All-American Co-Ed
Directed by LeRoy Prinz
Written by Cortland Fitzsimmons, Kenneth Higgins, LeRoy Prinz, and Hal Roach Jr.
1941/USA
Hal Roach Studios
First viewing/Amazon Prime Instant Video
[box] Tagline: HEY!…IT’S HERE…THE SEASON’S GAYEST MUSICAL![/box]
This is surely the worst movie ever nominated for two Academy Awards. Either that or it is a camp masterpiece…
I probably missed a couple of key plot points but here goes. The movie begins with a bevy of “chorus girls” singing “I’m a Chap with a Chip on His Shoulder.” A few seconds of reflection reveals that these are all men in drag. Later we find out that they are members of the Zeta fraternity at Quinceton University. Neighboring women’s college Mar Bryn is in an enrollment slump and decides to attract new students by recruiting various beauty queens – the Tomato Queen, etc. They also use an article about the Zetas for some reason to publicize this.
The Zetas decide to retaliate by sending the star of their drag review, Bob Sheppard over to pose as the Queen of Flowers. Sub-par gags ensue and Bob naturally falls in love with co-ed Virginia Collinge (Frances Langford). With Harry Langdon as a PR man.
Featuring, as it does, the world’s worst celebrity impersonator and lyrics such as “she just can’t rumba with an old cucumber” this is truly dreadful and occasionally unintentionally hilarious. The music certainly isn’t up to much. There are so many nominees in these categories for this year that I wonder if each studio was just allowed to nominate a movie and Hal Roach Studios came up with this one by default. Recommended only for Frances Langford completists and connoisseurs of bad movies.
All-American Co-Ed was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song (“Out of the Silence”) and for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture.
Clip – Drag opening
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azYpWgnt5OQ
Frances Langford singing “Out of the Silence”
