According to historian Anthony Slide, William Bakewell's mother accompanied him to the location in New York. This was paid for by the studio at the behest of Bakewell's agent, who had heard that the star of the film, William Haines, was gay. The fear was that Haines would corrupt Bakewell if the latter's parent wasn't on the set. Incidentally, Mrs. Bakewell had to be told what a homosexual was by her son's agent.
West Point (1927) was filmed largely on location at the real was shot on location at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York state.
The ever-youthful William Haines continued to be cast as a college boy as he entered his 30s. He was one of the first of the wisecracking male leads. Homosexual and remarkably open about it, Haines had his career cut short in the early 1930s after allegedly refusing MGM studio head Jack L. Warner's orders to give up his relationship with his romantic partner, Jimmie Shields. Haines and Shields would remain lovers for 50 years and were dubbed by Joan Crawford as "the happiest married couple in Hollywood." After his acting career was terminated Haines achieved great success as an interior designer, designing projects for Crawford, studio head Jack L. Warner and Bloomingdales. He also had a reputation as a great entertainer among Hollywood's upper-crust gay set, which included Clifton Webb and George Cukor.
The same story used for West Point (1927) was used for the Cecil B. DeMille Company's movie Dress Parade (1927) with William Boyd and Bessie Love. 'Dress Parade' was released before 'West Point.'