Behind the Front was the first in a series of wartime comedies starring Wallace Beery and Raymond Hatton, followed by We're in the Navy Now (1926) and We're in the Air Now (1927). By the third film, their characters were simply "Wally" and "Ray."
Based upon the story, "The Spoils of War," by Hugh Riley, during World War I, a young man joins the army and winds-up befriending another young recruit, not knowing that it's the same pickpocket who stole his watch. After finishing basic training, the two are sent to the front lines in France, where they wind up in trouble with the MPs, getting involved with some cute French girls and "volunteering" for a dangerous front-line mission, and their antics result in their endangering the armistice. The cast includes Wallace Beery, Raymond Hatton, Mary Brian, Richard Arlen, Hayden Stevenson, Chester Conklin, Tom Kennedy, Frances Raymond, and Melbourne MacDowell.