He's in Again

A truly superior effort by Billy West, most successful of the Chaplin imitators. In this one, he winds up as a waiter at a cabaret and has to take part in a comic boxing match. Although he misses Chaplin's gracefulness by a hair, there is no reason to look down on this effort. While the gags echo Chaplin gags of years gone by and movies yet to come, they are distinctive enough that they are worthwhile on their own merits. Oliver Hardy, made up as he is in all of Billy's works -- to suggest Eric Campbell, Chaplin's Goliath -- plays ... well, recognizably, the Mr. Hardy of his peak years: good natured and slightly florid. Credit Charley Chase as director and in a small but amusing role as a manic piano player.

This film stars Billy West, one of several imitators of Charlie Chaplin during the 1914-1920 era--when Chaplin was the rage and other diverse styles of silent comedy were yet to be created (with the exception, perhaps, of the films of Fatty Arbuckle). It seems that Chaplin was the be star and instead of trying to be different and funny, studios encouraged comedians to be exactly like Chaplin--down to the clothes and mannerisms. This film appears to be a Chaplin film--it's that close. Billy West looks tremendously like him but not only that, his style is pretty much the same as well. This film could have just as easily starred Chaplin and had very similar results. And, the films is better than many of Chaplin's early efforts (from 1914-1915). There are plenty of gags, decent plot development and I found myself laughing several times. I very good, though not highly original effort.

Billy West, who was among the better of the numerous Charlie Chaplin imitators of his era, does a reasonable job here of imitating Chaplin's style. There is also some decent comic material amidst the other more routine stretches, making "He's In Again" a mostly average but generally entertaining short comedy.

It sometimes seems odd how many comics of the era tried to imitate Chaplin's style and/or his material, yet the phenomenon is probably not much different from the various cinema fashions or fads of any era. Certainly in recent years, there seems to be no end to the succession of dreary, unimaginative "action" stars, all performing essentially the same character and material - and that's far from the only stock persona that occurs in movie after uninspired movie these days.

West is not bad as an imitator. He has recognizably the same kind of character as Chaplin's tramp - irresponsible but generally likable, unpredictable, and full of life. A fair amount of the material in this feature - with West's tramp character trying to hang out in a cabaret - has parallels to Chaplin's own shorts, while a couple of the ideas do seem to be relatively original, if not particularly creative.

There are a couple of good sequences here, while others contain some rather pointless activity. Oliver Hardy has a small role, and he helps out when he gets the chance. It's good enough to be at least average, and perhaps slightly better.