music by Edward Kay; Lyrics by Harry Tobias
The Story: Frankie (Darro) and Tad (Moran) are members of Rawley College's rowing crew who eagerly await the arrival of star rower Bob Terry. When they learn Terry's been drafted, they desperately recruit truck driver Hercules "Herk" Bevans (Sully) to pose as Terry. It works for the party their girlfriends Bess (Jones) and Midge (Gale Storm) hold for Terry, but Bevans gets terribly seasick and hasn't had a high school class in years. The boys bring him seasickness pills and put their own academic careers on the line to help tutor him. Despite this, he ends up very popular with the kids on campus. Bess and Midge even get "engaged" to him at the same time. As it turns out, not only does Bevans have a criminal background, but Frankie may risk losing the big Regatta
The Song and Dance: Once again, we're offered a nice variation on some school movie tropes. I don't think I've ever seen another college movie that revolves around rowing. Rawley is also a surprisingly diverse campus for 1941, with Asian Keye Luke prominent as Tad and Frankie's good friend and the assistant for Coach Walsh (Barton Yarbourough) Buck Wing (and not played for stereotypes) and African-American driver Mantan Moreland basically considered to be one of the gang. Look for Frank Faylen of It's a Wonderful Life as one of the men who eventually call Bevans out as a crook.
Favorite Number: Storm does get into the bouncy uptempo ballad "Look What You've Done to Me" with Moran's band at the party to introduce "Terry." Jones and Moran join Moreland and sassy maid Marguerite Whitten for "Let's Do a Little Dreamin'."
What I Don't Like: This movie has the (slightly) stronger story, but the music is limited to three dull band numbers shoehorned in to give Moran's orchestra something to do. Darro still looks too old to be playing college kids, though the rest of the cast is more passable. Some of Moreland's stereotypical lines are pretty wince-inducing today, especially compared to how well Luke is treated. And considering Bevans is neither attractive, nor an especially pleasant character, the entire side plot with how both girls dump their boys to marry him comes off as ridiculous rather than romantic.
The Big Finale: I mildly recommend Co-Ed over this for the better music and cast, but they're both enjoyable enough time-wasters for fans of 40's musicals or people looking for something fluffy and fun to watch on streaming.
Home Media: Though it's also in the public domain, streaming seems to be your best bet for this one. It's free with a subscription to Amazon Prime.
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