COLLEGE COACH

US, 1933, 75 minutes, Black and white.
Dick Powell, Pat O'Brien, Ann Dvorak.
Directed by William Wellman.

College Coach is a film about football of 1933. It is a film of historical interest with its star Dick Powell as a young student wanting to be a scientist, good at sport, faced with a crisis of loyalty and study. Lyle Talbot is also a good sportsman, involved with the coach's wife, having to make decisions. Pat O'Brien (who made a specialty of coaches: Knute Rockne, The Iron Major) is the tough and unscrupulous coach who forces his team to success, is involved in deals, he neglects his wife (Ann Dvorak), is faced with a crisis and (perhaps its being 1933) makes a choice for his wife at the end.

The film also has performances by Donald Meek as a science teacher and Hugh Herbert doing his usual comic routine.

The film was directed by William Wellman, action director who had already made Wings and Public Enemy. He was to make a number of films, especially about the air force and flying.

The film has the usual themes of college, money, the difficulties of taking decisions for budget between sport and academic interest. There is the usual team coming from behind to win, the need for the men to get behind the team.

It is a piece of Americana repeated for many decades to cone - this is of interest for comparison as a 1933 version.