Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2026 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

Moonshine (1918)

This comedy short, directed by Roscoe Arbuckle, stars Roscoe Arbuckle and Buster Keaton, with Al St. John, Alice Lake, Charles Dudley and Joe Bordeaux.

Moonshine (1918) is a tale of Virginia moonshiners and the citified federal revenuers Roscoe and Buster, dressed as hill folk, who are out to catch them. Alice Lake portrays the love interest of Roscoe and the grimy hillbilly Al. The captured Roscoe temporarily outwits the moonshiners by employing catsup to play dead. The film, like Out West (1918), is another self-conscious film making fun of itself by referring openly in its intertitles to film extras and its pseudo-dramatic scenes.

The films are accompanied by music scores composed, compiled and performed by Frank Bockius, Neil Brand, Timothy Brock, Günter Buchwald, Antonio Coppola, Stephen Horne, Robert Israel, The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, Rodney Sauer, Dennis Scott, Donald Sosin, and Sandra Wong. Some films feature two optional music soundtracks.

Supplemental material includes a collection introduction by Serge Bromberg (6 minutes); an alternate ending for My Wife’s Relations (1922) from the Lobster Films collection (2 minutes); “Life with Buster Keaton,” an excerpt of one of three 1951 remakes of Buster’s 1950 television episodes (3 minutes); and a 28-page insert booklet with an essay by Jeffrey Vance; an introduction, notes on the versions of the films utilized for this collection, and notes on two versions of The Blacksmith by Serge Bromberg; and analytical notes on the films.

For information about other films in this collection, see our Buster Keaton: The Shorts Collection 1917-1923 on home video page.

Currently, this is our recommended home video edition of this film for North American collectors.

This review was updated in 2026.

This Region A Blu-ray Disc edition is available directly from . . .

Supplemental material includes an introduction by preservationist Serge Bromberg; audio commentary on six films by Joseph McBride; a recently-discovered version of The Blacksmith containing four minutes of previously unseen footage; alternate endings for Coney Island and My Wife’s Relations; a video essay by critic David Cairns; a discussion of Keaton’s style by actor Pierre Étaix; an audio recording of Keaton at a 1962 party; and a 184-page booklet with a roundtable discussion with critics Brad Stevens, Jean-Pierre Coursodon and Dan Sallitt, an essay and with detailed notes on each film by Jeffrey Vance; an essay by Serge Bromberg on the two versions of The Blacksmith and other discoveries; an excerpt from Life with Buster Keaton (1951) including a reenactment by Keaton of Roscoe Arbuckle’s “Salomé dance,” first performed in The Cook and the words of Buster Keaton.

For information about other films in this collection, see our Buster Keaton: The Complete Short Films 1917-1923 on home video page.

Sight unseen, this is our recommended home video edition of the film for European collectors. North American collectors will need a region-free Blu-ray Disc player to view this edition.

This Region B Blu-ray Disc edition is available directly from . . .

The films are accompanied by music scores composed, compiled and performed by Frank Bockius, Neil Brand, Timothy Brock, Günter Buchwald, Antonio Coppola, Stephen Horne, Robert Israel, The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, Rodney Sauer, Dennis Scott, Donald Sosin, and Sandra Wong. Some films feature two optional music soundtracks.

Supplemental material includes a collection introduction by Serge Bromberg (6 minutes); an alternate ending for My Wife’s Relations (1922) from the Lobster Films collection (2 minutes); “Life with Buster Keaton,” an excerpt of one of three 1951 remakes of Buster’s 1950 television episodes (3 minutes); and a 28-page insert booklet with an essay by Jeffrey Vance; an introduction, notes on the versions of the films utilized for this collection, and notes on two versions of The Blacksmith by Serge Bromberg; and analytical notes on the films.

For information about other films in this collection, see our Buster Keaton: The Shorts Collection 1917-1923 on home video page.

This is our recommended DVD home video edition of the film.

This Region 1 NTSC DVD edition is available directly from . . .

Supplemental material includes audio commentary on six films by Joseph McBride; and a 184-page book with notes on the films.

For information about other films in this collection, see our Buster Keaton: The Complete Short Films 1917-1923 on home video page.

North American collectors will need a region-free PAL DVD player capable of outputting an NTSC-compatible signal to view this edition.

This Region 2 PAL DVD edition has been discontinued and is . . .

For some enthusiasts, the main attraction of this collection will be the piano scores performed by Neil Brand and others, which offered an alternative to The Alloy Orchestra scores on the similarly programmed Kino editions.

For information about other films in this collection, see our The Best Arbuckle/Keaton Collection on home video page.

This collection should be of similar quality to the FPA disc noted below.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD+R edition is available directly from FLICKER ALLEY through . . .

This DVD edition, produced by Lobster Films and Film Preservation Associates, has been mastered from a very-good but incomplete archival 35mm print held by the Cineteca Nazionale. Dust, speckling, schmutz, emulsion scrapes and scuffing, print warping, sprocket damage, splices, and other print flaws are present.

The film is presented with a music score composed and performed on piano by Neil Brand.

Supplemental material includes an eight-page with film notes by Jeffrey Vance.

For information about other films in this collection, see our The Best Arbuckle/Keaton Collection on home video page.

This edition is now out-of-print; it has been replaced by two split Flicker Alley editions.

This review was updated in 2026.

This Region 1 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued and is . . .

This DVD edition has been mastered from a fair to good but contrasty 35mm print licensed from Douris UK Limited, former holders of the Raymond Rohauer collection (now held by Cohen Media Group). Dust, speckling, schmutz, exposure fluctuations, persistent and annoying frame jitters, and other print flaws are present.

This film is presented with a music score composed and performed by The Alloy Orchestra, who has provided unorthodox music scores for the entire Kino Arbuckle-Keaton series, and all of the shorts include some punctuating sound effects that are well synchronized to the action.

For information about other films in this collection, see our Arbuckle & Keaton, Volume One on home video page.

This review was updated in 2026.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued and is . . .

Other silent era ROSCOE ARBUCKLE films available on home video.