College (1927)

If there is one thing that is guaranteed to restore my faith in film after watching a number of modern duds, it is going back to Buster Keaton.  This one starts with his high school graduation with the oldest bunch of eighteen-year-olds you could ever assemble, where our Buster is the class swot and risks losing the girl of his dreams who berates him for knocking the jocks.  So he follows her to college and does his best to excel in sports, hoping to win her affection, but the joke is that he is hopeless at them all.  This in itself is funny, since Buster was among the most athletic actors ever to grace the screen, but his pathetic attempts and failures make him a laughing stock.  Meanwhile he is trying to earn his way and also fails as a dexterous soda-jerk and a waiter in blackface (don't ask!).  He finally saves the day at the big boat race, where as coxswain he becomes a human rudder -- but alas his sweetheart is not there to see his triumph.  She is being held in her room (with the risk of expulsion for immorality) by Buster's evil rival, so Keaton proves his real athletic prowess by running, jumping and hurling all obstacles to save her.  How wonderful it is to seen so many sight-gags packed into a lean 65 minuts.