Joshua Reviews The Warner Archive’s ‘What! No Beer?’ [DVD Review]

In their imminent wisdom, The Warner Archive has not only given us classic and underseen gems from throughout the history of film, but with a select few of their releases, they’ve enlightened us as to the world of one Buster Keaton, following the introduction of sound.

With films like ‘˜Sidewalks of New York’ and his best known talkie, ‘˜Doughboys’, the silent comedy master had been given a new lease on life with the introduction of aural speech, but a lease that’s seem to have gone array over the past few decades.

However, one film that doesn’t get its just due is one of his most enjoyable talkie gems, ‘˜What! No Beer?’.   And talk about a title.

Joking aside, the film teams Keaton with fellow comedy juggernaut Jimmy Durante, and follows the story of two men who team up to make a million dollars in the booze game.   Set during prohibition, the film also has a romance finding Keaton enamored with a woman named Hortense, who drives him to get into his racket of choice.

As far as a performance piece, this film is killer.   The film clocks in at just over an hour, but you really get a feel for each of these characters, as much of caricatures as they really are.   Keaton kills here as Elmer Butts, a man fueled by his love for a woman.   There is a great deal of slapstick comedy here, something Keaton became iconic for, but his face also makes for a great palette for his emotions to play on. Charming as all hell, Keaton really owns this performance, and the film as a whole.

Both of his costars, Jimmy Durante and Phyllis Barry are also great here, particularly the latter, who gives a great emotional core to the film.   Durante is a bit one note, but gives a really entertaining and charming turn here.

The film is directed by ‘˜Doughboys’ helmer Edward Sedgwick, and is a real gem of filmmaking.   Featuring a bunch of great comedic set pieces, the film’s runtime is a bit limiting, but scene after scene leaves the viewer right out of their seat with laughter.   A few really great set pieces here also have great scope, particularly one sequence near the end of the film that sees mobs of people running through the streets.   It’s a really thrilling bit of filmmaking all made possible by Sedgwick’s top notch filmmaking. Again, the runtime does hinder the film a tad bit (the romance could have used a bit more time), but it more than makes up for it in entertainment value.

A Warner Archive release, the film doesn’t come with anything resembling a special feature, but then again, when it comes to many of these films, the movie being released at all is special enough.   A film that was rarely available on home video, ‘˜No Beer’ is a gem of a comedy that deserves to be both seen by everyone, and put on each person’s DVD shelf.   No matter how short it may be, or how few features it may have, this is a real must-own.

Read Joshua’s review of The Warner Archive’s release of ‘˜Sidewalks Of New York’ here, and stay tuned as a review of Kino’s Blu-ray release of Keaton’s ‘˜Seven Chances’ will come on Friday.