Director: Edward Sedgwick
Starring: Buster Keaton, Sally Eilers, Edward Brophy, Cliff Edwards
A naive and wealthy young man seeks to impress a girl and then unwittingly signs up for army service.
‘Doughboys’ is Buster Keaton’s second talkie film, and his first drama. Essentially a comedy, the film also contains elements of drama during the war sequences.
Buster Keaton stars as Elmer Stuyvesant Jr., who accidentally enlists in the army. He is surprised to see Mary (Sally Eilers) – a girl he is smitten with – in the army as well. But Elmer discovers his drill sergeant, Sergeant Brophy (Edward Brophy) also has his eyes on Mary, and it sort of becomes a contest for her hand.
An unlikely soldier at first, Elmer becomes a war hero thanks to his bravery. I must be honest, I didn’t particularly like the story all that much; neither did I really like the dialogue. I suppose we have to keep in mind talkies were still fairly new in 1930. It was interesting hearing Buster Keaton’s voice after so many silent movies (yup, I’ve seen ALL of his silent films and shorts!).
Gone are the famous Buster Keaton stunts and his poker face, which I so loved in his previous films (when he still had creative freedom before signing with MGM). I also didn’t find the film all that funny. Some of the humour felt forced and there were few laugh-out-loud moments as with his previous films. Having said that, the dance scene with Buster was really funny, and a sight to behold! It was also interesting seeing men in drag in 1930!!
Despite the film not holding up to his earlier films, it was nevertheless still entertaining.
Would I watch it again? No.
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