User reviews

as to why this film has such a high rating on the IMDb. Sure, it's okay but it's not all as great as it's cracked up to be. At it's very best, BROWN OF HARVARD is a 7. It's about a college freshman, Tom Brown (William Haines) and his life Harvard. The movie was dragging a bit for a while, but it really picked up in the last 40-30 minutes. Jack Pickford was pretty good as William's nerdy best friend/sidekick, considering he was supposed to be a real ladies' man/ ne'er do well in real life. Mary Brian was fine as the girl Haines falls for. I think the script of Brown of Harvard could've been more interesting. The characters do not do much. William tries out for sports and hits on girls. Jack just good-naturedly listens to anything Haines has to say. Mary Brian stands around for most of the film smiling and occasionally looks slightly indignant. She hardly gets angry when William drops all her groceries on purpose, and doesn't even pay for replacements. If some fresh guy wrecked my groceries that I paid for and didn't even pay for them after he wrecked them I would be very angry, no matter how smooth and handsome he (thinks) he is. And for a while, William Haines' character seemed a bit annoying to me, and came across as a little too self-confident to me. But after a while you can see that the overflowing self-confidence is just something his character uses to hide his weaknesses. Haines was very good. If you are a William Haines fan then Brown of Harvard is really worth seeing. If you are looking for a worthwhile silent college flick I say skip this one for now and watch THE PLASTIC AGE (1924).

I've been intrigued by this film for a while, in part because of the extremely high score here on IMDb -- a 9.0 average with over 300 votes gives it the highest rating of any accessible silent film! How had I not heard of this film before this website? Well, you can't always trust the ratings. This is actually a very good film, preserved quite well if the fine VHS transfer I rented is any indication -- excellent acting by the principals, especially William Haines as Brown, and good location work at Cambridge with some fine action footage in the climactic Harvard/Yale football game -- but the story must have seemed a hoary chestnut even in 1926. Obnoxious, self-centered and charismatic guy goes to school and gets put in his place, becoming in the process a caring, self-sacrificing friend; I doubt people in 1926 found much that was really exciting in the last few reels, the predictability factor is high. Still, it starts out very well, and is certainly deserving of being remembered, if not praised to the heavens. Maybe the previous 350 voters are mostly Harvard men...

EDIT Now 600+ voters and the score has actually climbed to 9.2! Seriously, folks, there is ballot-stuffing going on here - I defy anybody to explain why this is a better film than "Metropolis" or "The General"!

In this digital jungle, it's hard to pick an old movie because by definition, I lack my familiar faces : my loved cast, directors, stories may not still be born yet so it's really about luck and discovering new roads: when i saw the title of this one, i was caught : a movie about Harvard ! Today, this institution is still essential in american legend so it would be great to get into its past !

So this movie is interesting because it seems that we are indeed in the campus but 1 century before : Back then, the big difference with French higher education was already clear : sports are inside the program while in France, they are outside (that's why our sports idols are dumb and our grey matter physically unfit !) ; A bit like the Harry Potter movies, the sports events are exciting traditions for all students, the families and outside. The Harvard stadium is totally amazing and breathtaking and this single university beats all French stadiums, even today !

Paradoxically, the movie is silent about teachings and lessons because we pick up about students lives. And that's when i pick my 2nd bird because the american icon John Wayne is playing : 1st movie for him - OK i didn't see him as a Yale Player but he is really in. I didn't know as well the hero, William Haines but he looks like a very young Russel Crowe as physically as in the loose, cool attitude.

I'm sure that today this movie would be not put in production because this Brown has a aggressive manner of seduction but that doesn't implies that today society is much better ! At last, my last bird was his attraction, the cute Mary Brian : she was so candid, so polite that she motives me to see more of her and that's how i pick my future 1924 movie : Peter Pan ! So finally, i start to map this faraway country of silent movies era !

One of the biggest hits of 1926, Brown of Harvard is a exciting comedy/drama featuring regatta and football scenes that gave William Haines the role he needed to become a major star. It's patented Haines all the way: brash smart aleck who takes nothing serious until he is rejected by everyone wises up and becomes a man/hero and wins the girl. No one worked this formula like Haines. A terrific comic actor (Little Annie Rooney with Mary Pickford, Show People with Marion Davies), Haines could swing from comedy to tragedy with a change in facial expression. He is a total joy in this film as he was in Tell It to the Marines (with Lon Chaney) and West Point (with Joan Crawford), where he repeats the formula. Mary Brian is good as the girl, Jack Pickford is very good as the sickly roommate, Ralph Bushman is the rival. Edward Connelly, Mary Alden, David Torrence, Guinn Williams, and Grady Sutton co-star. This film is noted now for its homoerotic relationship between Haines and Pickford and for being John Wayne's film debut as a Yale football player (but I never spotted him). Haines was a top-five box office star starting with this picture through 1932. It's a shame he has been largely forgotten and that most of his films appear to be lost. He was one of the most appealing and talented actors of his time.

Basically the same plot as William Haines' Tell it to the Marines from the same year, but with the action switched from a military academy to Harvard University. Once again, Haines is something of a jerk, rude and arrogant to his fellow students (apart from the put upon Jack Pickford) and repeatedly forcing himself on pretty Mary Brian, which makes it difficult to root for him in the rousing climactic football game against Yale. This was famously John Wayne's film debut, but you'll be hard pushed to recognise him amongst the Yale team.

An American silent drama; A story about a college freshman who faces failure in his athletic endeavors after meeting a girl. This buddy film is directed well with a fine cast performing well. The relationship between the two dorm pals, established from the beginning, runs as a meaningful thread; the love interest for Brown, played by Mary Brian, is sweet and charming and brings all her scenes alive. William Haines as Brown is captivating and plays an arrogant, conceited youth very well, and with good comic timing. The staging of the football scenes made this a real spectacle.

Although it's based on a 1906 Broadway hit, by far the most substantial aspects of this film are the big screen trappings lavished upon it, including vivid location photography of Harvard itself and energetic and dramatic sporting footage of the real Harvard-Yale final.

Titular 'hero' Bill Haines seems to be devoting hardly any time to his studies, life for him instead being one long round of hedonistic self-gratification. Mary Brian is required to do little but look cute, and Haines' loutish courting of her (which characteristically takes no account of the fact that she's already spoken for) seems to motivated more because she's the ONLY girl around rather than because he discerns any particular individual qualities in her. (The supposedly 'uproarious' scene in which he takes his harassment of her to further depths by deliberately breaking all the bottles of milk she's attempting to carry home must represent some sort of absolute nadir; and today he would probably deservedly go to jail for it.)

This is an extraordinary film, that tricks you constantly. It seems to be heading toward cliche at several points, and then something astonishing will happen that genuinely startles. It would give away too much to say much more, but stick with this film and you will be richly rewarded. William Haines is absolutely delightful - he is certainly a star that deserves to be re-discovered. The gay subtext in his relationship with Jack Pickford is amazing - there is even a scene where Haines rubs Pickford's chest (Pickford has a cold). Both actors play this sub-text subtlely and with great depth of emotion, so that there are moments that are very moving. And I never thought I could get so involved in a football match as I did in this movie - and I don't even understand the rules! Also excellent is Francis X. Bushman's son Ralph as Haines' rival for the girl (yes, it's not completely a gay movie). Wonderful silent classic - a great example of Twenties commercial cinema with an edge.

Brown of Harvard is a hard movie to pin down. We expect a lot more from our movies these days, so it helps to remember that audiences in the 20's were a bit more innocent. William Haines is charming as the rogue who has to stumble through pain and humiliation to find success and, even, glory. All of the relationships in the movie feel very stilted EXCEPT for the homoerotic tie between Billy and Jack Pickford, the town nerd. The movie has everything, romance, tears, love, death, and even sports... It's a great education in how society has changed in the 20th century.

I normally love the old college movies from the 1920's, 1930's, and 1940's, but this film's protagonist, the titular Tom Brown, is terrible. He is a jerk and a bully and creates an enemy out of someone, who seems like a decent person (Bob MacAndrews), for absolutely no reason.

I don't care that the film is not as funny or entertaining, but I can't get past the unlikeable protagonist. To stay engrossed in a film, you need characters you actually care about. In this movie, although Bob was supposed to be the antagonist, I kept rooting for Bob over Tom.

Would not recommend this movie, other than I like seeing the fashion from the 1920's.

This is really not much of a movie. The only reason its remembered today is the debut of JOHN WAYNE as a extra. Still it is a OK movie and recommended by me to watch. Some people like silent movies, me I watched maybe a hundred in my life. This movie contains John Wayne as a uncredited extra. I may have watched about 10,000 movies in my time. Maybe more, since I am disabled and all the time the watch them now. Still this is a pretty good movie and I will watch it again if I ever get the chance. As said watch for future superstar john duke Wayne as a extra and then enjoy this movie. I am giving it a 6 rating and only because of John Wayne.

I found it difficult to watch this film with a critical eye, as I have limited experience with the silents. However, it was interesting to think that I was watching the heart throbs of the time, in one of the most popular movies of the time. The story of the relationship between Brown and his bookish roommate was, uh, interesting, but overall the story seemed so unrealistic (a partying slacker who happens to be accomplished at all sports, mysterious and unnamed life-threatening illnesses) that I wondered how such a storyline was accepted in 1926, or anytime. Tips from anyone who knows how to appreciate or analyze a silent despite the hamminess would be appreciated.