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 Keaton's Favorite MGM Film and His Biggest MGM Box Office Hit
In his autobiography, Buster Keaton titles one chapter "The Worst Mistake In My Life." The comic's extravagant production spending in his later silent movies forced him to sign a $3,000 a week contract with big studio MGM, a figure most workers made in a year. But the independence Keaton once enjoyed was gone. The studio executives handcuffed the agile comedian from performing his famous eye-popping stunts since they felt they were too dangerous for their valuable actor. Gone also was his habit of ignoring his written scripts during the production by improvisation once the opening scenes were filmed. Buster's illogical gags his fans howled at were a thing of the past. Every scene had to go through committee, squelching some brilliant moments he had visualized on paper.
Thus explains the noticeable difference between pre-MGM Buster films and those made after he signed with the studio. Any of the Hollywood majors at the time would likely have taken similar steps as MGM had. He was, however, allowed to give more input in his second talkie, August 1930's "The Doughboy." The comic was familiar with soldiers who fought in France during World War One, having served behind the lines in 1918 with the United States Army. Buster was also able to construct a couple of throwback physically-filled scenes, most notably when he mistakenly was signing up to enlist in the Army at the recruitment office. When asked to take off his clothes for a physical, he refuses. The acrobatic way Keaton attempts to ward off two beefy recruiters from disrobing him is reminiscent of his earlier days.
During the initial scenes of the Army training session in "The Doughboy," Elmer (Buster), a rich industrialist who finds himself suddenly in the infantry, witnesses his drill instructor, Sgt. Brophy (Edward Brophy) losing his mind with his raw recruits. Veteran actor Brophy is the forerunner of many film and television military drill instructors whose schtick was to insert a slice of comedy into their serious demeanor, such as actor Frank Sutton's portrayal of Sgt. Carter in 'Gomer Pyle: USMC.' Keaton didn't portray the Germans as the dreaded Hun monsters stereotyped in so many war movies. In "The Doughboy," Elmer finds himself inside enemy lines. He's greeted by his former butler, a German soldier who's with his colleagues starving in a bunker. Elmer agrees to get some grub for the hungry soldiers, and mistakenly wraps a a Lugar pistol his butler gave him as a souvenir with a map of all the German positions. Elmer is proclaimed a hero when he returns to his trenches with the map. "The Doughboy" was Buster's biggest box office hit for Keaton during his stay at MGM. And the actor himself said it was his favorite MGM film.
Thus explains the noticeable difference between pre-MGM Buster films and those made after he signed with the studio. Any of the Hollywood majors at the time would likely have taken similar steps as MGM had. He was, however, allowed to give more input in his second talkie, August 1930's "The Doughboy." The comic was familiar with soldiers who fought in France during World War One, having served behind the lines in 1918 with the United States Army. Buster was also able to construct a couple of throwback physically-filled scenes, most notably when he mistakenly was signing up to enlist in the Army at the recruitment office. When asked to take off his clothes for a physical, he refuses. The acrobatic way Keaton attempts to ward off two beefy recruiters from disrobing him is reminiscent of his earlier days.
During the initial scenes of the Army training session in "The Doughboy," Elmer (Buster), a rich industrialist who finds himself suddenly in the infantry, witnesses his drill instructor, Sgt. Brophy (Edward Brophy) losing his mind with his raw recruits. Veteran actor Brophy is the forerunner of many film and television military drill instructors whose schtick was to insert a slice of comedy into their serious demeanor, such as actor Frank Sutton's portrayal of Sgt. Carter in 'Gomer Pyle: USMC.' Keaton didn't portray the Germans as the dreaded Hun monsters stereotyped in so many war movies. In "The Doughboy," Elmer finds himself inside enemy lines. He's greeted by his former butler, a German soldier who's with his colleagues starving in a bunker. Elmer agrees to get some grub for the hungry soldiers, and mistakenly wraps a a Lugar pistol his butler gave him as a souvenir with a map of all the German positions. Elmer is proclaimed a hero when he returns to his trenches with the map. "The Doughboy" was Buster's biggest box office hit for Keaton during his stay at MGM. And the actor himself said it was his favorite MGM film.
helpful•10
- springfieldrental
- Aug 9, 2022
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
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content