The Better 'Ole

Syd Chaplin (as "Old Bill" Busby) and Jack Ackroyd (as Little "Alfie") are World War I servicemen; while being bombarded, in a foxhole, Mr. Chaplin tells Mr. Ackroyd, "If you knows of a better 'ole - go to it." This exchange gives the film its peculiar title. The characters are based on the (by now) obscure British cartoon comic "Old Bill", by Bruce Bairnsfather. Seeing the familiar characters brought to the screen might have made the opening scenes delightful, but they no longer entertain. Veterans (of film) Edgar Kennedy (as Austin) and Harold Goodwin (as Bert Chester) help make the early going bearable.

Ackroyd's stabbing of Chaplin as he sleeps under a bale of hay begins some intermittently good scenes. Chaplin's chair lifting ability amazes, and the Chaplin/Ackroyd team becomes funnier as the comedy progresses; they are most delightful as "two-men-in-a-horse".

The production levels offered by Warner Brothers are quite high; "The Better 'Ole" was the second film to make use of the studio's synchronized music and sound effects "Vitaphone" process. With a certain British sibling named "Charlie" experiencing a "Gold Rush" at the box office, it's easy to understand Warner's effort.

***** The Better 'Ole (10/7/26) Charles Reisner ~ Syd Chaplin, Jack Ackroyd, Edgar Kennedy, Harold Goodwin

Although the character of Old Bill and his pal Alf had its origins in the comic strips of Great Britain in doing a bit of research I was surprised to learn that the play on which this film was based was produced by the American actor Charles Coburn. It ran 353 performances and it starred Coburn on Broadway as well during the 1918-19 season. But it came to the screen as a vehicle for Sydney Chaplin, older brother of Charlie Chaplin and a fair comic himself.

Curiously enough one of Charlie's successes was a service comedy set in World War II Shoulder Arms. But in this case the comedy is set in the British army with the British born Sydney Chaplin.

Whatever else Old Bill is, he's a survivor. He and partner Alf played by John Ackroyd are the Willie and Joe of the British Expeditionary Force. The situations these two find themselves could easily be adapted to World War II era service comedies that conceivably would have starred folks like Bob Hope or Danny Kaye.

Briefly put the plot has Old Bill and Alf foiling a major German offensive almost singlehandedly. A remarkable achievement for a pair that make gold bricking an art form.

I'd check out The Better 'Ole to see what a funny guy Charlie's brother could be.

Oh my goodness this is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. There are scenes I laughed so hard I thought I would burst. Funny throughout.... so sad Syd did not get the acclaim of his half brother...he deserved every bit of it... I was wary of a silent film about war... but I was not disappointed in the least... it is one of those movies one wishes could go on forever...it was so very good... at least if you like Chaplinesque type of slapstick others in the movie were also very funny... If you enjoy slapstick and comedy...if you love old silent films long lost...then you will really enjoy this movie. It is set in France during World War I when German was invading and controlling the country side...the Allies in this movie are the British and the comedy is without limits to nationality.

Syd Chaplin was a successful silent-film comedian whose importance has been upstaged by his much more famous half-brother. But in fact it was Syd Chaplin who helped kid brother Charlie get his first jobs as a performer in Victorian music-halls. After Charlie Chaplin became a film star, it was big brother Syd who negotiated the contracts that made Charlie a multi-millionaire. Richard Attenborough's film biography "Chaplin" sadly neglected the major contributions which Syd Chaplin made to Charlie's career, in addition to entirely ignoring Syd's own career as a comedian.

Like the Addams Family movies, "The Better 'Ole" is a live-action movie based on characters that originally appeared as magazine cartoons. "The Better 'Ole" stars Syd Chaplin in heavy make-up as Old Bill, a Tommy Atkins (private infantryman) in the British Expeditionary Forces during the Great War. Some historical background is necessary here. Americans of a certain age will recall Willie and Joe, the two riflemen drawn by American cartoonist (and infantryman) Bill Mauldin for "Stars and Stripes" magazine during World War Two. During the same period, English military humourist W.J.P. Jones was lampooning British Army officers in a panel cartoon called "The Two Types". What those characters represented for the Second World War, "Old Bill" represented for the British army during the First World War. Old Bill was created by Bruce Bairnsfather, a B.E.F. army captain and talented cartoonist. Bairnsfather's most famous drawing depicted Old Bill and a younger infantryman in a filthy trench full of rainwater. The younger man has clearly just finished uttering a complaint, and the caption reveals Old Bill's reply in his Cockney accent: "If you knows a better 'ole, go to it." That scene is re-enacted by Syd Chaplin in this movie, along with several more of Bairnsfather's drawings. (Bairnsfather's creation also became a London stage play, and there was a 1919 film version made in England ... so this movie is a Hollywood remake.)

Most of this film's appeal will be lost to modern viewers, who can't be expected to realise how incredibly popular (and how important to morale) Bairnsfather's cartoons were for the British war effort (and, to a lesser extent, the American war effort) during the Great War. Alas, too much of the humour here is too predictable. The best scene in "The Better 'Ole" occurs when Old Bill and his troopmate Alf go behind enemy lines disguised as the front and rear of a horse. This sequence is funny, but it's too similar to a scene in the earlier film "Shoulder Arms", in which Charlie Chaplin is a doughboy who goes behind enemy lines disguised as a tree. The fact that Syd Chaplin appears in "Shoulder Arms" (in two supporting roles) only emphasises how derivative "The Better 'OIe" is.

"The Better 'Ole" features good supporting performances by comedy veteran Edgar Kennedy and his unjustly obscure half-brother Tom Kennedy. The Kennedy brothers both had long film careers but only seldom worked together because they were similar physical types. Here, they're in separate scenes.

I enjoyed "The Better 'Ole" but I expect that most modern audiences lack the patience for it. Syd Chaplin deserves to be rediscovered, but this movie isn't one of his best efforts.

Better 'Ole, The (1926)

** (out of 4)

Due to his legendary younger brother people have forgotten the work of Syd Chaplin. Forgotten is that this guy form the comedy genre and pretty much formed his younger brother Charles. This film here is yet another forgotten one but is slightly remembered for being Warner's second feature film to have the Vitaphone sound. The film, based on newspaper cartoon characters, features Syd as 'Old Bill', a legendary figure fighting in WW1 who constantly finds himself battling an uphill fight. This is a rather strange comedy because the film remains highly entertaining even though there's not a single laugh to be found it in. All of the jokes aren't what I'd call funny but they are amusing in some weird way and in the end the film really isn't too bad. The Vitaphone sound includes various sound effects, a couple whispered words and that's about it but I was surprised at how well it all sounded considering this technology was under a year old. Several of the gags are based around these sound effects and there are a couple unique ones including a scene where a bomb goes off in a barn and Syd finds himself covered with hay. There's also a very long sequence dealing with Syd and his buddy getting into a cow outfit and causing all sorts of trouble. I was also surprised at how big the budget was on this thing because the war scenes look top notch and all the costume detail is top notch. Even with that said, the comedy just doesn't come off as funny but for fans of early sound cinema this is worth viewing at least once.