''College Lovers'' is a 1930 American

talkie A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed before ...

Pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

film produced and released by First National Pictures, a subsidiary of

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

, and directed by John G. Adolfi. The movie stars Jack Whiting,

Marian Nixon Marian Nixon (born Marja Nissinen; October 20, 1904 – February 13, 1983) was an American film actress. Sometimes credited as Marion Nixon, she appeared in more than 70 films. Career Born in Superior, Wisconsin, to parents of Finnish descent, ...

Frank McHugh Francis Curry McHugh (May 23, 1898 – September 11, 1981) was an American stage, radio, film and television actor. Early years Born in Homestead, Pennsylvania, of Irish descent, McHugh came from a theatrical family. His parents, Edward A ...

and

Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams Guinn is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: Surname: *Bill Guinn or Lew Meehan (1890–1951), American film actor *Colin Guinn, contestant in ''The Amazing Race'', a U.S. TV series *Dominick Guinn, (born 1975), A ...

. The film was based on the story by Earl Baldwin.

Plot

Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams, a star football player, decides to leave Sanford college after he has found that his girlfriend has eloped with another man. He is drive to the train station by Russell Hopton, his best friend, and also a football player for the same college. Jack Whiting, who plays the part of the student manager of the Sanford college athletic association as well as part of the president of the student body, knows that the college needs Williams to win the important game against Colton college. Whiting conspires with his girlfriend, played by Marian Nixon, to stop Williams from leaving. He also makes use of Frank McHugh, who plays the part of Whiting's assistant in the film. Nixon fakes a suicide on a bridge when she notices Hopton and Williams approaching. They quickly run to help her and both of them fall in love with her, without realizing that she really love Whiting. Williams and Hopton soon become suspicious of each other and constantly spy on each other, leaving Nixon to spend her time with Whiting. Just before the big game, Hopton and Williams have an argument and show no interest in the upcoming game. Whiting suggests that Nixon write each of them an identical love note, telling the recipient that she loves him alone. When Williams and Hopton receive these notes, they end their quarrelling, each thinking that Nixon prefers them to the other. Halfway through the game, one of them discovers the other's note and they begin accusing each other of stealing their notes. Their fighting causes them to be benched. Colton ties the score and promises to be the winner, which so scares Hopton and Williams that they shake hands and go back into the game. When the winning touchdown for Sanford is a matter of inches away from the goal line, the two backs waste the last minute of the game trying to decide which of them will have the honor of making the final touchdown and the game ends in a tie.

Cast

* Jack Whiting as Frank Taylor *

as Madge Hutton *

as Speed Haskins *

as Tiny Courtley *

Russell Hopton Harry Russell Hopton (February 18, 1900 – April 7, 1945) was an American film actor and director. Biography Hopton was born in New York City, New York. He appeared in 110 films between 1926 and 1945, often playing streetwise characters f ...

as Eddie Smith *

Wade Boteler Wade Boteler (October 3, 1888 – May 7, 1943) was an American film actor and writer. He appeared in more than 430 films between 1919 and 1943. Biography He was born in Santa Ana, California, and died in Hollywood, California, from a heart ...

as Coach Donovan * Phyllis Crane as Josephine Crane *

Richard Tucker Richard Tucker (August 28, 1913January 8, 1975) was an American operatic tenor and cantor. Long associated with the Metropolitan Opera, Tucker's career was primarily centered in the United States. Early life Tucker was born Rivn (Rubin) Ticke ...

as Gene Hutton *

Charles Judels Charles Judels (August 17, 1882 - February 14, 1969) was a Dutch-born American actor. Early years Judels was born on August 17, 1882, in Amsterdam as a third generation in a family of actors. His grandfather owned several theatres throughout t ...

as Spectator * Pauline Wagner as Frank McHugh's girl friend

Production

The film was planned as a full-scale musical comedy. The majority of the musical numbers of this film, however, were cut out before general release in the United States because the public had grown tired of musicals by late 1930. Although music was mentioned when the film was first released, ads and reviews soon mentioned that, even though Jack Whiting was a musical comedy star, there was no singing in the picture. These cuts accounts for the very short length of the film. The film was marketed as a straight comedy film. The complete musical film was released intact in countries outside the United States where a backlash against musicals never occurred.

Songs

Although some modern sources mention the songs "One Minute of Heaven" and "Up and At 'Em" as being performed in this film, they were actually written for the 1929 musical comedy '' The Forward Pass''. Since the film is now lost, and the music was cut from circulating prints in the United States, it is not certain what songs were written for this picture.

Preservation

No film elements are known to survive, although there is a copy of the screenplay in the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections at

Princeton University Library Princeton University Library is the main library system of Princeton University. With holdings of more than 7 million books, 6 million microforms, and 48,000 linear feet of manuscripts, it is among the largest libraries in the world by number of ...

. The soundtrack, which was recorded on

Vitaphone Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone was the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one ...

disks, may survive in private hands. It is unknown whether a copy of this full version still exists.

References

External links

* * {{John G. Adolfi 1930 films First National Pictures films 1930s English-language films Lost American films Warner Bros. films Films directed by John G. Adolfi American black-and-white films American comedy films 1930 comedy films 1930 lost films Lost comedy films 1930s American films