What! No Beer?

The filming of What - No Beer? was difficult. Since joining MGM in 1928, Keaton was not accorded the creative freedom that he had enjoyed during the silent era. By 1933 personal problems and a messy divorce were interfering with Keaton's work; he often showed up drunk or not at all for the filming of What! No Beer? He was enough of a professional (and a trained acrobat) to complete the film, doing extreme pratfalls even while visibly impaired.

It's an election year, with the possible end of Prohibition in sight. Taxidermist Elmer J. Butts (Buster Keaton) goes to a "dry" rally, where he follows the beautiful Hortense (Phyllis Barry) and her bootlegger boyfriend Butch Lorado (John Miljan) into the meeting hall. The next day, barber Jimmy Potts (Jimmy Durante), driving a car covered in pro-booze stickers, convinces Elmer to vote wet. They go to the polls, causing confusion and wrecking the voting booths.

Jimmy tells Elmer his million-dollar idea: making their own beer for a thirsty public. Elmer wants to be rich, too, so he can marry Hortense – and he has $10,000 hidden in his stuffed animals—so he buys a derelict brewery. Elmer and his hired hands bottle as much brew as they can, having several mishaps with exploding bottles and foam piling up over their heads. The police raid the brewery, because repeal isn't official yet.

With Prohibition threatened, rival bootlegger Spike Moran (Edward Brophy) realizes that his operation is washed up. Butch Lorado is also worried. Spike and Butch meet to discuss their business interests. Butch vows to eliminate his competition.

At the brewery, Elmer resolves to make deliveries himself, and drives a beer truck up a hill. Butch's men decide to kill him on the street, but the barrels fall off the back of the truck and chase the gangsters away. Meanwhile, Butch declares himself the new partner in Elmer's brewery. Hortense slips Elmer a note about an imminent police raid. Elmer escapes in a barrel, grabs a blackboard, and drives away. He shows what he's written on the board to everyone on the street: "Free beer at the brewery." The factory is mobbed, and by the time the police arrive, there's no beer—and no evidence—foiling both the police and Butch.

Later, a senator speaks to Congress, telling the story of how gangsters were put out of business when a crowd stormed the brewery. Beer becomes legal. At Butts's Beer Garden, Elmer and Jimmy arrive in an open car. Jimmy offers free beer, and he and Elmer are mobbed again. Jimmy, holding a frosty brew aloft, addresses the camera: "It's your turn next, folks. It won't be long now!"

• Buster Keaton as Elmer J. Butts
• Jimmy Durante as Jimmy Potts
• Roscoe Ates as Schultz
• Phyllis Barry as Hortense
• John Miljan as Butch Lorado
• Henry Armetta as Tony
• Edward Brophy as Spike Moran
• Charles Dunbar as Mulligan
• Charles Giblyn as Chief
• Sidney Bracey as Dr. Smith, Prohibition speaker
• James Donlan as Al

A myth persists that the Keaton talkies were critical and popular failures that virtually finished Keaton's career. Most of them were solid moneymakers. The Keaton series might have continued (MGM had already announced that Keaton and Durante would be co-starring with Jackie Cooper), but What! No Beer? turned out to be Keaton's last MGM feature, and his last starring feature in the United States. Keaton then starred in 26 short subjects, and usually played featured roles after 1941.

• What - No Beer? at IMDb
• What! No Beer? at AllMovie
• What! No Beer? at the TCM Movie Database
• What! No Beer? at the American Film Institute Catalog
• What! No Beer? at the International Buster Keaton Society