''The Better 'Ole'' is a 1926 American synchronized sound

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

comedy drama film Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

. Released by Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc., this film is the second full-length film to utilize the

Vitaphone Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National Pictures, First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone is the last major analog sound-on-disc sys ...

sound-on-disc Sound-on-disc is a class of sound film processes using a phonograph or other disc to record or play back sound in sync with a motion picture. Early sound-on-disc systems used a mechanical interlock with the movie projector, while more recent sys ...

process, two months after the first Vitaphone feature ''

Don Juan Don Juan (), also known as Don Giovanni ( Italian), is a legendary fictional Spanish libertine who devotes his life to seducing women. The original version of the story of Don Juan appears in the 1630 play (''The Trickster of Seville and t ...

''; with no audible dialogue, the film does have a synchronized musical score and sound effects. This film was also the second onscreen adaptation of the 1917

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

'' The Better 'Ole'' by

Bruce Bairnsfather Captain Charles Bruce Bairnsfather (9 July 188729 September 1959) was a prominent British humour, humorist and cartoonist. His best-known cartoon character is Old Bill (comics), Old Bill. Bill and his pals Bert and Alf featured in Bairnsfather's ...

and Arthur Elliot.

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...

's eldest brother

Sydney Chaplin Sydney John Chaplin (; 16 March 1885 – 16 April 1965) was an English actor. Chaplin was the elder half-brother of actor and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin and in later life, served as his business manager. Through their mother Hannah, they were ...

played the main lead as Old Bill in perhaps his best-known film today. This film is also believed by many to have the first spoken word of dialog, ''"coffee"'', although there are those who disagree. At one point during the film, Harold Goodwin's character whispers a word to Sydney Chaplin which is also faintly heard. This was discovered by the

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

's Robert Gitt, during the restoration of the sound discs for the film. The line was recorded in perfect sync, apparently during the orchestra recording sessions rather than live on set, therefore making it the earliest known use of

dubbing Dubbing (also known as re-recording and mixing) is a post-production process used in filmmaking and the video production process where supplementary recordings (known as doubles) are lip-synced and "mixed" with original production audio to cr ...

in a motion picture.

Plot

Old Bill (

), a jovial Limey sergeant, discovers that the major of his regiment is a German spy in collusion with Gaspard ( Theodore Lorch), the local innkeeper. The spies mistrust him and poison his wine; but it spills and eats a hole in the floor through which Gaspard falls into the cellar. Trying to rescue him, Bill discovers a cote of carrier pigeons. Tipped off by the major, the Germans bomb an opera house where Bill and fellow soldier Alf (Jack Ackroyd) are performing; they escape, however, in their impersonation of a horse and later pose as German soldiers in a German regiment. Bill manages to get a photograph of the major greeting the German general, but it falls into the hands of Joan ( Doris Hill), a prisoner of war. Bill is forced to join a German attack against the British, and though he saves his own regiment, he is shot as a German spy. An old friend, however, has substituted blank cartridges for the real ones, and Bill is pardoned when Joan and his friend Bert arrive with the incriminating photograph.

Cast

as Pvt. William 'Old Bill' Busby * Doris Hill as Joan * Harold Goodwin as Bert Chester, Secret Service * Jack Ackroyd as Alfie "Little Alf" *

Edgar Kennedy Edgar Livingston Kennedy (April 26, 1890 – November 9, 1948) was an American comedic character actor who appeared in at least 500 films during the silent and sound eras. Professionally, he was known as "Slow Burn", owing to his ability to por ...

as Cpl. Austin * Theodore Lorch as Gaspard * Charles K. Gerrard as Maj. Russett (credited as Charles Gerrard) * Tom McGuire as The English General * Tom Kennedy as The Blacksmith *

Kewpie Morgan Kewpie Morgan (born Horace Allen Morgan, February 1, 1892 – September 24, 1956) was an American silent film comedian who also performed in a few early sound films. He appeared in 99 films from 1915 to 1936. He appeared in the films of such come ...

as Gen. von Hinden * Arthur Clayton as The Colonel

Premiere Vitaphone short subjects

''The Better 'Ole'' premiered at the Colony Theatre in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, on October 7, 1926. Four of the seven shorts survive on both disc and film, with the occasional loss of footage due to nitrate decompostion. Disc recordings survive for the shorts with George Jessel, Bruce Bairnsfather and

Reinald Werrenrath Reinald Werrenrath (August 7, 1883 – September 12, 1953) was an American baritone opera singer, who also recorded popular music, popular songs and appeared regularly on radio in the early decades of the twentieth century. Werrenrath commo ...

respectively.

Box office

According to Warner Bros. records, the film earned $955,000 domestically and $318,000 foreign.Warner Bros financial information in The William Schaefer Ledger. See Appendix 1, ''Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television'', (1995) 15:sup1, 1-31 p 5 DOI: 10.1080/01439689508604551

Preservation

The film, as well at its Vitaphone soundtrack, survive and remain intact, with the exception of one

reel A reel is a tool used to store elongated and flexible objects (e.g. yarns/ cords, ribbons, cables, hoses, etc.) by wrapping the material around a cylindrical core known as a '' spool''. Many reels also have flanges (known as the ''rims'') arou ...

, which is currently missing. The film exists in the

UCLA Film and Television Archive The UCLA Film & Television Archive is a visual arts organization focused on the film preservation, preservation, film studies, study, and appreciation of film and television, based at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). As a nonpro ...

.Progressive Silent Film List: ''The Better 'Ole''
at the silentera.com

Home media

This film was released on

DVD-R DVD recordable and DVD rewritable are a collection of optical disc formats that can be written to by a DVD recorder and by computers using a DVD writer. The "recordable" discs are write-once read-many (WORM) media, where as "rewritable" discs a ...

through the

Warner Archive Collection The Warner Archive Collection is a home video division for releasing classic and cult films from Warner Bros.' library. It started as a manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD series by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on March 23, 2009, with the inte ...

in 2009.

References

External links

* * *
Magazine spread advertisement

''New York Times'' feature
{{DEFAULTSORT:Better 'Ole (1926 film), The 1926 films 1926 comedy-drama films 1920s American films 1920s English-language films 1920s war comedy-drama films American black-and-white films American silent feature films American war comedy-drama films Early sound films English-language war comedy-drama films Films based on British comics Films based on musicals Military comedy films Silent American comedy-drama films Silent war comedy-drama films Surviving American silent films Synchronized sound films Transitional sound comedy-drama films Warner Bros. films Western Front (World War I) films