Seven Chances (1925)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Buster Keaton

Writers:

David Belasco (play)
Roi Cooper Megrue (adaptation)

Release Date:

11 March 1925 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Family | Romance

Plot:

A man learns he will inherit a fortune if he marries. By 7 p.m. Today.

Plot Keywords:

Courtship | Remake | Lawyer | Blackface | Wedding

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Buster Keaton	...	James 'Jimmie' Shannon
T. Roy Barnes	...	His partner Billy Meekin
Snitz Edwards	...	His lawyer
Ruth Dwyer	...	His girl Mary Jones
Frances Raymond	...	Her mother Mrs Jones (as Frankie Raymond)
Erwin Connelly	...	The clergyman
Jules Cowles	...	The hired hand

Runtime:

USA:56 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Portugal:M/6 | Argentina:Atp | USA:Passed | Spain:T | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Greater Page Temple - West Adams Boulevard & La Salle Avenue, West Adams, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Buster Keaton Productions

Trivia:

In his desperate search for a woman -- any woman -- to marry, Buster Keaton is passing a variety theater. There is a large picture of a visiting artiste who is playing there, and Keaton bribes someone to let him go in at the stage door. As he goes in, a workman removes a box that was obscuring the bottom of the poster ... and we see the name of the "artiste" ... Julian Eltinge. Eltinge was a famous female impersonator, so famous that no further explanation is needed when Keaton almost immediately emerges, looking disconcerted.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Just as the horde of would-be brides overruns the college football game, one of the players can be seen throwing himself to the ground, already pretending to be trampled.

Quotes:

Jimmie Shannon: (looking at a list of possible brides) Who bats next?

Movie Connections:

Featured in Reel Paradise (2005)

Sweet little Keaton movie.

This is a really sweet little Buster Keaton movie, with a greatly executed story.

Its story is fun enough to make the movie consistently a fun one. It's the sort of story that has copied a lot in movies ever since but also was used in movies before this one. It's even a popular subject for modern present day comedies. It perhaps makes "Seven Chances" seem less original than it in fact truly is of course.

The movie uses a lot of title cards. I mean, basically every line that gets spoken in the movie gets shown in a title card. It also makes the dialog part of the comedy of the movie. It isn't a much visual comedy, meaning that it doesn't really feature much slapstick or things like that. It's more a movie that relies on its comical situations and of course on the acting comical talent of Buster Keaton. Also the supporting cast is really more than great.

The movie begins a bit standard and perhaps even a bit slow but when the movie its story starts to take form the movie turns into one great laugh fest, with the last 20 minutes or so as the ultimate highlight, when things start to get really crazy and paced and the movie gets turned into one big non-stop comical chase! It's the one great fun moment after the other, with also some great and dangerous stunt work again from Buster Keaton himself!

A great Buster Keaton must-see, from the silent-era!

9/10