Seven Chances

Seven Chances

1925

Director: Buster Keaton

Starring: Buster Keaton, Ruth Dwyer, T. Roy Barnes, Snitz Edwards

Every time, every damn time I watch Buster Keaton, I’m flummoxed.  Immaculate actor is immaculate.  He’s perfect, amazing, fantastic.  But it’s not just his acting, it’s everything in his films.  Everything is so perfectly choreographed and timed.  Seven Chances is no exception.  For a film that is nearly 90 years old to still provide laughs is amazing enough, but Keaton’s work doesn’t just give you a few laughs, he gives you plenty, and then some. 

Jimmie Shannon (Keaton) is a broker at a firm that’s facing some financial difficulties.  When a lawyer (Edwards) comes to tell him and his partner (Barnes) that Jimmie stands to inherit seven million dollars, they are relieved.  But there are stipulations on the funds; Jimmie must be married by 7pm on the day of his twenty-seventh birthday in order to claim the inheritance.  Jimmie knows who he WANTS to marry – Mary (Dwyer), the girl he’s loved for over a year but been unable to confess his feelings to – but when he botches the proposal, he becomes desperate to find a bride, ANY bride, by 7pm.  Antics ensue.

This scant plot, which is laid out entirely in the first 15 minutes of the film, is all Keaton needs to produce some of the finest silent era comedy I’ve seen.  This is a funny, funny movie.  Although I wasn’t laughing the entire time, I do know that I was smiling the entire time.  Right from the glorious opening scene that establishes Jimmie’s love for Mary, the film won me over.  I was happy and cheery while watching it.  Seven Chances is the film equivalent of valium: watch this movie, and all your woes simply disappear.  You are transported into the gloriously sunny world of Keaton’s comedic shenanigans, and all will be well. 

That’s the mood of the film, but I now MUST talk about the laughs, because holy crap on a cracker, this film has them in spades.  Picking a favorite is utterly pointless, because as I watch this over again, there are simply too many to choose from (the hat check girl, the avalanche, the girls on the stairs, the proposal by Jimmie’s partner, the football game, Jimmie’s car unexpectedly hitting a tree, and the classic bride chase sequence are all grand).  What I will say about the spectacular gags is the fact that they all work.  More than that, not a single piece of the comedy feels extraneous.  None of it is there for a cheap laugh.  It’s staggering how well choreographed all the comedy is; one set piece blends seamlessly into the next.  It’s much the same sense of cogency that Keaton has on full display in The General that is, frankly, lacking in many other silent comedies.  In all honesty, maybe this is my favorite thing about Seven Chances; it’s a funny movie that never feels like a disconnected string of skits or gags.  Every laugh you have is because of Jimmie’s attempt to find a bride and get married by 7pm.  We never lose sight of this for a second.

  

Seven Chances was set in the modern day of the time, and I couldn't get enough of the costumes.  The 1920s fashion that is on display in this film is sublime.  Given that Jimmie is trying to find a bride, we get to see many different women, and they are all decked out to the nines in dripping fringe, cloche hats, fur collars, fantastic coats, and t-strap shoes.  The men are all dapper in straw boaters and immaculately fitted three piece suits.  The wardrobe department did a great job of making everyone look like a million bucks.  If the comedy isn’t enough of a sell, the fashion plate of the film should be.  (I’ll add that I was much amused by all the makeshift veils the horde of brides wears at the end of the film – tartans, towels, bed sheets, whatever will do in a pinch!)

  

And then there’s the man himself.  Keaton.  Keaton Keaton Keaton.  With this rewatch of Seven Chances, he sealed his case for being my favorite of all the silent comedians (not that there was much doubt).  His classic “stone face” expression provides a straight man around which all sorts of craziness bounces around, and his films are funnier for it.  And then there’s the fact that he does his own stunts, and the stunts in Seven Chances, while not as jaw dropping as those in The General, don’t lack for excitement.  The avalanche sequence in particular is stunning.  And finally, I’ll come right out and admit that despite the fact that this is an old movie, y’know what, I have a bit of a crush on Buster Keaton.  I’ll just leave it at the fact that the man looked damn fine in tight trousers (so much so that I actually managed to find some slightly inappropriate pictures I am choosing not to include here…).

  

I also have a note on the version I watched, the Kino International edition and that which is available for streaming on Netflix Instant.  The opening shocked me, as it was in color.  A quick bit of research and I discovered this was not added after the fact; Keaton actually shot the opening sequence, where we see Jimmie try to tell Mary how he feels about her over the course of the changing seasons of a year, in Technicolor.  I had known that the three strip Technicolor process was around and available earlier than most people think, but this is the earliest film I’ve ever seen that employed that technology.  It’s stunning, flat out stunning, seeing the flowers and the fashions in an unretouched, true color.  This fact is enough to recommend this particular version of the film, but I will add that the rest of the film, shot in a sepia-toned black and white, is gorgeous and crisp and clear; it looks beautiful even on our 52 inch widescreen television.  I tip my hat to Kino; the Keaton films I’ve seen by them have been gorgeously transferred.   Nice work, guys and gals.  (Their score also works extremely well.)

Seven Chances is a perfect movie to show someone who has never seen a silent film before.  It’s short, it’s light, it’s funny, it moves well, it WORKS.  Keaton was a comedy genius; what he managed to craft in the early days of Hollywood is still so funny it can elicit laughs from modern viewers today.  Seven Chances is absolutely no exception.

Arbitrary Rating: 9/10

Our Hospitality

Our Hospitality

1923

Director: Buster Keaton and John G. Blystone

Starring: Buster Keaton

I’m starting to feel like saying you prefer Keaton over Chaplin is the snooty, snobby, trendy, hipster thing to say.  Dammit, though, it’s true.  Although Our Hospitality is not my favorite Keaton, it’s still charming and clever and, well, funny!

The plot is comedic take on the Hatfields and McCoys, only in Our Hospitality, it’s Canfields and McKays.  After his father is killed by a Canfield, baby Willie McKay is sent to grow up in New York, unaware of the feud.  When he turns 21 (now Keaton), he returns to his hometown to inherit his family “estate,” and inadvertently gets mixed up in the old feud by falling in love with the Canfield daughter (Natalie Talmadge and Keaton's wife at the time).

The title of the film mainly refers to the middle third of the film where Southern manners and idiosyncrasies are played for the best comedy of the film.  Canfield’s daughter has invited Willie McKay to dinner at their estate.  Southern hospitality prohibits the Canfields from shooting Willie when he is a guest inside their home, but the second he steps outside, the rules are off.  Willie quickly realizes this.  Comedy gold ensues.  The segment is essentially a very early sitcom.  Think of the word “sitcom” – a mash-up of “situational comedy.”  Although I would never say that Our Hospitality invented the concept, situational comedy certainly gets great early cinematic treatment here.  Think about it: a feud that no one can remember why it started has to be put on hold for a bizarrely upheld sense of “manners.”  Buster Keaton capitalizes very well, playing up both Willie’s fear and the physical restraints he has while trying to stay inside the house.

  

While the middle third of the film plays out as a silent film sitcom, the majority of the comedy in the film comes from sight gags; more so, it seems, than in other Keaton films I’ve seen.  The first third of the film primarily concerns itself with Willie’s train journey from New York to the South, and the train he rides on is flat out ridiculous.  Apparently, Keaton was a stickler for historical accuracy, and the primitive train seen in Our Hospitality would have been what people rode in 1830, the year the film is set.  The damn thing looks like a Tonka playset, but that’s the gag.  Additionally, the shots of 42^nd Street and Broadway are, well, historically accurate, but a sight gag nonetheless.  The Mad Hatter-sized felt top hat that Willie wears is hysterical, and there’s a nice bit with dressing up a horse.  It’s all very clever and, again, funny!

  

The final third of the film is less comedic and more action oriented.  Willie is running through the forest in order to avoid his would-be assassins, and winds up in the river.  The Canfield’s daughter jumps in to try to save him, so we naturally have a thrilling waterfall’s-edge rescue sequence.  This was easily the most exciting part of the film, mostly for the fact that Keaton did all his own stunts.  When he’s hanging over the side of a cliff, the dude is legit hanging over the side of a cliff.  Those early film comedians were fearless as all get out, man.  Unbelievable.

I like the little touch with their hands.

Ultimately, though, Our Hospitality feels like three distinct silent comedy shorts vaguely strung together with weak connecting threads.  Don’t get me wrong, those three shorts are awesome and funny and exciting and thrilling.  However, they lack coherence; they just feel like “bits” weakly tied to each other.  I like Our Hospitality, but I don’t love it.  It’s not nearly as strong as some of Keaton’s other work in terms of being a fully realized narrative feature-length film.  I did a Keaton double feature, watching this and The General on the same day.  To speak bluntly, The General blows this movie out of the water.  It’s has narrative tension and focus, both of which are lacking in Our Hospitality.  Our Hospitality, while being amusing, feels primitive – just like the early train it showcases.

Arbitrary Rating: 7/10

The General

The General
1926
Director: Buster Keaton
Starring: Buster Keaton, Marion Mack

So many others have said it before me, but who cares: the easiest gateway into silent cinema is through the comedies. Funny is funny, regardless of time. Drama ages, horror ages, but comedy – good comedy, that is – perseveres. The General is not only good comedy, it’s great comedy.

Southern rail engineer Johnnie Gray (Keaton) loves his train, the eponymous “General,” and his girl, Annabelle (Mack). After the eruption of the Civil War, Northern spies steal both Johnnie’s train and Annabelle, who was hiding in a storage car. Johnnie must follow them with another train, save the girl, and bring both of them – the girl and the General – home to the South, all while foiling the evil Northern army’s plans.

Keaton is my favorite of the silent comedians due to his “Old Stoneface” acting style. He was known for his stoicism in the face of outlandish situations, and that stoicism has served him well as time has gone by. He doesn’t mug for the cameras, and in any scene where he’s acting (versus wild athleticism) he underplays everything. There is a subtlety to his comedy. There are plenty of obvious jokes, sure, but also smaller, quieter gags that set Keaton apart from his contemporaries. All of this explains why I like Keaton in general, but not why I like Keaton in The General. (ha ha, catch what I did there? I’m so clever…) His Johnnie is so likeable, I just want to take him and hug him like a little teddy bear. Keaton plays Johnnie with a very strong bravado style. Johnnie doesn’t flinch at facing men taller and stronger than he is. From what I can tell, Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd weren’t exactly toweringly tall actors, and frequently their characters were the “wimps” who had to eventually fight the big bad bully. Typically, they are quaking in their shoes at the prospect of this. Not Johnnie. He’s headstrong, almost to the point of absurdity, but he never for a second doubts his abilities. I like that. A lot.