A naive and wealthy young man seeks to impress a girl and then unwittingly signs up for army service.A naive and wealthy young man seeks to impress a girl and then unwittingly signs up for army service.A naive and wealthy young man seeks to impress a girl and then unwittingly signs up for army service.
Ann Dvorak
- Chorine
- (scenes deleted)
Ann Sothern
- Chorine
- (scenes deleted)
Bobby Barber
- Doughboy
- (uncredited)
Sidney Bracey
- Recruiter
- (uncredited)
John Carroll
- Doughboy in Elmer's Squad
- (uncredited)
Jack Cheatham
- Guard House Sentry
- (uncredited)
Jimmie Dundee
- Riveter
- (uncredited)
Joseph W. Girard
- General Hull
- (uncredited)
Pat Harmon
- Induction Non-Com
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn 1941, after President Franklin Roosevelt and Congress passed the first peacetime draft in U.S. history, Buster Keaton approached MGM to see if they would be interested in making a sequel to "Doughboys." He had found that all the principal actors in "Doughboys" were still alive and living in the L.A. area, and he intended to use them in the sequel as they had naturally aged. MGM's executives turned him down because they didn't think a comedy about the peacetime draft would draw audiences. Then Universal released Abbott and Costello's "Buck Privates," a comedy about the peacetime draft, and it became the most successful film of 1941.
- GoofsThe story takes place in 1917-1918, but all of the women's clothes, hats, and hairstyles are strictly 1930.
- Quotes
Elmer J. Stuyvesant Jr.: I'll run into you - some other war, sometime.
- ConnectionsAlternate-language version of De frente, marchen (1930)
- SoundtracksSing
(1930) (uncredited)
Music by Joseph Meyer
Lyrics by Howard Johnson
Performed by Cliff Edwards (vocals and ukelele), Sally Eilers (dance) and chorus
Featured review
Buster's only talkie where he had more control.
"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.
helpful•61
- alexanderdavies-99382
- Aug 4, 2017
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Forward March
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 19 minutes
- Color
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