Released in time for Remembrance Day in November 1923, this film starts extremely well with fascinating footage of contemporary London, including an actual Remembrance Day Parade in Whitehall. Among the crowd is Danny Creath (played by Rex Davis, who was himself awarded the Military Cross for his service in the war), who has been out of work since being demobbed and is then shown tramping the streets fruitlessly searching for work. Passing a dock he is mortified to see horses that had seen service on the front in the Royal Horse Artillery being herded on to a ship bound for a continental knackers' yard; and when he recognises his own former four-legged comrade Jack headed for the same fate, barges in and liberates him.
The British are apt to be more sentimental about the fate of animals than of humans, and there had been widespread outrage when this practice became public knowledge; so the fate of Jack serves as a useful metaphor for the callousness with which the authorities simply discarded its ex-serviceman once they too had served their purpose. Beggars still wearing their medals (and sometimes disfigured, blind, or lacking limbs) were an all-too familiar sight during the twenties.
So far, so interesting. Danny manages to find a stable in which to hide Jack; and is discovered by Molly Roake (an engaging performance by a young Edna Best in only her second film appearance), who proves sympathetic, resourceful and quicker on the uptake than Danny. From this point on, however, it's downhill all the way for the film itself.
We've been following Danny & Jack's fate, so far, with interest; but now get three flashbacks of increasing and obtrusive length. The first is a brief evocation of The Battle of Jutland, in which Molly's brother had died. The second flashback reveals that the reason that Jack is unemployed has nothing to do with official indifference but because he chucked in his job as a stable lad out of pique at having been briefly accused by his employers of theft. Flashback number three recreates Danny and Jack's wartime service together (which resulted in both being injured and the death of Jack's partner Jill). This last flashback, while up to the usual standard of the recreations of The Great War that subsequently became a speciality of director Walter Summers (also a decorated war veteran), feels obtrusive in the context of this particular narrative. Danny also just happens to be serving under his former employer, who keeps reminding him that his old job is still waiting for him to return to, should he ever get over his fit of pique.
The Establishment having thus been absolved of responsibility for Danny's plight, two policeman in succession then knowingly turn a blind eye to the fact that Jack is stolen property, thus enabling the two of them to head off to Danny's former employers for a rather abrupt happy ending in time to reassure the audience that England is still a Land Fit for Heroes. The End.
The British are apt to be more sentimental about the fate of animals than of humans, and there had been widespread outrage when this practice became public knowledge; so the fate of Jack serves as a useful metaphor for the callousness with which the authorities simply discarded its ex-serviceman once they too had served their purpose. Beggars still wearing their medals (and sometimes disfigured, blind, or lacking limbs) were an all-too familiar sight during the twenties.
So far, so interesting. Danny manages to find a stable in which to hide Jack; and is discovered by Molly Roake (an engaging performance by a young Edna Best in only her second film appearance), who proves sympathetic, resourceful and quicker on the uptake than Danny. From this point on, however, it's downhill all the way for the film itself.
We've been following Danny & Jack's fate, so far, with interest; but now get three flashbacks of increasing and obtrusive length. The first is a brief evocation of The Battle of Jutland, in which Molly's brother had died. The second flashback reveals that the reason that Jack is unemployed has nothing to do with official indifference but because he chucked in his job as a stable lad out of pique at having been briefly accused by his employers of theft. Flashback number three recreates Danny and Jack's wartime service together (which resulted in both being injured and the death of Jack's partner Jill). This last flashback, while up to the usual standard of the recreations of The Great War that subsequently became a speciality of director Walter Summers (also a decorated war veteran), feels obtrusive in the context of this particular narrative. Danny also just happens to be serving under his former employer, who keeps reminding him that his old job is still waiting for him to return to, should he ever get over his fit of pique.
The Establishment having thus been absolved of responsibility for Danny's plight, two policeman in succession then knowingly turn a blind eye to the fact that Jack is stolen property, thus enabling the two of them to head off to Danny's former employers for a rather abrupt happy ending in time to reassure the audience that England is still a Land Fit for Heroes. The End.
