Doughboys (1930) User Reviews (16)

Should have been the starting template for Keaton's sound features

[Igenlode Wordsmith · 7/10 · 11 March 2006]

After "Free and Easy", I was seriously starting to wonder if I could bear to stick out the rest of Buster Keaton's MGM talkies. But in fact I not only managed to tolerate this; I actually enjoyed it.

"Doughboys" is never going to be anybody's classic, but it's a perfectly decent little picture. The quality of the contents is not great, but pretty consistent; its best moments never quite reach the heights of the best of "Three Ages" or "Spite Marriage", let alone, say, "Steamboat Bill, Jr"... but quite frankly, its worst moments are actually better than the more tedious sections of the former two movies. MGM's script department have, apparently, finally got their act together, and the dialogue is far more fluid -- and funnier -- than the laboured humour of "Free and Easy". Such a benchmark scarcely implies, of course, that the scenes necessarily sparkle in any way, but they're entertaining and seldom outstay their welcome. The cardinal virtue of this film in comparison with its predecessor is that it's rarely an embarrassment to watch.

Keaton himself appears much happier with his material here, and -- again unlike "Free and Easy" -- "Doughboys" clearly bears his stamp. This may be a talkie, but it's recognisably a Buster Keaton film, and allegedly one with autobiographical elements, as when he asks for a smaller pair of Army boots! We see the welcome return of Buster's trademark range of deadpan reactions, and revisit a couple of silent-era gags -- funnier when seen for the first time, but still old friends. The balance of visual versus verbal humour is much more even overall in this film, and it's better for it.

Sadly, given the age-distorted soundtrack of the print one problem this non-American viewer faced was considerable difficulty with some of the actors' accents. Buster himself is fine, but there were a couple of scenes -- including, unfortunately, the finale -- where I completely failed to understand what had just happened because a vital line was delivered in what appeared to be thick dialect.

My other principal dialogue issue is that (apparently gratuitous) line about Buster's being twenty-three, when he is quite evidently ten years older! Since the character is represented at both start and end of the film as being in a fairly senior position in the firm, and since his father and namesake is apparently old enough to have retired, I simply can't see any script logic in wrong-footing the audience in this way.

"Doughboys" doesn't have anything like the inventiveness or laugh quotient of Keaton's own early short films, or the depth of his great silent features, but there's nothing too much wrong with it bar a few mildly tedious stretches. An inoffensive lightweight comedy that no-one -- studio included -- need be ashamed of; as an apprenticeship in the technique of talkie humour this is fine, and it's nice to see places where Keaton is clearly enjoying himself again. Personally, I'd rather watch this than, say, "The Love Nest": at any rate it really doesn't deserve Leonard Maltin's dismissal as "one of Buster's worst films".

He's in the Army Now

[lugonian · 6/10 · 1 June 2013]

DOUGHBOYS (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1930), directed by Edward Sedgwick, stars that deadpan silent film comedian Buster Keaton in his second sound comedy. Not essentially a movie about those working for the Pillsbury Company, this is one about soldiers during the first World War, then commonly known as "doughboys." Though an improvement over Keaton's initial talkie, FREE AND EASY (1930) set in the Hollywood movie studio, it's far from his silent masterpieces made during his peak years of the twenties.

The plot revolves around Elmer Julius Stuyvesant Jr. (Buster Keaton), a hapless millionaire hopelessly in love with a shop-girl named Mary Rogers (Sally Eilers), whom he waits for every day holding a bouquet of flowers hoping she'd go out with him. In spite of her constant rejections, he refuses to give up hope. As he awaits once again by his limousine outside the store, a recruiting parade headed by a pretty blonde passes by, attracts the attention to Elmer's driver to abandon his post and enlist. At the advise of his manservant, Gustave (Arnold Korff), Elmer goes over to an employment agency to hire a new driver. While doing this, Elmer unwittingly enters a recruiting office where he finds himself enlisted into the Army. While in the platoon with other "dumb clucks" consisting of the ukulele playing Nescopeck (Cliff Edwards), Elmer ends up under the tough watch of Sergeant Brophy (Edward Brophy). As Elmer intends to resign, he soon encounters Mary, also in the Army now acting as hostess in the entertainment division. After some basic training and constant yelling by Brophy, the troop finally heads over to France where the outcome of the war is anything but all quiet on the western front.

With war themes as surefire material for many comedians dating back to the silent era, and future comedians as well (Abbott and Costello in Universal's BUCK PRIVATES (1941) being a classic example), DOUGHBOYS is obviously a wise choice selection for Keaton. It's been said that some comedy material used in this production was based on Keaton's own experience in the war. It must have been a funny war where Keaton is concerned. Being a straightforward comedy, there's time during its 79 minutes for some brief song interludes composed by Howard Johnson and Joseph Meyer. Though "Military Man" is heard briefly during the early portion of the story, the second in command, "Sing" (Sung by Cliff Edwards and reprized by an unidentified soldier) gets the full treatment during a canteen show that concludes with an Apache dance with Keaton in drag. On the humorous side, many of the comedy routines are carefully planned out and don't extend themselves to boredom. One, in particular, where Keaton's Elmer is forced to go through a physical, ends abruptly. Considering how amusing that scene was, it makes one wish for its continuance to what's to take occur afterwards. Another amusing bit, clipped into the well documented, "So Funny It Hurt, Buster Keaton and MGM" (2004), is one where Elmer, ordered to go out and get some German prisoners, finds some at the dugout where he has a friendly conversation with them and their leader, his former manservant, Gustav. As in most cases in DOUGHBOYS, some routines work, others do not. From what I can see, the funny gags outnumber the weaker ones. Interestingly, since the story takes place "over there" during World War I, take note where the lovesick Keaton briefly sings a few bars of the then popular tune to "You Were Meant For Me" that was originally introduced in the 1929 MGM musical, "The Broadway Melody."

Of the members of the cast that include Victor Potel (Svendenburg); Frank Mayo (Captain Scott); and Pitzy Katz (Abie Cohn), Edward Brophy playing the tough sergeant is truly worth mentioning. He's a sheer reminder to the latter yelling sergeants in Army comedies, namely that of Frank Sutton's Sergeant Carter in the popular TV sit-com, "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C." for CBS(1964-1969) starring Jim Nabors in the title role. Shows like this indicates how the military comedies never seem to go out of style.

As with most Keaton comedies during his MGM years (1928-1933), DOUGHBOYS is forgotten. Having initially watched DOUGHBOYS on late night television in 1978 from WKBS, Channel 48, in Philadelphia, then the home to many MGM film titles, it's good to know that, good, bad or indifferent, DOUGHBOYS still available for viewing long after it ceased showing on broadcast television. Thanks to the Ted Turner library where this and other Keaton MGM titles have became readily available on home video (1993) and DVD, DOUGHBOYS continues to be shown on Turner Classic Movies as a insight to those interested in learning more about the comedy legend of Buster Keaton and why his career slowly dipped into decline while under the reign of the MGM lion. (**)

Buster's only talkie where he had more control.

[alexanderdavies-99382 · 7/10 · 4 August 2017]

"Doughboys" is worthy of a higher rating than the above. It is a film where Buster Keaton had more creative control and is a more satisfying comedy than his other talkie films for "M.G.M." He wouldn't be allowed any further creative freedom after this film. I would imagine Buster would have found it difficult in making "Doughboys," what with the story being about a young socialite serving in the First World War. The comedian himself was a veteran of the same war and saw action in the trenches. The laughs are pretty good in this film and Buster performs some effective slapstick. He doesn't execute any of his usual dangerous stunt work but that doesn't matter. He is given a good plot to work with, as is the rest of the cast. He is a rather clumsy soldier in everything he does and manages to incur the wrath of his drill sergeant. However and just like in his silent films, Buster employs a lot of perseverance in order to win the day. The comedian certainly has a good voice for talkie films and that wasn't the reason for his decline. One of Buster Keaton's far better films from this period of his career.

Its' still Buster!

[lzf0 · 28 November 2001]

Keaton had more control over this film than he had on the previous "Free and Easy". MGM had tried to portray him as a sad clown, but happily they left him alone on this feature. Buster based this film on his experiences in the army during World War I. It is obvious from this movie that Buster was a peace loving man who really detested war. In his social satire, he is more subtle than Chaplin, but it's there. Buster is closer to his silent character here, but he does have to handle dialogue. He's still a little aprehensive, but remember, this was only his second sound film! The gags in this film are as clever as anything he did in his silent features and there is even a little, charming, impromptu musical interlude with Buster and Cliff "Jiminy Cricket" Edwards fooling around on ukeleles. This film was partially remade by Buster as a Columbia two-reeler called "General Nuisance". It is one of his better Columbia efforts.

With Just One Dance, Sally Steals the Movie!!!

[kidboots · 7/10 · 1 May 2012]

Another thing I liked about this movie is that even though Buster is playing his "Elmer" character he appears more three dimensional in this one instead of the always to be walked over character in "Free and Easy" which, in my opinion, had the saddest ending of any Buster movie - he didn't even get the girl!!! He did in "Doughboys" though - feisty Sally Eilers was cute and seemed a perfect leading lady for Buster. Buster drew on his own experiences as an entertainer with the American forces during 1918. He plays Elmer J. Stuyvesant, a wealthy loafer who only has eyes for Mary (Eilers) but she won't give him a second look. "You Rolls Royces think that every girl in the store is just waiting to go places with you"!! When he mistakes an Army Recruitment Office for an employment agency he suddenly finds himself a doughboy!!

Elmer goes through basic training with a minimum of laughs. Blustering over the whole army was Edward Brophy as a very unfunny loud mouthed Sergeant, appropriately called "Brophy". There didn't seem to be any chemistry between him and Buster, as was the case with Elmer's army buddy, Nescopeck (Cliff Edwards), which was odd considering Buster and Edwards were cronies in real life. As with most of his movies, even the very poor ones, there is always one outstanding scene. At the end of the song "Sing", Buster, dressed in drag, launches into an Apache dance. This is the old Buster, incredibly graceful and athletic, as he is thrown around the stage without the need of any banal dialogue.

That whole sequence is the movie's highlight, not only does Buster get a chance to perform some of his quality comedy but Cliff "Ukelele Ike" Edwards puts his unique spin and phrasing on a very catchy song. I didn't know Sally could dance - but she performed a very cute dance and, to me, she would be the reason I would want to watch this movie again. And there is also an amazing singer who stands up amongst the soldiers and gives an unforgettable rendition - half jazz, half operatic - I can't find his name anywhere but boy, can he - SING!!!

I also couldn't find Ann Sothern (she was supposed to fall off a bike but obviously that scene had been deleted) or Ann Dvorak among the chorus girls. Sally Eilers was contracted to MGM although she didn't stay long. She and Mayer clashed over her salty vocabulary and she then moved to Fox for more important pictures.

Awkwardness and noise with a few redemptive moments

[MissSimonetta · 6/10 · 25 July 2014]

Doughboys (1930) is cited as one of the least painful of the talkies that MGM put Buster Keaton in. This is true-- in the same way that a root canal is less painful than being crucified.

Like Free and Easy (1930) and the other talkies after it, Doughboys contains a lot of shrieking and loud remarks which are meant to be funny, but they just come off as irritating. Buster and Cliff Edwards are relaxed in front of the camera, but all of the other actors give mediocre, stiff performances, which were unfortunately common in early sound film. The jokes almost all fall flat.

There are good moments in between the awkward acting and obnoxious shouting. There's the scene where Buster, Cliff, and fellow recruits do a little music number with the ukulele. There's the scene where Buster finds some friends among his German enemies and tries getting them dinner. But these scenes are charming rather than funny.

If you're a Keaton devotee like me, then yes, you should see it. But I doubt you'll want to see it more than once.

Eilers is the highlight in this poor film

[gbill-74877 · 3/10 · 11 August 2018]

Oof. This one will test the loyalty of even the most ardent Buster Keaton fan. It's simply awful, and almost as if everyone involved just phoned it in. Most of the gags are lame, and the direction is poor. There was one bright spot, Sally Eilers, who plays the cute girl Keaton's in love with. The scene where she dances in a short skirt, joyfully swishing it up even higher, is easily the highlight of the film. Keaton does have a few nice moments, one of which is shortly thereafter, when he's in drag and dances/wrestles with another guy. Another is on the ship over, when he and the boys improvise a song with a ukulele. It's also cute when he finds himself in the German bunker and runs into his old chauffeur, and as the Germans there are starving, promptly takes their requests for food as if he was a waiter. Unfortunately, between unfunny bits and scenes which feel bottled up or cut short before they can development into anything, there's not much else. It's surprising to me that Keaton felt this was the best of his much-maligned films with MGM, in this difficult period of his life; I thought 'Parlor, Bedroom, and Bath' from the following year was better.

Buster's a lover, not a fighter...

[AlsExGal · 6/10 · 1 February 2015]

... and romance is Elmer VanDyne's (Buster) motivation for almost everything he does here. Elmer is a rich well mannered young man who waits outside a store every day for shop girl Mary (Sally Eilers) to appear so he can ask her out. She thinks he is just a wealthy lay about who wants to use her, so she continually turns him down. Then WWI breaks out. While Elmer is otherwise occupied, his chauffeur is taken up by the rally for army volunteers on the streets and walks off the job. Elmer's butler tells him that since neither of them can drive they have to find a chauffeur before they can drive home. Mistaking an army recruitment office for an employment office, Buster accidentally winds up in the army with Ed Brophy playing Sergeant Carter to Elmer's Gomer Pyle. Buster quickly decides he does not like the army with all of the screaming, yelling, ditch digging, and bayonet practice and decides to resign. You'll never see if that would have worked out, because before he can even try, there is Mary! She's joined the army too, and suddenly Elmer's stock has risen in her eyes because he's a soldier. This makes Elmer decide to stay.

The middle of the film is just a series of rather funny episodes pretty well matched to Keaton's brand of physical comedy. There's a dueling ukulele match between Buster and Cliff Edwards, a funny scene where both the Sergeant and Elmer are going to say goodbye to their girls but as they walk along they BOTH arrive at Mary's house, and on it goes.

The end of the film is almost an antiwar statement. In a trench on the front, Elmer is ordered to "go get a prisoner" and returns with one of his own regiment. Ridiculed and shamed as a result, he goes out to get another prisoner. (Now what capturing a prisoner would accomplish in no man's land is beyond me, but that is not the point.) Who does Buster run into during this outing but his old butler, Gustave, who is now a German soldier. They greet each other as old friends would, but complications do ensue. At the end - I'll let you watch and see how you get from A to B - Elmer, Mary, and a bunch of German soldiers end up in the same trench. However the war is over and ALL cheer and ALL embrace. No mention of who won or what this war was all about if anything to begin with.

This film had almost an independent feel about it, and Buster must have had a great deal of input into it's making because bad verbal comedy is kept to a minimum, but the dialogue is sufficient to convey the meaning of the physical comedy, which is its main attraction. As for the subtle antiwar message, in 1930 just about all films about WWI treated it as a pointless conflict and Buster was not a political statement kind of guy, so I wouldn't attribute that angle to him. I'd recommend this mainly for fans of Buster Keaton. There are not that many laugh out loud moments, but it is amusing overall.

the type film that helped torpedo Keaton's career

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 21 May 2006]

This is a horrible mess of a movie. I think I have a right to say that because I am a huge fan of silent comedy and have loved the films of Keaton--I've seen enough to know this movie is not in the least representative of what Keaton was capable of doing. To put it very bluntly, the film offers no laughs--NONE! Unlike Keaton, who basically showed he would make ANY movie for a buck, Chaplin wisely made far fewer and much higher quality films during the sound era, as was the case with Harold Lloyd (whose sound films are pretty good). It was as if once sound and greater control was exerted over his films by MGM, Keaton didn't fight back for artistic control but just did whatever he was told. The results were completely boring and stylistically had almost nothing in common with his silent masterpieces.

Another problem with this and several subsequent films was pairing Keaton with singers or sound-oriented comedians. In this case he was paired with the annoying Cliff Edwards--later the voice of Jimminy Cricket--who spent most of the film running around with a ukulele--even when being drilled by their sergeant! In the next few films, Keaton would be paired with perhaps the loudest and most "in your face" comedian in history, Jimmy Durante--the complete opposite of the sweet and quiet style of Keaton.

In addition to Edwards, Eddie Brophy is on hand as the drill sergeant. He isn't totally awful, but the chemistry between him and Keaton is almost non-existent.

If you are looking for a better war comedy from this era, try Laurel and Hardy's PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES or their even better BLOCKHEADS. Or, CAUGHT IN THE DRAFT (with Bob Hope) or the mostly mediocre BUCK PRIVATES (with Abbott and Costello). In fact, try almost any was comedy--it is almost certainly better.

Keaton goes off to war in this comedy romance and gritty WW I portrayal

[SimonJack · 7/10 · 15 March 2023]

Buster Keaton stars in this very early sound picture of MGM, and shows all of the pratfalls, trips, stumbles, bumps, falls, and other physical mishaps for which he was known. I rate "Dough Boys" seven stars for two reasons. First is that characteristic for which Keaton became famous as one of the three top male comedians of the silent film era. Second is because of the considerable screenplay in which the MGM lot must have dedicated a great deal of workers and time to build the sets and staff this picture. The portrayals of Army training and then the drudgery of Army service in World War I is quite realistic and impressive. I can't think of any other film about the First World War that showed the conditions of the weather and trench warfare any better.

Of course, this is a comedy, but it's also a romance and a war picture. This was no doubt MGM's experimenting with Keaton to see if he would continue to go over in sound pictures. What most of Hollywood didn't realize at the time - which movie fans of later times knew in hindsight, was that antics with lots of pratfalls and other physical miscues wouldn't have the same weight once sound came to the picture. Screenplays then needed some dialog to go with antics to build the comedy. I think MGM learned quickly, because the very next year, Keaton starred in "Parlor, Bedroom and Bath" which has a rip-snorting hilarious screenplay. And the usual Keaton falls were fewer but other physical antics were used for great effect. That screenplay overall was very good, with a very good cast.

Also aiding in this film are Edward Brophy as Sergeant Brophy, and Cliff Edwards as Nescopeck. Keaton plays Elmer J. Stuyvesant Jr., a wealthy bachelor who tries to get a date with a showgirl, Mary. She rebuffs him until she encounters him again after he has mistakenly enlisted in the Army. A number of comedians made comedies about service during the early years of World War II. Probably the best known of those would be "Buck Privates" of 1941 that starred Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. That is a very good film with some top musical performances as well in the Andrews Sisters and others.

But, for what Abbott and Costello went through in training and otherwise had to do for the comedy, that movie is a picnic compared to what Keaton and others did in this film The trudging through rain and ankle-deep mud goes on and on, and the physical settings here could just as realistically have been taken right out of the front lines in France in 1917.

Keaton fans especially, should enjoy this film. After a couple more feature films with MGM, Keaton made many shorts that went with features to theaters, and he had minor parts in some other films and later, on television.

Solid Buster

[kaycebasques · 8/10 · 8 April 2019]

Buster's talkie years get a bad rap but this one is solid. It's fascinating to watch Buster's take on WWI, especially now that I know he actually was a WWI veteran and saw combat. There's some genuine movie magic here. If you're a Buster fan, it's worth a watch.

Great movie, but oddly serious considering who the star is

[mgconlan-1 · 8/10 · 7 March 2017]

"Doughboys" is a really quirky 1930 movie made by Buster Keaton at MGM — his fourth film for them and his second talkie. As the title implies, it's about World War I — or "The Great War," as World War I was usually referred to before there was a World War II — and Keaton drew on his own experiences for some of its story even though other writers (Al Boasberg — whom he'd worked with before on the 1926 silent classic "The General" — Richard Schayer and Sidney Lazarus) got the credit. Keaton plays one of his usual spoiled rich-kid characters, Elmer Julius Stuyvesant II, who's angrily turned down by the woman of his dreams, Mary (Sally Eilers), who indignantly tells him off when he asks her for a date because "you Rolls-Royces think you can have anything." Then the U.S. gets involved in the war and Elmer finds himself suddenly losing his chauffeur because the man has run off and enlisted. Keaton's manservant/bodyguard/factotum/whatever, Gustave (Arnold Korff), suggests that he contact an employment agency to hire another — an immediate necessity because neither Elmer nor Gustave know how to drive. (The moment we hear Gustave speaking with a pretty thick German accent we know the screenwriters are making a deposit into the Cliché Bank which they will later withdraw — and they do.) Only what used to be an employment agency specializing in chauffeurs is now the recruiting office for the U.S. Army — the sign explaining its change of identity has fallen off and we don't realize this until Gustave picks it up while Elmer is already inside — and Elmer, in a gag Abbott and Costello repeated in their sensationally successful service comedy "Buck Privates" 11 years later, finds himself mistakenly having enlisted. Elmer and a few other unpromising-looking recruits, including Nescopeck (Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards), find themselves under the ultra-domineering leadership of drill sergeant Edward Brophy (he's actually called "Sgt. Brophy" in the dialogue), who'd already acted with Keaton as the other man trapped in the changing room at the beach resort in "The Cameraman" (and his training with Keaton stood him in good stead years later when he appeared in "Swing Parade of 1946" with the Three Stooges and joined so heavily in their slapstick he virtually became a Fourth Stooge). Brophy's performance here is so intense and mean he's one of the three most sadistic drill sergeants ever put on screen, alongside Frank Sutton's Sergeant Carter in the 1960's TV show "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C." and R. Lee Ermey in Stanley Kubrick's 1987 Viet Nam war film "Full Metal Jacket." "Doughboys" also contains a romantic triangle, as Mary has an on-again off-again attraction to Elmer while Sgt. Brophy has appointed himself her boyfriend — even though she finds him as appalling as we do — and threatens any other man who approaches her with bodily harm. About midway through the film the principals actually ship out to the combat zone in France — and the film becomes a grim slog through the gritty realities of combat.

What's fascinating about "Doughboys" is that instead of mixing comedy and drama the way one would have expected from a Keaton film (especially if one came to this movie with the expectation, "Cool! He's going to do to World War I what he did to the Civil War in 'The General'!"), it's really a dramatic film and the funny scenes seem more like comic relief than the main event, at least partly because it lacks musical underscoring, though in all other respects — fluidity of camera movement, variety of angles and naturalistic delivery of dialogue instead of all that damnable … pausing … afflicting all too many early sound films — technically it looks more like a movie from 1935 than 1930. Indeed, it's a surprisingly grim movie for something whose star's reputation is as a comedian; only the great scene in which the men of "K" Company put on an amateur show in France (that gets broken up when a German plane bombs the theatre where they're performing) and Buster Keaton does drag and plays the partner of an apache dancer is actually laugh-out-loud funny. Keaton based much of the movie on his own experiences in the war; he was drafted in 1918 and went through basic training but the war was over by the time his unit arrived in France, and so he spent much of his time drilling and participating in amateur theatricals, in some of which he donned drag as his character does in the movie. (Busby Berkeley also got drafted into World War I but arrived in France too late to actually fight; instead he and his company drilled, drilled, and drilled again, and his biographers agree that it was this constant drilling that led him, as a Broadway and Hollywood choreographer, to manipulate his dancers in militaristic formations.) "Doughboys" is a film of individual scenes rather than a well-constructed story (another aspect, besides the war setting and the crazy drill sergeant, it shares with Full Metal Jacket), and just when it seems Keaton and his writers can't come up with a happy ending, a deus ex machina arrives in the form of the war suddenly ending. It's a fascinating movie that isn't really funny enough to fit comfortably into the Keaton canon but it's also considerably better than any of his other MGM talkies, and for virtually the last time Keaton was able to make a starring feature that reflected his surprisingly dark vision of the world. "Doughboys" is a movie that sometimes seems decades ahead of his time, and it could be remade today with only minimal updating. Certainly there are few films like it, even though the darkness and grimness through much of its running time is hardly what one expects from a movie featuring one of the greatest comedians of all time.

Strange misfire from Keaton

[ChungMo · 4 October 2004]

This film seems like no one was sure of what to do now that they had to include sound. Keaton shares a number of scenes with Cliff Richards, an odd talent who most reminds me of Charlie McCarthy. Much of the dialog is spoken by the drill Sergent as he screams at Keaton. Keaton's gags are reduced to the sort that would have been throw-aways in his silent films. Many of the pratfalls are forced as you can see Keaton set himself up for another mishap. The entire cast seems unrehearsed. Some of the film is so oddly edited that I wonder if the print we have now was chopped up after the initial release. Compare this film with "Spite Marriage" from a year before and you'll wonder too how the same crew could have made both films. Not recommendable.

Buster Keaton's Favorite MGM Film and His Biggest MGM Box Office Hit

[springfieldrental · 8/10 · 9 August 2022]

In his autobiography, Buster Keaton titles one chapter "The Worst Mistake In My Life." The comic's extravagant production spending in his later silent movies forced him to sign a $3,000 a week contract with big studio MGM, a figure most workers made in a year. But the independence Keaton once enjoyed was gone. The studio executives handcuffed the agile comedian from performing his famous eye-popping stunts since they felt they were too dangerous for their valuable actor. Gone also was his habit of ignoring his written scripts during the production by improvisation once the opening scenes were filmed. Buster's illogical gags his fans howled at were a thing of the past. Every scene had to go through committee, squelching some brilliant moments he had visualized on paper.

Thus explains the noticeable difference between pre-MGM Buster films and those made after he signed with the studio. Any of the Hollywood majors at the time would likely have taken similar steps as MGM had. He was, however, allowed to give more input in his second talkie, August 1930's "The Doughboy." The comic was familiar with soldiers who fought in France during World War One, having served behind the lines in 1918 with the United States Army. Buster was also able to construct a couple of throwback physically-filled scenes, most notably when he mistakenly was signing up to enlist in the Army at the recruitment office. When asked to take off his clothes for a physical, he refuses. The acrobatic way Keaton attempts to ward off two beefy recruiters from disrobing him is reminiscent of his earlier days.

During the initial scenes of the Army training session in "The Doughboy," Elmer (Buster), a rich industrialist who finds himself suddenly in the infantry, witnesses his drill instructor, Sgt. Brophy (Edward Brophy) losing his mind with his raw recruits. Veteran actor Brophy is the forerunner of many film and television military drill instructors whose schtick was to insert a slice of comedy into their serious demeanor, such as actor Frank Sutton's portrayal of Sgt. Carter in 'Gomer Pyle: USMC.' Keaton didn't portray the Germans as the dreaded Hun monsters stereotyped in so many war movies. In "The Doughboy," Elmer finds himself inside enemy lines. He's greeted by his former butler, a German soldier who's with his colleagues starving in a bunker. Elmer agrees to get some grub for the hungry soldiers, and mistakenly wraps a a Lugar pistol his butler gave him as a souvenir with a map of all the German positions. Elmer is proclaimed a hero when he returns to his trenches with the map. "The Doughboy" was Buster's biggest box office hit for Keaton during his stay at MGM. And the actor himself said it was his favorite MGM film.

A Low Point in the Career of Keaton

[Michael_Elliott · 11 March 2012]

Doughboys (1930)

* (out of 4)

Horrendous and embarrassing "comedy" features Buster Keaton playing a rich man who accidentally signs up for the Army but once there he's pleasantly surprised and happy to see the woman (Sally Eilers) who kept turning him down on the outside. After a classic (THE CAMERAMAN) and a good film (SPITE MARRIAGE) it pretty much went downhill for Keaton when he signed with MGM. I think some of the movies he made for the studio are underrated or at least overly criticized but DOUGHBOYS is without question the worst and I'd say it's also probably one of the worst to come from a major studio during this era. I'm really not sure where the start because the entire film is just one embarrassing moment after another but I guess we can start with the screenplay. This type of comedy certainly didn't go hand and hand with Keaton because he's the last type of comedian who should be playing a part like this. The actor constantly looks as if he's being held back by the screenplay and what's even worse is that every once in a while we're given "classic Keaton" routines but even these here fail miserably. There are a few instances where Keaton's style of slapstick is used but it just never works because the script is so lazy. Keaton slips and slides around in some mud, gets in trouble with the drill sergeant and for the first twenty-minutes of the movie he just comes across annoying by constantly giving dumb answers to questions. Eddie Brophy plays the drill sergeant and he too comes across quite annoying as he does nothing but scream and it's not funny. The direction is weak, the comedy has no laughs and the entire production just has a very cheap feel to it. There are a few chuckles here and there but that's not good enough for someone with as much talent as Keaton.

Unlikely war hero gets the girl

[jarrodmcdonald-1 · 3 October 2023]

Released in the summer of 1930, more than a decade after WWI, this motion picture is a satire of life in the trenches and one of Buster Keaton's most fondly remembered efforts at MGM. In fact Keaton considered it his best sound film from the talkie era. As a precode production, there are some amusing scenes that suggest promiscuity as well as violence, though nothing too shocking for modern eyes.

Watching DOUGHBOYS, I had a strong sense of deja vu. It was clear to me that the creators of Gomer Pyle U. S. M. C. had borrowed heavily from the ideas presented in this film. On TV, Gomer (played by Jim Nabors) was a bumbling recruit who always seemed to get on a gunnery sergeant's last nerve. Here, it's Keaton's standard routine as well, causing chaos and confusion everywhere he goes, to the great exasperation of Sergeant Edward Brophy who is constantly shouting orders to no avail. It's funny the first two or three times, but the shtick quickly becomes repetitive and stale.

The best comic bits are where Keaton gets to demonstrate his athleticism, such as an early scene in the recruitment office where he is forced to undergo a physical despite his attempts to avoid it. There is also a strange scene later in the movie, where Keaton joins a dance troupe on stage to entertain his fellow soldiers. While dressed as a female, he experiences a physically grueling number with another male dancer that involves slamming his body down on the floor over and over. It looks painful to watch, but is still somewhat humorous.

In case military satire and Keaton's physical gags get to be too much, the story slows down in spots to focus on a relationship between Keaton and a girl (Sally Eilers) he's been trying to romance since before his enlistment. Miss Eilers reminds me a bit of Mary Astor in this film. Her hairstyle seems early 30s, more than a bit anachronistic since this is technically a period piece set in the late 1910s.

We know that despite various mishaps, Keaton will end up with the girl. He will also become an unlikely hero who saves the day at the end during battle against the Germans. It's the type of story that has a predictable quality, but is nonetheless still entertaining.