The oldest beer movie known to man is “The Fatal Glass of Beer (1933)”. This film is a short comedy movie starring W.C. Fields, known for its absurdist humor and deadpan delivery. Set in the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush, the film follows the story of Mr. Snavely (Fields), a dour, long-suffering man living in a remote snow-covered cabin with his wife. Their son, Chester, left home to seek fortune in the city but was led astray by the temptations of alcohol—symbolized by the “fatal glass of beer.”
The film satirizes morality plays and melodramas of the time, with exaggeratedly tragic storytelling and intentionally clumsy staging. Fields frequently breaks the fourth wall, delivering the film’s most famous recurring gag: after dramatically declaring, “And it ain’t a fit night out for man nor beast!” he immediately gets a handful of fake snow tossed into his face.
With its surreal, anti-comedy sensibilities and relentless parody of melodramatic tropes, The Fatal Glass of Beer remains one of Fields’ most bizarre and memorable short films.
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