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In the late 1930s and early 1940s, the great Buster Keaton was out of work and in desperate need for money so he made a string of forgettable short films for Columbia Pictures. Although he was a comic genius during the silent era, his career in sound movies was mostly horrible due to the industry's unwillingness to simply let him do what he did best and they insisted in trying to force him into uncomfortable molds that just didn't work. Sadly, because Keaton was lousy with money, he was so hard up for cash and unwilling to balk with the studios that he made some dreadful film and TV appearances that probably made him ashamed to look in the mirror. This is a stark contrast to Chaplin and Lloyd who made far fewer sound films but chose them much better. Plus, they knew when to walk away and retain much of their dignity. This is particularly true of Harold Lloyd, who never would have appeared in American-International movies such as BEACH BLANKET BINGO or a particularly wretched episode of "The Twilight Zone" like Keaton did.

As for the Columbia shorts, they were directed and produced by Jules White who was also responsible for the Three Stooges shorts. This is very, very obvious when you watch the Keaton shorts as the plots look indiscernible from the Stooges' films--with the same gags, sound effects and style. In fact, in some cases, Keaton does the same plots the Stooges had first done and this isn't surprising. That's because Columbia OFTEN repeated plots and many of the Stooges' later shorts for the studio are remakes of their earlier films! While Stooges die-hards might excuse this and think ALL of their films are gems, this is definitely NOT true--the remakes are definite duds. As for Keaton fans (and I am definitely one--having seen more of his silent films than practically anyone on the planet), they will also usually admit that his sound films were pretty poor and the Columbia films were at best passable entertainment. Plus, the Stooges' style is a horrible thing to try to fit the great Keaton into. It's akin to putting Greta Garbo in a Marx Brothers film!!! Buster has a plan. He and his wife will sell their old car, take a bus to Detroit, buy a new car and drive it home. Apparently in the old days, cars must have been cheaper when buying at the source. However, this "simple" plan as he called it turned out to be absolutely nothing of the kind, as one problem after another occur during their trip. And, in the process, their new car is eventually destroyed.

This poor outing is unfortunately one of the better Columbia films for Keaton. There are actually one or two funny bits and it's a bit more original than some of the other plots he did for the studio. Still, when there is so much talking and little physical humor in a Buster Keaton film, you know you're in for a rather dull ride.

Watchable and not particularly offensive and nothing like the Keaton of the silent era.

Buster and his wife must take a cross-country trip. She wants to travel by train, but Buster spends all their savings on a car ... and then he assures his wife that the long road trip will be "Nothing But Pleasure". Of course, everything goes wrong ... but some of it is funny.

At a low point in his career, comedy genius Buster Keaton cranked out low-budget shorts at Columbia for producer Jules White, in the same production unit where the Three Stooges were turning out some of their best and funniest films. "Nothing But Pleasure" is probably Keaton's best Columbia work ... which isn't saying much.

The only sequence truly worthy of Keaton in this film occurs when his car gets a puncture at the top of a hill. Buster has to change the tyre, but somehow he ends up INSIDE the tyre, and it starts rolling down the hill. You'll laugh at this. Keaton was 44 when he made this film, but he could still handle physical comedy brilliantly.

Watch for a scene on a bus. The little bald man sitting in front of Buster is Bobby Barber, who worked with several major comedians but is seen most frequently in Abbott & Costello films. In real life, Barber had a steady job as Costello's "gofer", which he managed to parlay into brief roles in several movies and on Bud & Lou's television series. Bobby Barber looks like Joe Besser's evil twin.

Nothing But Pleasure (1940)

** (out of 4)

Buster Keaton and his wife sell their old car and take a trip to Detroit where they're going to buy a new one and drive it back home but nothing goes as planned. This Columbia short really isn't too different from the other ones that Keaton made there as it features a few laughs but not enough to make it worth watching by anything except a die-hard fan of the star. Once again, I think the biggest problem is that the studio tried turning Keaton into someone he's not. Had they let Keaton be Keaton then I'm sure the film would have been better but in the end we're left with worthless scenes of Keaton tripping over a chair or various other objects and this stuff simply isn't funny. The best scene in the film deals with Keaton trying to get directions from a cop who is losing his patience.