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William Haines and his lifetime friend Joan Crawford played the leads in the first silent screen film I've ever set at the US Military Academy, appropriately entitled West Point. Both were young contract players at MGM at the time. Crawford going to legendary status and Haines forced to give up acting when he wouldn't stay quietly in the closet.

To the last day of her life Crawford insisted that the happiest couple she knew in Hollywood was Billy Haines and his partner. Haines landed on his feet and became one of the most sought out interior designers in Hollywood. Among his clients was Nancy Reagan.

In this film Haines played his usual smart aleck whom we meet first on the Day Line boat to West Point to join the US Military Academy as a plebe. What struck me in his performance is how much it resembled Tyrone Power in one of his hero/heel roles like A Yank In The RAF or In Old Chicago. Power in the sound era could have done this one in his sleep.

Crawford meets Haines on the Day Line and this man starts putting the moves on Joan right then and there. The plot from there on in is pretty predictable given Haines's screen persona. The climax of course is the great Army/Navy game.

All the clichés in service academy films are there few films with this setting that had variation. Still Haines and Crawford are good and William Bakewell who is one of the few other cadets who becomes Bill Haines's friend even after he becomes a football hero stands out in the supporting cast.

For myself I remember once a year going to Bear Mountain for an overnight get away with Daniel Strausbaugh and later David Frank and with both of them we did the Day Line. I miss you both and the film brought back some good times.

Interesting story of coming of age of a young man who has yet to take the world seriously. William Haines plays his part so as to not evoke any sympathy -- one wonders if this was his idea or that of director Edward Sedgwick. Haines portrays a real louse who really doesn't deserve a second chance or Joan Crawford. Do all young men really need Army discipline before they can make their contribution? The interplay between Haines and the Corps is probably realistic and offer a rare inside look into the socialization and molding of officers at the US Military Academy. Joan does a passable job but looks great. Well developed story will surprise those who think that all silent films offer little in the way of value today. Best shot in the movie is the superimposition of former soldiers from various eras over the marching of the band at the June graduation parade. I may be wrong, but it appears that Edward Brophy is one of those extras seated in a train departing from West Point -- he is credited as an Assistant Director in this movie as well as being credited in a documentary West Point made in 1927. Fair, but especially recommended for graduates of the USMA and those who would like to see a bit of the inside story.

William Haines plays a wealthy young man named Brice Wayne. No, this isn't an early Batman movie. That's Bruce Wayne. This is Brice and he's a class clown type, always making bad jokes and pissing people off. To make matters worse, he's stupendously arrogant and thinks he is God's gift to football and pretty much everything else. So obviously this will lead to him learning some humility, saving the day, and getting the girl (Joan Crawford). Despite the predictable clichéd plot, it's hard to dislike. Crawford is fine but does little to impress. Haines is a mixed bag but enjoyable to watch. At times his he is brash and irritating. At other times I couldn't help but smile at his antics. He had a great screen presence and made a thoroughly unlikeable character work.

William Haines was undoubtedly one of the best actors of the silent screen and to prove my point all you have to do is watch WEST POINT, starring Haines and Joan Crawford. Although it's a silent, I saw it with a marvelous musical score by David Davidson that hit the mark all the way and in what appears to be a restoration that puts it in mint condition. It gets the comic treatment most of the time with Haines as a spoiled rich boy being tamed to become a good cadet and win the girl in the end as well as the respect of his team mates. His assurance in broad comedy is a delight to behold, mugging in a way that Cary Grant would envy--a very appealing performance.

Fun to see William Bakewell in an early role too. As host Robert Osborne pointed out, he probably got his biggest moment of fame in GONE WITH THE WIND as the soldier on horseback who tells Scarlett O'Hara she better get out of Atlanta quickly. Here he plays the hero-worshipper friend of Haines, a not too subtle characterization as contrasted to Haines' ability with silent screen technique.

Enjoyable fluff, with titles that seem more modern in their slang than most silent films manage to do. Nothing new here, but it's still fresh in its appeal.

Joan Crawford is barely recognizable long before her make-over as a full-fledged star but does well with an ingenue role. The film belongs to Haines and he makes the most of it.

William Haines sparks this tale of a brash cadet who thinks West Point will really be something now that he has arrived. Terrific goony comic performance by Haines was his trademark--one that made him a top box office star from 1928-1932 and one of MGM's biggest stars. Joan Crawford and William Bakewell are fine too. And although this storyline may seem trite now, this was a huge hit, putting Haines and Crawford in a college football (a national craze during the 20s) story. After Haines blows off his big mouth one time too often and nearly gets shunned by fellow cadets, he turns in a wonderful performance as he swallows his pride and gets into the big game against Navy. Even with a broken arm, he wins the game for Army and regains his place at West Point. It's easy to see from this film and Show People (with the always underrated Marion Davies) why Billy Haines was a huge star of the time. He needs and deserves to be remembered!

William Haines (as Brice Wayne) is a cocky West Point cadet, and star football player, who alienates his teammates with his arrogance, and lack of team spirit. His steadfast pal, William Bakewell (as Tex McNeil), can't defend Mr. Haines without ending up in the hospital; and, girlfriend Joan Crawford (as Betty Channing) grows more distant as Haines juvenile behavior becomes more and more tiresome. What will it take for Mr. Haines to win Ms. Crawford's heart? Will Mr. Bakewell regain his health? Can Haines straighten up in time to help his teammates win the big game?

"West Point" is a typical Haines film vehicle; it is worth checking out to see the popular actor's performance, and enjoyable screen presence. It is neither his most satisfying characterization, nor his best film; but, Haines is still great. Crawford's emoting is less polished, in an early role. Surprisingly, Bakewell offers the film's strongest performance (highlighted by his hospital bed scene). Edward Sedgwick's direction makes the most of Haines' silliness, and David Davidson's soundtrack is wonderful (albeit sounding too seasonal, at times).

****** West Point (12/31/27) Edward Sedgwick ~ William Haines, William Bakewell, Joan Crawford

A brash, self-centered Army cadet arrives at WEST POINT with a dangerous wise guy attitude towards the Corps.

In a role obviously tailor-made for him, William Haines shines in this highly enjoyable tale of honor & friendship. A grade-A scene stealer, Haines during the first half of the film is up to his usual Silly Billy behavior, which under normal circumstances should have gotten him confined to the guardhouse. The last half, however, becomes very serious, leading up to Haines' moral redemption and giving him a fine opportunity to exhibit his acting talents. If WEST POINT does not quite reach the caliber of Haines' previous TELL IT TO THE MARINES (1926), this is doubtless due to the absence here of a costar of the charisma & quality of Lon Chaney for Haines to interact with. However, this tribute to the Army is very effective entertainment and should be appreciated on its own merit.

Joan Crawford appears as Haines' love interest, playing the virginal daughter of the local innkeeper. Joan is pert & pretty and especially shines in her first scenes, when she meets Haines on a Hudson River ferry and is subjected to his usual immature antics. Haines & Crawford made five silent feature films together and were tremendous friends for life. He was the much bigger celebrity at this period and gave her many hints for getting ahead in Hollywood. A superstar herself by the early 1930's, she reciprocated after his ouster from MGM in 1932 by encouraging his career change to interior decoration.

Little William Bakewell is effectively cast as a Plebe who idolizes Haines; their relationship is actually given more of a sentimental treatment than that of Haines & Crawford.

The film was made with the full cooperation of the War Department. Extensive location filming at the Academy helps tremendously with the production's ambiance, which was given splendid production values by MGM.

WEST POINT has been recently restored and given a rousing new score by David Davidson.

West Point is where America's next generation of land forces officers are trained. Brice Wayne (William Haines) is an arrogant playboy who immediately falls for local gal Betty Channing (Joan Crawford) as he becomes a new cadet. He gets onto the football team.

This silent film starts with Haines being annoyingly arrogant. In time, I do grow to accept him. Despite that, his violent outbursts keep me from fully embracing him. This type of humor works better with sound. Brice needs to win me over and his voice would help. This does have Joan Crawford in her silent era and I do eventually like Brice.

Before I talk specifics about this movie, I need to point out that it really isn't fair to give this movie a score of 10 (like some have) since it is essentially the same film that William Haines did many times before. Also, how much you like this film will depend on if you've seen other Haines films. Haines made a career out of often playing the exact same plot and exact same character in a variety of settings--something that would never fly today, but in his day was very popular. Having seen films like BROWN OF HARVARD and THE SMART SET, I quickly recognized WESTPOINT as essentially the same film! These aren't the only ones he made like this either and each went like this:

A talented but very cocky guy alienates everyone around him with his boorish ways. He also meets and soon alienates a pretty girl with his cocky and selfish manner. Eventually, when almost everyone hates him, he learns humility and saves the day. When the film ends, he gets the girl, is the "big man" and has learned to be part of a team.

So already WESTPOINT has a huge strike against it because it's so unoriginal and the best example of the word "formulaic" I have ever seen. You can't get any more identical than the plots in these films--not similar, but identical!!

Here, not surprisingly, he meets and alienates himself from young Joan Crawford. In addition, he's a super-talented athlete and is the big star of the team--but he's also such a jerk that he eventually is without friends and is hated by all. At this point, he gets his act together and it's all "happily ever after".

As far as the quality of the film goes, the direction and most of the acting is great. However, surprisingly, Haines is even more hateful and obnoxious than in his other films and all the jokes he tells and way he acts at the beginning of the film made me hate his guts. Sorry, but that was just my gut reaction. A nice film--too bad it's been done...many times.

Haines is excellent as the brash cadet who thinks West Point will really amount to something now that he has arrived. Haines displays his easy, goofy comic persona as he takes on West Point and Joan Crawford, the local beauty. Great fun for the first half. And amazingly touching after Haines's character goes too far and nearly gets shunned by fellow cadets. The new, humility-filled Haines get s alast-minute reprieve to play in the bill football game against Navy and, despite a broken arm, wins the game. Great, rousing entertainment by MGM in this Haines formula film, shows Billy at his best. William Bakewell also scores as the skinny follower. The handsome-but-goony character would be played by Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Gary Cooper and others in later decades, another take on the beautiful-but-daffy dames played by Carole Lombard and Marion Davies. West Point is a winner!

Straightforwardly, "West Point" is a cliché-ridden, formulaic vehicle for star William Haines: jackass on campus learns the errors of his ways, wins the big game and gets the girl. Plus, it's a feature-length patriotic commercial for the United States Military Academy. The only way I find this interesting is in considering it in relation to Haines in real life being gay; not only because of the irony this adds to this piece of chauvinism celebration for what at the time was an officially-homophobic institution, but also because the narrative seems to call for a queer reading.

Haines plays cocky and flamboyant cadet Brice Wayne, who doesn't conform to the "spirit of the Corps" at West Point. He doesn't do anything quite right by that standard (about-facing, horse riding and generally making a mockery of the straight-laced institution), except playing American football. He's a natural punter and excels at breaking through the physical defenses of other men. He rooms with and is followed around by Tex McNeil, a smaller man who admires him, with his stronger physique, and who Wayne identifies as "My boy-friend." This relationship is more pivotal to the plot than even Wayne's nominal heterosexual love interest played by Joan Crawford, who wasn't yet a star at this point. Wayne outs himself in a newspaper interview, which he refuses to deny when confronted about it by his team. He's subsequently shunned as an outcast, with fellow cadets turning their backs to him when he approaches, and they threaten to "silence" him with an Honor Committee meeting. Tex, who, as Brice also claims "is scared of army officers," begs Wayne to apologize and to convert to the "spirit of the Corps," promising him that he'll "feel different" after winning the big game and the girl. Thus, beyond the generic college comedy-turned-melodrama plus Army commercial, "West Point" relies upon the subtext of gay bashing, just as the Army did at the time--and just as Hollywood did, too. In real life, Haines refused to deny his homosexuality and accept Louis B. Mayer's ultimatum of a lavender marriage and, instead, was silenced from the screen.

Otherwise, "West Point" is a dumb comedy-drama, full of jokey intertitles early on that would make for a script better suited to a talkie. Plus, they're not funny. For instance, one of Haines's quips is, "How are you, Mr. West ....how's your Point?" And what's with all the "Mammy" jokes--digs at Al Jolson? Title writer Joseph Farnham won the only Academy Award for this category, perhaps partially based on the kind of work he did here. His intertitles serve a similar purpose in another college comedy from the same year, "The Fair Co-Ed," with Marion Davies playing a similar role to the one Haines plays here, except she played basketball. Sure, "West Point" would've likely lost some of the flowing camerawork and its brisk pacing were it an early talkie, but this is hardly an outstanding picture in these respects for an era when silent film had achieved a new pinnacle in the art form. As it stands, a bit of a training montage and shots of marching stand out, and the game is edited relatively well between documentary and staged scenes in an attempt to conceal that they didn't actually play football in a packed stadium. Both Davies and Haines would shortly hereafter fair better in "Show People" (1928), with an intelligent scenario and the direction of King Vidor, who besides being a visually-competent filmmaker, made a self-referential film that's more compelling than the homophobic parallel seen here.

West Point (1928)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Average silent drama about a cocky, rich man (William Haines) who goes to West Point thinking he owns the world but all he does his turn his friends against him and lose the girl (Joan Crawford) that he loves. We've seen this story countless times but the movie still manages to be entertaining thanks in large part to the filming on West Point and Crawford. Haines was one of the most popular actors in the late silent era but today he's forgotten for the most part. I thought he was pretty good here but I wouldn't call him one of the all-time greats. Crawford steals the show as Haines' girl and delivers a very good performance. Crawford also comes off very attractive here. Also interesting is the football subplot thrown in, which leads to a big Navy-Army game at the end. The football scenes are handled very well and the cinematography is very good.

Was struck at how even the acting was throughout. William Haines had an acting range that is wonderful for silent film. Not over the edge. There are moments where the camera work is most excellent, and combined with the story, like when he is waiting to see the Superintendent, very well done.

Thoroughly enjoyed the flick.

William Haines follows his tried and trusted formula of playing an arrogant arse who comes good in the end for the umpteenth time in this routine comedy-drama. This time, he's a cocky freshman at the titular military academy. A fresh-faced Joan Crawford blows hot and cold as his love interest.

Silent films are a rarity today, but if you have to see one, check out the wild films made by William Haines, who specialized in arrogant, practical joke playing young guys who somehow, someway always makes it and gets the girl in the end.

Haines is laugh out loud outrageous as a West Point cadet called Brice Wayne, an outcast from the start, who refuses to be a "role model" or anything else, for that matter, for the distinguished military academy. You darn well know there's going to be trouble.

His saving grace... and here it comes... Brice is a remarkable football player and the team needs him. It's too bad this is a silent film, because William Haines would have had some memorable dialogue and one liners to blurt out. His early sound films were outrageous when he FINALLY got to talk, and with lots of wisecracks.

The beautiful girl in the plot is noneother than young Joan Crawford, and in a very early role. Joan and Haines, actually were the best of friends and it was she who boosted his career as a famous Hollywood interior decorator when he retired from acting.

See this one for Haines and Crawford as they really do make an excellent team, even in a silent film.

Co-directed by Ed Brophy, who went on to become one of the great character actors.

Remastered by Warner Brothers and thanks to TCM for rerunning this gem.