Bob Terry is a rowing champ who is set to bring Rawley University the prestige and pride that comes along with a big win. However, Bob’s been drafted into the Army and will no longer be able to attend school there.
Tad (Jackie Moran), a member of the Kappa Psi Delta band that was hired to play a party held by one of the sororities in honor of Bob Terry, is in a panic when he finds out the news about Bob. Not wanting to upset Bess (Marcia Mae Jones) and Midge (Gale Storm), the two friendly gals who hired them on for the party, Tad and his pal Frankie Monahan (Frankie Darro) decide to find a Bob Terry impersonator to bring to the party.
Frankie offers ten dollars to Herk Bevans (Frank Sully), a strong but dim-witted man who doesn’t exactly match Bob’s description of athletic, funny and intellectual. Will the boys be able to pull off the scheme, or will Bess and Midge find them out?
Jean Yarbrough directs Let’s Go Collegiate, a 1941 musical comedy based on a story by Edmond Kelso. Kelso also wrote Private Buckaroo and Up in the Air, which appear alongside Let’s Go Collegiate in the Mill Creek 50 Classic Musicals boxed set.
I watched this film right after watching Sitting on the Moon, which I loved. This didn’t work in the favor of Let’s Go Collegiate. It had been so easy for me to love the prior film that when this one didn’t grab me right away, I wound up very disappointed.
Gale Storm oozes charm and her musical performances are wonderful, but the appeal of this film kind of ended there for me. The rowing plot didn’t interest me at all and throughout most of the running time seemed very silly. Frank Sully embodies his character well, but Herk is obnoxious and the Frankie and the gang aren’t very charismatic or likable, so I found it near-impossible to care whether or not they got caught.
Let’s Go Collegiate is a bit of a stinker. There haven’t been too many full-on duds in the 50 Classic Musicals set, but I’ll definitely avoid re-watching this one unless I just speed through to Gale Storm’s musical performances. The score: 1/5
The Motion Pictures 