"It's the Old Army Game" is a W.C. Fields silent film I just found on YouTube. While Fields' sort of humor is best when you can hear him, he made quite a few silents as well. When I saw this one, I wasn't too surprised to see him with a ridiculous black mustache...he sometimes wore this Little Tramp-like 'stach in his silent movies. But I was surprised to see how thin and young he looked. In addition to Fields, Louise Brooks starred in this one...one of the few American movies in which she starred during her rather brief career. And, I must admit that the cameraman really seemed to like her...and the shots with her in it were often radiant.
Fields plays Elmer Prettywillie*, a top hat-wearing druggist. The story is much like his sound classic "It's a Gift", where there isn't a lot of plot...just Fields being Fields as a shop owner. In fact, some of this was used almost exactly in the later film...such as the balcony sequence where Mr. Prettywillie is trying to sleep. Some might dislike this lack of plot, but I think it showcases Fields' talents best and is quite enjoyable. And, later, there is a plot...and it's also a reworking of the plot in the second half of "It's a Gift". In "It's a Gift", Fields' character buys land in California to have an orange plantation...only to discover that the land is barren and seemingly useless. Here in "It's the Old Army Game", he convinces his neighbors to buy land...only to realize later that it might be a con game that he's convinced everyone in which to invest! And, like the later film, he manages to work his way out of the mess...and turns out to be the hero. But, instead of heading to California ((like in the latter film), he heads to New York City.
So is it any good? Yes....very good. While I do think the remake was actually a major improvement in several ways, it's a very enjoyable movie. How did I prefer the remake? Well, it wasn't just sound...although with Fields' style of humor, sound DOES help a lot. Part of it was the pacing. While both films have a slow, meandering sort of style, "It's the Old Army Game" seemed like it could use a bit more editing to pick up the pace. Also, the park/mansion scene seemed MUCH better in the remake...in this film, they just came off as big jerks and it wasn't funny. Sill, overall a very enjoyable movie...one of the comedian's best silents...and well worth seeing.
*Fields often created the most ridiculous names for his and other characters. Prettywillie is odd...but no more so than Mahatma Kane Jeeves (the name he used for himself as writer of "The Bank Dick"), Cuthbert J. Twillie and Egbert Sousé. My favorite was J. Pinkerton Snoopington....the perfect name for the bank examiner in "The Bank Dick".
