College (Silent) (DVD)

Buster plays a stuck-up high school valedictorian who puts down athletes during his graduation speech. Revolted by his snobbery, his girlfriend Mary dumps him on the spot. To redeem himself in her eyes, he takes up athletics in college - trying out every sport possible and failing at all of them! When the school's star athlete starts cozying up to Mary, Buster realizes he'll have to shape up or lose her forever.

Buster Keaton followed up his classic The General (1927) with this hilarious send-up of academia. College may be an even better showcase for Keaton's skills as an actor, director and stuntman - the only stunt Buster didn't perform is the pole vault in the film's climax, which was done by Olympic gold medal winner Lee Barnes. Despite the onscreen credit for James W. Horne, Buster insisted to historian Kevin Brownlow that he actually directed the film: "James Horne was absolutely useless to me...I don't know why we had him, because I practically did College."

PLUS BONUS SHORTS:

THE BOAT (1921): Buster builds a boat in his backyard, but when he and his family take it out on a pleasure cruise, it's one disaster after another. The boat's name, "Damfino" is a play on "Damned if I know!"

THE ELECTRIC HOUSE (1922): After a mix-up at the State University, Buster is given an electrical engineer's degree. He's then asked to install electricity at the Dean's house, which leads to shocking results! The filming of The Electric House was actually the only time Keaton hurt himself doing a stunt - he got his foot caught in the moving stairs and broke his ankle, and was laid up for weeks after production was completed.

• silent