Doughboys (Forward March) (1930)

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Buster Keaton's second starring talkie finds him cast as wealthy, pampered Elmer, who heads down to the local employment office to hire a new chauffeur. Elmer isn't aware that the office has been converted into a World War I recruiting center, and before he knows it, he's in an ill-fitting uniform,… More Buster Keaton's second starring talkie finds him cast as wealthy, pampered Elmer, who heads down to the local employment office to hire a new chauffeur. Elmer isn't aware that the office has been converted into a World War I recruiting center, and before he knows it, he's in an ill-fitting uniform, enduring the verbal cannonades of sergeant Ed Brophy. The film's plot is based in part on Keaton's own wartime experiences, notably the bit in which he marches the wrong way and is trammeled by his fellow soldiers. Though Buster Keaton considered Doughboys the best of his MGM talkies, the film seems today to be one of his worst efforts, helped not at all by the excruciating performance of Ed Brophy. The best sequence is the camp show, with Buster cavorting in drag and performing a ukulele duet with Cliff Edwards. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi