Hard Luck (1921) User Reviews

One of Buster's oddest short comedies, recovered at long last

[wmorrow59 · 7/10 · 24 January 2004]

It's a pleasure to report that Buster Keaton's short comedy Hard Luck is now fully restored, complete with the famous "Chinese family" gag ending. According to Buster, who wrote about it in his later years, when the film premiered this finale was greeted with the biggest laugh he ever received. It was all the more frustrating that Hard Luck was believed to be lost for many years. In the late 1980s a battered print was discovered in some remote corner of the world, but -- more frustration! -- it lacked the closing gag, so the finale was replaced by an explanatory title and a photographic still. Now, however, the ending has been located, and the complete short is available on DVD.

While it's great that we can finally see Hard Luck in its entirety, I don't believe it's in the same league with Buster's best short comedies. It's certainly funny, and offers some of Keaton's characteristically clever, off-beat gags, and it's also pleasant to see Buster in his youthful prime, but the story is so disjointed and weird the whole movie feels like an obscure in-joke of some sort. In a way, the sheer silliness of it all makes for an amusing ride, but for me Keaton's humor works best in the context of a tightly-plotted story, however absurd it might be, as in The Goat or Cops. Here however, Buster just kinda meanders from one bizarre situation to the next without ever really settling into any of them. It's reminiscent of his earliest films with Roscoe Arbuckle.

Hard Luck plays like one of those crazy dreams that switches from one locale (and mood) to the next without warning: one minute our hero is so depressed he's attempting suicide, the next he's volunteering to hunt down a specimen of that rare creature, the armadillo (!?!?) for the local zoo. But this is just an excuse for Buster to go fishing (for armadillos?) which somehow leads him to the local country club, where he is promptly invited to join a fox hunt. Along the way, Buster winds up riding a bull and is then briefly tethered to a bear. Back at the country club, a bandit named Lizard Lip Luke breaks in and holds everyone hostage. When Buster rescues the girl she reveals that she's married to Bull Montana, so naturally it's time for our hero to jump off the high dive, only he misses the swimming pool and plummets to China.

. . . all of which brings us back to that closing gag, supposedly set many years later, when Buster brings his Chinese wife & children back through the very deep hole to see the country club. It's a clever idea, but nonetheless I find it strange that this is the gag which Keaton said produced the biggest laugh of his entire career. But hey, the man was there. Perhaps because the taboo against "inter-marrying" was so much stronger in those days the gag had a degree of shock value which has faded with time. In any event, it's nice to see the movie restored to wholeness at long last. When I saw the semi-complete version of Hard Luck at a Keaton festival at NYC's Film Forum in 1992 I thought the plot was disjointed because of the poor condition of the print. Now I realize that "disjointed" was precisely what Keaton had in mind all along. Even so, I'm still puzzled about that armadillo.

Strange, Bizarre, Insane!

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 2 September 2006]

This was an odd Buster Keaton in that the story totally changed directions multiple times, out of nowhere. The strange 22-minute movie begins with Buster trying to kill himself in various forms. Obviously, he doesn't succeed and the reasons why are funny. It may morbid to some but I found this part very clever and the best part of the film.

All of sudden, he's obtained the job of hunting for an armadillo for a local zoo and while he's doing that, he winds up in a country club where they are having a fox hunt. There are numerous sight gags involving Buster trying to mount the horse, many times while the horse is moving.

Later, some gigantic outlaw, "Lizard Lip Luke," and his gang appear and are robbing this place where Keaton and a girl he likes are located, and our hero, thanks to some inventive thinking, gets rid of the gang. He thinks that entitles him to marry the girl but she tells him, "I'm already married." Huh?

Then the movie ends on a really bizarre note as Buster ambles over to a nearby swimming pool and climbs the ladder to perform a high dive. Unfortunately we don't see much of this scene because most of the footage has been lost forever. However, Kino Video, which put this long-lost film on DVD, is nice to explain in advance - and during that last scene - what we missed.

I can see where some people might label this an "unven" Keaton short, since the story is so disjointed, but that's part of the charm: you never know what's coming next. There are some really unique sight gags in here - strange even for silent comedies. This film is pure insanity!

This was Buster's favorite?

[MissSimonetta · 7/10 · 24 January 2016]

Buster Keaton often cited Hard Luck (1921) as his favorite among his independent short film work, the reason being that the twist ending gave him the biggest laugh of his career, with people still laughing over it on their way out of the movie house. In hindsight, the film is not that wonderful, including the ending, but it is not without merits. The first part is a classic example of "suicide comedy," a controversial subject for us nowadays, but back then, an inept fellow trying to rub himself out in humorous ways was rather common in short subjects. Harold Lloyd and even Mickey Mouse indulged in this sort of gallows humor too. The rest of the film is funny, but not as imaginative or clever as Keaton's best short film work.

"I was on a branch of the zoo"

[ackstasis · 7/10 · 12 May 2010]

'Hard Luck (1921)' is a very unusual Buster Keaton short, and I'll demonstrate this with a very brief synopsis. Down-on-his-luck Buster, having just lost his love and livelihood, resolves to end his life. This proves more difficult than anticipated. After several incredibly droll failed suicide attempts, Buster escapes the need to kill himself by accidentally getting drunk. He staggers into a meeting of zoo staff, and promptly accepts their challenge to capture the ultra-rare armadillo for the zoo's animal collection ("I was on a branch of the zoo!"). Buster then goes fishing, presumably to catch an armadillo, though that subplot is never mentioned again. Buster then wanders into a country club, where he spots a pretty girl (Virginia Fox) embarking on a fox-hunt, and decides to do the same. Later, an evil fugitive named Lizard Lip Luke (Joe Roberts) takes the girl hostage, and Buster saves the day.

Our hero quickly proposes to the rescued damsel-in-distress, but, on hearing of her current marriage, he decides to do some high-diving into a swimming pool (that, without exaggeration, is all the transition we are afforded between these two plot-points). The film's final gag, believed lost for years, has recently been restored, and allegedly brought Buster Keaton his most rapturous audience response: certainly, it comes completely out of left-field! In fact, so bizarre was this conclusion that it made me rethink my original stance on the film as a whole. Beforehand, I was inclined to view 'Hard Luck' as a collection of random gags clumsily cobbled together into a two-reeler. However, something tells me now that the anarchy of Keaton's storyline was very much intended. This is cinematic insanity in the same vein as 'Hellzapoppin' (1941)' or the Marx Brothers.

Fun to Watch Even in Fragmented Form

[Snow Leopard · 23 August 2001]

This short comedy only exists now in a fragmented form, which is too bad, but it's still fun to watch. The restoration on Kino video pieces together almost the entire film, with notes to explain the parts that could no longer be found. It has Buster as a despondent victim of "Hard Luck", and combines some good morbid gags with a series of silly adventures. Because what's left is quite choppy, it will best be enjoyed by those who are used to very old films, but it has some good material and a couple of very funny scenes. Most Keaton fans should enjoy it.

Victim of the Hard Luck

[SendiTolver · 7/10 · 12 September 2018]

The film was long time lost, until it was restored in the '80s with the final scene still missing. That final scene (which Keaton himself called 'the greatest laugh-getting scene of his career') was later found, and now the film can be enjoyed in it's entirety with the fantastic scene of Buster diving into the pool, but missing it.

Buster stars as out of luck guy who has lost his job and girlfriend, so he tries different methods of taking his own life until he drinks from the bottle which says 'poison'. Luckily for Buster, the bottle contained whiskey that waiter of the restaurant hid from others. Drunken Buster crashes in to the meeting where zoologists discuss the need of including new species among their exhibits. Buster agrees to take the task and all new set of exciting adventures begin.

Not hard luck for this viewer

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 30 October 2020]

Far from it in my view. Buster Keaton did many short films, while not all of them entirely worked (yet still with recommendable aspects) the best of them are up there, or at least close to being, with the best of his feature films. Keaton himself was a genius, often hilarious, extremely bold (back then and even now) and his deadpan delivery is near-unrivalled. As others have said, he considered the for a long time lost 'Hard Luck' his favourite of his short films.

Personally do not agree with him there. While preferring it over 'The Balloonatic', 'The Frozen North' and 'The Love Nest', there is a vast preference for 'The Scarecrow', 'The Goat', 'The Playhouse' and 'The Boat' ('Neighbors' and 'Cops' too if not quite as much). 'Hard Luck' is good fun and above average, and Keaton himself does not disappoint, but it is not one of Keaton's overall funniest, most imaginative or boldest and the story is severely flawed.

Due to it feeling very disjointed, muddled and almost incomplete-feeling, some of it coming over as quite cobbled together as well. Humour-wise, it's all executed very well and there is nothing unfunny here actually.

Just not much that is peak Keaton, hilarious or daring (well other than the subject by today's standards regarding the latter). When one thinks of iconic moments from Keaton's short and feature films, there is not much here in 'Hard Luck' that would be on that list for me. Though the ending comes close.

'Hard Luck' looks good though with nice photography and the physical comedy never looks haphazard captured on film. The supporting cast do well, with a charming Virginia Fox (though her role is underwritten and plot-device-like) and menacing Joe Roberts, regular Keaton co-stars, supporting Keaton typically solidly. Keaton's performance is both full of life and moving and what there is of his physical comedy amazes.

While not as hilarious or inventive as other Keaton works, 'Hard Luck' still amuses and the lauded final gag is great. The now quite controversial subject of suicide and doing it through comedy is handled tastefully and the pacing didn't feel dull (though inevitably there was some jumpiness).

In conclusion, above average but not one of Keaton's best. 7/10

A Great Keaton short

[penguinpolish · 9/10 · 11 June 2005]

Hard Luck is one of Buster Keaton's best shorts. It is also one of the most surreal. It has no real plot, just Keaton wandering around and getting into all sorts of trouble. The jokes are often bizarre, such as the one when he is riding his horse down a river, walks across a tiny bridge and expects to sit down on his horse again, only to find a wildly kicking bull that immediately throws him off. Watching this helps one understand why the French surrealists regarded him as one of their favorite film-makers. This is one of his films where stuff just happens, similar to The Balloonatic. Unfortunately, it is not complete, and the last frames are missing. Even so, this contains enough laughs to surprise even the most jaded cinema viewer. Hard Luck is Keaton at his surreal best.

Unfortunately lost

[Polaris_DiB · 6/10 · 3 March 2006]

It's interesting and very tragic how much of the silent era has been lost to the world forever. Some works we've managed to reproduce, but not very effectively.

This is Buster Keaton's favorite one of his shorts. How, then, it managed to be one of those nearly completely destroyed, is beyond me. You'd think that his favorite would be the one most taken care of. But that's not how it worked, unfortunately. Film preservationists have done their best, but what remains is only okay at best.

A down-and-out guy who lost his girlfriend and his job tries to commit suicide via different methods before eventually getting drunk (off of "poison"--a butler's hidden stash, if you know what I mean) and volunteering to find "The illusive and rare armadillo" for a zoological society. Of course he doesn't go to Texas or anything, where you can basically just pick up an armadillo off of any side of the highway, but instead finds his way (unclearly, due to lost footage) to a high-class country club, where he makes his last desperate attempts to fit in.

The biggest gag is missing. The timing is a bit off. There's still some great stuff, like the two motorcycle headlight gag and probably one of the darkest jokes of Keaton's career ("I was on a branch of the zoo!"), but most of it's oomph is basically gone.

Tragic.

--PolarisDiB

A Little Look At Mr. Keaton

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 11 August 2002]

A BUSTER KEATON Silent Short.

After a spate of unusually HARD LUCK, Buster tries various imaginative ways to end his life - with no success.

This very amusing little film is really a cinematic flight of fancy rather than a sustained story. After the failed suicides comes a fishing expedition, a fox hunt and a confrontation with a Western bad guy. That Buster was able to tie it all together, however loosely, bespeaks of his growing expertise behind the camera. The final gag with the Chinese wife & kids, one of Buster's favorites, exists only in a still photograph.

Born into a family of Vaudevillian acrobats, Buster Keaton (1895-1966) mastered physical comedy at a very early age. An association with Fatty Arbuckle led to a series of highly imaginative short subjects and classic, silent feature-length films - all from 1920 to 1928. Writer, director, star & stuntman - Buster could do it all and his intuitive genius gave him almost miraculous knowledge as to the intricacies of film making and of what it took to please an audience. More akin to Fairbanks than Chaplin, Buster's films were full of splendid adventure, exciting derring-do and the most dangerous physical stunts imaginable. His theme of a little man against the world, who triumphs through bravery & ingenuity, dominates his films. Through every calamity & disaster, Buster remained the Great Stone Face, a stoic survivor in a universe gone mad.

In the late 1920's Buster was betrayed by his manager/brother-in-law and his contract was sold to MGM, which proceeded to nearly destroy his career. Teamed initially with Jimmy Durante and eventually allowed small roles in mediocre comedies, Buster was for 35 years consistently given work far beneath his talent. Finally, before lung cancer took him at age 70, he had the satisfaction of knowing that his classic films were being rediscovered. Now, well past his centenary, Buster Keaton is routinely recognized & appreciated as one of cinema's true authentic geniuses. And he knew how to make people laugh...

If only the entire picture were intact,....

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 30 April 2007]

This 22 minute short is obviously missing parts of the original film. Like another reviewer pointed out, pieces are missing and the jokes, though funny, are disconnected. The film is essentially in three parts, but the connection between the 1st and 2nd is missing--making the film jump from one plot to an entirely new plot.

The film begins on a very dark note--Buster is despondent and tries to kill himself. While this is in bad taste, it is also pretty funny, as time and again, his attempts fail. Then, he stumbles into a scene where some men are talking about their zoo needing one more creature to make it complete--the armadillo (an animal that is VERY common in the Southern US). Buster announces he'll get one, but then the scene cuts to a fishing trip. It's funny, but not directly related to the armadillo and nothing more is said about the armadillo! Instead, the film abruptly changes again to a fox hunt and a lot of rich folks who invite him along--and Buster does some very athletic and imaginative horse work. The part of this I appreciated most was that they used a REAL bear for a joke--not a guy in a cheap bear suit. The film ends on a funny note at the swimming pool, but once again the transition isn't clear.

Overall, the film is like a lot of funny outtakes all strung tenuously together. The gags are excellent but the continuity and context is missing. I would sure love to see the entire original film, as would other lovers of silent comedy. It sure would be terrific if it were one day discovered.

New and Improved!

[atwarwiththebarmyarmy · 9/10 · 28 October 2006]

This was Buster's favourite short; the big final gag got, he said, the biggest laughs of his whole career.

Having tried to kill himself many times, in many ways, and failed ignominiously, Buster finds himself rescuing a girl. A reason to live! He asks, 'is there anything now that can stop us being married?' 'No, apart from my husband'.

So Buster throws himself off the highest diving board and then - nothing...

For 80 years and more, the big final audience-wowing gag has been lost, leaving Buster diving off a board and nothing else.

But the most recent versions of Kino's superb 'The Art of Buster Keaton' have the original ending RESTORED! I shan't spoil it, but yes, it is great.

After various failures and disappointments, Keaton emerges a winner

[weezeralfalfa · 6/10 · 16 September 2018]

According to a critic, Keaton stated that this was his favorite of his comedy shorts. Well, I can't see it. To me, it's subpar compared to most others I have seen. Keaton's character is depressed because he can't seem to hold a job, and his girl jilted him. He's feeling suicidal, but his clumsy attempts to carry it out are all failures, although some were not his fault. His attempt to be run over by a trolley is foiled when the trolley suddenly reverses its direction, apparently oblivious to him. Then, at night, he runs out into the road, between 2 headlights, but was unscathed by the 2 motorcycles driving in parallel. His attempt to hang himself on a tree limb is a failure because he forgot to tie the rope to the limb!. Yet, next, we see him tethered to the limb, with his feet on the ground and the rope around his neck.......Given a horse to ride, he has trouble mounting it, the elastic stirrup strap not helping. Eventually, he mounts via the neck of the animal. Later, at the pavilion of the riding club, Lizard Lip Luke(Joe Roberts) and his gang of thieves attack, and Luke tries to rape the diminutive young woman(Virginia Fox). Keaton goes about protecting her, then proposes marriage. But she laughingly points out that she's married to wrestler Bull Montana. In response, he climbs to the pool high diving board, and dives off, aiming his dive too far forward(presumably on purpose),making a big crater in the pool surround. If his purpose was to commit suicide, he again failed. However, he could not be found in that hole, but several years later emerged from it wearing Chinese garb and sporting a Chinese wife and 2 kids. This is said to be one of Keaton's favorite gags. But, to me, it wasn't terribly funny, knowing the nature of the Earth. Just silly and ironic. Perhaps you don't agree?......This last gag was missing from the copy found in the 1980s. Thus, a still picture of the Chinese family is supplied in some copies. However, this ending was later found, and is incorporated in most copies at present. I wonder how he avoided injury on his landing from the diving board? .....See it at YouTube, where there are a number of copies.

Could have been better

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 4 August 2015]

This is a Buster Keaton comedy film from 1921 that runs for 22 minutes. It is obviously still black-and-white and silent as it was common for that era. I basically think this could have been more interesting if we had seen Buster try suicide unsuccessfully from start to finish here, but unfortunately it's only the very first and very last scene and everything in-between is not really memorable including the ways in which Keaton goes up against several animals (fish, horses, bears). Virginia Fox and Joe Roberts are on board again as in so many Keaton movies, but their roles are fairly forgettable here. It's a single Buster show, even more than usual and it's not that great to watch. I personally prefer if the supporting character also have good story lines and interact more with the lead character. The wild shooting scene with Roberts' character could not save it either. Edward F. Cline co-wrote and co-directed this film with Keaton once again. The idea of suicide in this movie is among one of the factors that made Buster's characters always look more depressed and sad than the one of Chaplin and Lloyd for example. All in all, not among Stoneface's best. Not recommended.

Final Scenes of "Hard Luck" DO EXIST!!!! And it's on Kino DVD!!!

[jeffoc_99 · 20 April 2006]

Slight correction for the previous review (though admittedly it came before the actual discovery). The long-lost missing scenes (Keaton walloping the cement in the pool-dive sequence, his return with Chinese wife and child, both cute BTW) WERE found in a French archive (will have to check which one), albeit in terrible-but-watchable shape, and were restored on a special compilation DVD of Keaton rarities (home movies, TV appearances, cameos, and some restored films, including the missing scenes from "Daydreams").

The title is "Keaton Plus"...I found it circulating in the Buffalo Public Library. Not sure of the date, but would probably be between 2001 to 2004. And yes, it's released by Kino Video (in association with the Rohauer and Keaton estates, etc.) It's gratifying to know that the cherry on the top of Keaton's fantastic cinema career in the 20s has survived (barely, but serviceable), and it's a short, sweet coda for such a majestic American comedy talent.

A Curious Clash of Comic Stylings: Grim and Dark, But Also Loose and Silly

[drqshadow-reviews · 6/10 · 17 February 2021]

Buster Keaton's style of humor is fairly well-known for its dark edge, but the starting premise of Hard Luck is a bit extreme even by his standards. Penniless and down on his luck, evicted from the simple shelter of a drug store window, he sets out to end his own life via whatever means he can scrape together.

Alas, even this macabre escape eludes him, though not for lack of trying. Like the bleak suicide montage that would run through the second act of Bill Murray's Groundhog Day, seventy years later, there's a wild sense of taboo delight linking these lightning-quick flashes of easy death; unity through the sheer, helpless futility of it all. In failing to do himself in, Buster hits his rock bottom, finds his feet, and (inspired by the fuzzy embrace of a stiff drink, fortuitously mislabeled as a poison) musters the courage to immediately tackle brighter pursuits. In these, he finds no better luck - fishing, hunting and high-diving being no easier than suicide - but, again, we're delighted to see him fail upward. Whether trying to improve himself or end himself, Keaton can't break his date with destiny.

The pacing can be a bit jagged (owing to the film's long-term status as a lost gem, only partially reconstructed in 1987) and the ending is an absurd non-sequitur, but the daring, off-color subject matter is striking and (as always) there's no shortage of good, silly, physical comedy to be had. I'd love to see the complete, Keaton-approved first cut.

Keaton at this best

[JoeytheBrit · 8/10 · 2 November 2009]

This Keaton film is missing its last couple of minutes, which is a shame, but what is left still shows him at the top of his game. He plays a suicidal chap who just can't seem to kill himself: he lies in the path of a street car only for it to stop before it reaches him, he stands in front of oncoming headlights in the darkness only to have a motorcycle pass either side of him, he tries to hang himself with a rope that's too long, and becomes totally smashed when he drinks poison that is really a tipsy waiter's secret stock of booze.

Buster shows off his athletic prowess in one of his funnier shorts. I think there's a tendency for some people to shower praise on these comedy legends regardless of whether it is really deserved. Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd, Stan and Ollie – they all had their 'off days' and there's no shame in that, so why pretend mediocre product is anything else? Happily, this energetic short delivers laughs from the opening credits to the last shot. It's just a shame we can't see Buster's ill-fated dive into that pool…

A scattered script, but still fun

[gbill-74877 · 8/10 · 8 March 2023]

One of the many adjectives you could use to describe Buster Keaton is Fearless. Whether it's casually latching on to a car driving by, laying down in front of a streetcar, sitting a few feet from an explosive, or jumping off a high board into a wax coating over water to make it look like brick, he gives it all for his viewers, and he's just as magnetic to them over a century later (well, this viewer anyway). This short is all over the map, starting with Buster in little tramp mode, desperately scrounging for food, but unlike Chaplin, Buster's character has a darkness to him, attempting suicide a few times. It then segues into adventures with animals (fish, horses, a bull, and a bear) and the rescue of a damsel in distress. Of course, right?

It's not the most cohesive script in the world (to put it mildly), but I liked its anarchy, and was amused throughout. The "fall through the Earth and end up in China" bit has grown stale over a century later, but this is one of its earliest film references, and it's notable that Buster is shown happily married with children to a Chinese woman at a time interracial marriage was illegal in most of America. That's quite possibly the reason the ending was missing from the first print which was recovered in 1987. Watch for the cute little pratfall from his "Chinese son" at the end too. Like father, like son.

new life

[Kirpianuscus · 1 February 2019]

It seems a puzzle. Different pieces together, the genius of Buster Keaton as glue, the unlucky poor man and his adventures. Significant- it is the right expected film. Rediscovered in 1987, it represents new proof of perfect art , in which the gags , performances and adventure are windows to a fascinating creation process and trip across the sensitivity of a time.

Great

[Michael_Elliott · 12 March 2008]

Hard Luck (1921)

**** (out of 4)

Complete version

A down on his luck and depressed Buster Keaton tries to commit suicide but even has hard luck at that. This is probably my favorite Keaton short and while a few of the jokes don't work the majority of them are right on the money and hilarious. There are countless memorable scenes here including the attempt to hang himself, jumping in front of the "car" and the wonderful stunts with the horse towards the end. This was my first time watching the complete version of this, which shows what happens when Keaton jumps off the high dive (it was missing from earlier versions). I had never read or heard what happened in this once lost segment but the wait was certainly worth it because the gag is among the most mind numbing stunts in Keaton's career.