Old Bill and Son

'Old Bill' is practically forgotten now but a hundred years ago he was apparently a well known and much loved character in a cartoon strip created by Bruce Bairnsfather, himself from a military background and a soldier in the first world war.
This ‘barrage of laughs’ stars Morland Graham as ‘Old Bill Busby’, and John Mills as his young son – also called ‘Bill’.

Old Bill (M. Graham is made up to resemble Bairnsfather’s cartoon creation, complete with bulbous nose and walrus moustache) is a bit of a character to say the least, and no mistake! Of course, true patriot that he is, he served his country of GB valiantly in the First World War and desperately wants to sign up to do the same again for WW2. He must be mad! Anyway, this decision arrives after his slightly wayward 'spiv' of a son (another winning 'working class' character study by the inimitable Johnny Mills) has done the 'right thing' and signed up… did you think for one moment that he wouldn't? Well, truth is he was sort of bullied into signing up by his ole dad and he accepted, if only to prove that he ain’t a complete wastrel. Trouble is that our eager old Bill is, well, too old to join his junior but trooper that he is he's not going to take this defeat lying down, come hell or high water! Bill goes to see his former commanding officer at his 'Club’ and would you believe it, he's having the same trouble as Bill. However he manages to pull a few strings and pretty soon Bill and himself are enlisted too. As indeed is Mother Busby in her new job attending to the needs of female war workers.

Within no time Bill is posted to France in the same Pioneer Corps unit as his son and together they set out fighting nasty Nazis. After a few 'comic' escapades Johnny Mills goes missing, presumed dead in action. Dad Bill - a British lion through and through, goes off in search of his courageous 'now reformed’ son – beginning to show remorse for having forced him to sign up. Whaddya know, Bill Junior “ain't been done in by the almighty Gerry but he's only gorne a captured some of them bleedin' Nazi's.” All we need now is a Victoria Cross and a song from the force's sweetheart, and we could have had an even better ending!

The film was clearly made with one intention: would you have enlisted after seeing it? Remember this WAS made during the war and it was 1941. Director Ian Dalrymple had until the advent of this film been primarily a film writer. Dalrymple worked for the Crown Film Unit who were a government organization specializing in information and propaganda films. After the first 10 minutes of this 'comedy' it will be only too obvious that this film is little more than an overt propaganda piece thinly disguised as a wartime comedy.
Morland Graham actually committed suicide in 1949. Johnny Mills of course lived to a ripe old age after receiving a much-deserved knighthood. A curate's Egg?

Part of The British Film Collection, this DVD offers merely an Image Gallery as bonus.