''The Fatal Glass of Beer'' (1933) is an American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorshi ...

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

starring

W. C. Fields William Claude Dukenfield (January 29, 1880 – December 25, 1946), better known as W. C. Fields, was an American comedian, actor, juggler, and writer. Fields's comic persona was a misanthropic and hard-drinking egotist who remained a sympathe ...

, produced by

Mack Sennett Mack Sennett (born Michael Sinnott; January 17, 1880 – November 5, 1960) was a Canadian-American film actor, director, and producer, and studio head, known as the 'King of Comedy'. Born in Danville, Quebec, in 1880, he started in films in the ...

, and released theatrically by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

. Written by Fields and directed by

Clyde Bruckman Clyde Adolf Bruckman (June 30, 1894January 4, 1955) was an American writer and director of comedy films during the late Silent film, silent era as well as the early sound era of cinema. Bruckman collaborated with such comedians as Buster Keaton, ...

, the film is a parody of rugged stage melodramas set in the

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

Plot

Ma and Pa Snavely live in a cabin in the

. Many years before, their son Chester left for the big city and became involved in crime after "the fatal glass of beer". Pa Snavely, as portrayed by Fields, serenades a

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

officer with "The Fatal Glass of Beer", a mournful song detailing the evils of foul drink and bad companions in the big city. A

zither Zithers (; , from the Greek word ''cithara'') are a class of stringed instruments. Historically, the name has been applied to any instrument of the psaltery family, or to an instrument consisting of many strings stretched across a thin, flat bo ...

accompaniment recorded for the film seldom matches the vocal, because Fields subtly changes keys when the zither does not, resulting in a humorously

off-key Off-key is musical content that is not at the expected frequency or pitch period, either with respect to some absolute reference frequency, or in a ratiometric sense (i.e. through removal of exactly one degree of freedom, such as the frequency of ...

effect. Son Chester returns home after getting out of prison, and promises his father not to tell his Mother what he really did. He makes the same promise to his Mother. When Pa and Ma learn that Chester threw the bonds away, and intends to live off their savings, Pa and Ma hurl him out of the house. Fields emphasizes the stagey satire by striking various poses and being overly theatrical with the dialogue. The most famous gag has Fields opening the cabin door periodically and exclaiming, "And it ain't a fit night out for man or beast!", with some obviously fake snow thrown into his face a moment later. He would reprise that gag during the "play-within-the-play" in '' The Old Fashioned Way'' (1934).

Cast

as Pa Snavely *

Rosemary Theby Rosemary Theresa Theby (born Rose Masing, April 8, 1892 – November 10, 1973) was an American film actress. She appeared in some 250 films between 1911 and 1940. Early life and career The daughter of George and Katherine Masing, Theby ...

as Ma Snavely *

George Chandler George Chandler (June 30, 1898 – June 10, 1985) was an American actor who starred in over 140 feature films, usually in smaller supporting roles, and he is perhaps best known for playing the character of Uncle Petrie Martin on the televi ...

as Chester Snavely, their son *

Richard Cramer Richard Earl Cramer (July 3, 1889 – August 9, 1960) was an American actor in films from the late 1920s to the early 1950s. Burly, menacing and gravel-voiced, Cramer specialized in villainous roles in many low-budget westerns, but is today ...

as Constable Posthlewhistle, Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Notes

* ''The Fatal Glass of Beer'' is one of three W. C. Fields short films that fell into the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

after the copyright lapsed in the 1960s (the other two being ''

The Dentist ''The Dentist'' is a 1996 American slasher film directed by Brian Yuzna and written by Dennis Paoli, Stuart Gordon, and Charles Finch. It stars Corbin Bernsen, Linda Hoffman and Ken Foree. It is the first installment in ''The Dentist'' film ser ...

'' and ''

The Golf Specialist ''The Golf Specialist'' is a 1930 pre-Code comedy short subject from RKO Pictures, starring W. C. Fields. It was his first talkie. The film was shot in Fort Lee, New Jersey when many early film studios in America's first motion picture industry ...

''). As such, these three films frequently appear on inexpensive video or DVD compilations. * This sketch was originally a

stage play A play is a work of drama, usually consisting mostly of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and intended for theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Reading (process), reading. The writer of a play is called a playwright. Pla ...

and was not filmed until 1933. This is evidenced with a

wanted poster A wanted poster (or wanted sign) is a poster distributed to let the public know of a person whom authorities wish to apprehend. They generally include a picture of the person, either a photograph when one is available or of a facial composite ...

of Fields in a Yukon prospector's outfit, as seen in ''The Golf Specialist''. *

Clive James Clive James (born Vivian Leopold James; 7 October 1939 – 24 November 2019) was an Australian critic, journalist, broadcaster, writer and lyricist who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1962 until his death in 2019.The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'', collected in '' The Crystal Bucket'', criticising a 1978 British television production of ''Wuthering Heights'' (which he called "Wuthering Depths" and "The blithering pits") for its cheap production values.

References

External links

* * * Running time 18 minutes 27 seconds. 1933 films Mack Sennett Comedies short films 1933 comedy films American black-and-white films Films directed by Mack Sennett Films directed by Clyde Bruckman Films with screenplays by W. C. Fields Royal Canadian Mounted Police in fiction American comedy short films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films {{short-comedy-film-stub