West Point is a 1928

1928 in film

-Events:Although some movies released in 1928 had sound, most were still silent.* July 28 - Lights of New York is released by Warner Brothers. It is the first "100% Talkie" feature film, in that dialog is spoken throughout the film...

 silent

Silent film

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

 romantic drama film starring William Haines

William Haines

Charles William "Billy" Haines was an American film actor and interior designer. He was a star of the silent era until the 1930s, when Haines' career was cut short by MGM Studios due to his refusal to deny his homosexuality...

 and Joan Crawford

Joan Crawford

Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....

 in a story about an arrogant cadet who finds love and discipline just in time for the big Army-Navy game. The story and screenplay were written by Raymond L. Schrock

Raymond L. Schrock

Raymond L. Schrock was an American screenwriter. He wrote for 155 films between 1915 and 1950.He was born in Goshen, Indiana and died in Hollywood, California from a heart attack.-Selected filmography:...

 with titles written by Joseph Farnham

Joseph Farnham

Joseph White Farnham was an American playwright and a film writer and film editor of the silent movie era to the early 1930s. He was also a founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...

. The film was directed by Edward Sedgwick

Edward Sedgwick

Edward Sedgwick was a film director, writer, actor and producer.-Biography:He was born in Galveston, Texas, the son of Edward Sedgwick, Sr. and Josephine Walker, both stage actors. Young Edward Sedgwick joined his show business family as one of the Five Sedgwicks, a vaudeville act...

 and produced by Maj. Raymond G. Moses.

Plot summary

Arrogant and impudent Brice Wayne (Haines), a West Point cadet who is a star player on the football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 team, painfully learns the error of his ways when, after a year, he realizes that he hasn't acquired the proper school spirit. Dismissed from the football team shortly before the Army-Navy match, Brice resigns from the Military Academy, then retracts when his friends Tex McNeil (Bakewell) and Betty Channing (Crawford) encourage him to stay. Restored to the team, Brice scores the decisive goal in the game against Navy.

Cast

• William Haines
  William Haines
  Charles William "Billy" Haines was an American film actor and interior designer. He was a star of the silent era until the 1930s, when Haines' career was cut short by MGM Studios due to his refusal to deny his homosexuality...
  
   - Brice Wayne
• Joan Crawford
  Joan Crawford
  Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
  
   - Betty Channing
• William Bakewell
  William Bakewell
  William Bakewell , also known as Billy Bakewell, was an American actor, who achieved his greatest fame as one of the premiere juvenile performers of the late 1920s and early 1930s.-Life and career:...
  
   - 'Tex' McNeil
• Neil Neely - Bob Sperry
• Ralph Emerson - Bob Chase
• Leon Kellar - Capt. Munson
• Raymond G. Moses - Coach Towers (*billed Major Raymond G. Moses U.S.A.)

Production notes

The film was shot on location at West Point.

The same story used for this film was used for the DeMille Company's 1927 movie Dress Parade with William Boyd

William Boyd (actor)

William Lawrence Boyd was an American film actor best known for portraying Hopalong Cassidy.-Biography:...

 and Bessie Love

Bessie Love

Bessie Love was an American motion picture actress who achieved prominence mainly in the silent films and early talkies. With a small frame and delicate features, she played innocent young girls, flappers, and wholesome leading ladies. Her role in The Broadway Melody earned her a nomination for...

.

Reception

Photoplay

Photoplay

Photoplay was one of the first American film fan magazines. It was founded in 1911 in Chicago, the same year that J. Stuart Blackton founded a similar magazine entitled Motion Picture Story...

commented, "Bill Haines' starring vehicle...treats everything in a humorous vein in the beginning, getting many laughs."