First in War: A Messy Anthem for a Forgotten Revolution

Is it worth your time?

Honestly? Only if you have a massive soft spot for old-school short comedies that don't quite land their punches. If you're looking for something with a tight script or actual stakes, you’ll probably find this thing frustrating.

It’s for the folks who like digging through the bargain bin of cinema history just to see what weird stuff pops out. If you hate movies that feel like a bunch of random sketches glued together with spit and prayer, stay far, far away.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of First in War (1932) through its definitive frames.

So, Charley Chase is in Nicarania. He writes an anthem. Suddenly there’s a revolution. It sounds like a premise that could be funny, but the movie feels like it’s constantly losing its train of thought.

There’s a moment where he’s trying to navigate the political tension, but it just turns into him getting shoved around. It’s not exactly high-brow satire, is it? More like people running into walls while wearing uniforms that look way too big for them.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of First in War (1932) through its definitive frames.

Odd bits and pieces

• The pacing is all over the place, like someone cut scenes out with a pair of rusty scissors.
• I’m still not sure what the deal with the anthem was, it just sort of disappears halfway through.
• The extras in the background look like they’d rather be literally anywhere else.
• Charley Chase is trying, bless him, but he’s fighting against a script that clearly ran out of steam by page five.

Sometimes you watch these older shorts and think, maybe I’m just missing the context? But then you realize no, it’s just a bit of a dud. It’s got that specific kind of energy where everyone is shouting but nothing is actually happening.

It’s nowhere near as clever as some of the stuff you'd find in Believe It or Not #1, which had at least some curiosity factor. Here, the "revolution" feels like it’s happening in a very small backyard.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of First in War (1932) through its definitive frames.

There’s a specific reaction shot near the end that lingers for about three seconds too long. It’s just a guy blinking at the camera. It’s probably the funniest thing in the whole thing, mostly because it feels like he’s waiting for someone to yell cut.

Don't go in expecting a masterpiece. It's barely even a sketch. It’s just a thing that exists, filling up space on a reel, waiting for someone to find it 90 years later and wonder what the heck they were thinking. 🤷‍♂️