| Doughboys | |
| Director: | Edward Sedgwick |
| Starring: | Buster Keaton Sally Eilers Cliff Edwards Edward Brophy |
| Music: | William Axt |
| Cinematography: | Leonard Smith |
| Editing: | William LeVanway |
| Studio: | Metro Goldwyn Mayer |
| Distributor: | Metro Goldwyn Mayer |
| Runtime: | 79 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
Doughboys is a 1930 American Pre-Code comedy film starring Buster Keaton. It was Keaton's second starring talkie vehicle[1] and has been called Keaton's "most successful sound Picture."[2] A Spanish-language version was also made under the title, De Frente, Marchen.
Elmer (Buster Keaton), a member of the idle rich, is smitten by working girl Mary (Sally Eilers), who will have nothing to do with him. When Elmer's chauffeur gets caught up in an army recruitment drive and quits, Elmer goes to an employment agency to find a new driver and accidentally enlists in the army. Elmer learns that Mary is on the base to entertain the troops and learns that his drill sergeant, Brophy (Edward Brophy), is also interested in Mary.
Keaton had creative input in Doughboys, which was partly inspired by his own experience in World War I. Although the writers kept inserting puns and verbal jokes into the script, Keaton insisted that his dialogue, at least, be less "jokey."[3] Keaton felt that Doughboys was the best of the films he made for MGM.