Seven Chances

1925
Directed By Buster Keaton


SYNOPSIS

Jimmie (Buster Keaton) stands to inherit 7 million dollars from his deceased grandfather... if he is married by 7 o'clock on his 27th birthday... which is today! His girl (Ruth Dwyer) rejects his sudden and underwhelming proposal... so he tries to get any woman he knows to marry him with no success. After an article appears in the afternoon newspaper about the inheritance... every woman in town will stop at nothing to get him!

MY THOUGHTS

Seven Chances isn't as well known as some of Buster Keaton's films, but it should be.

The first half of the film is slow (almost boring,) setting up the plot. It features no action and a few mildly amusing moments. Then it dramatically shifts from first gear all the way to fifth and the film races to its finish... with Keaton literally running top speed the entire way. A mob of hundreds hungry brides chasing him... he jumps off a cliff onto a tree being chopped down. He then dashes down a steep hill, triggering a landslide with bouncing boulders threatening his life the entire way down. The entire sequence must be seen to be believed. (see above video) The shots and editing are as close to perfect as any scene could possibly be.


The premise, which came from a play, has been used before Keaton and many times after.
 
Fans of the Three Stooges will easily recognize the plot was later 'borrowed' for one of their most well known shorts 1947's Brideless Groom.


With as much success as the Stooges were able to have with the same plot... Keaton's take is still superior in every way.

Steamboat Bill, Jr.

Steamboat Bill, Jr.
1928
Directed By Charles Reisner



SYNOPSIS

Steamboat Bill (Ernest Torrance) is upset his steamboat is been supplanted by a new bigger boat owned by the powerful John James King (Tom McGuire.) On a break from college, Bill's son Willie (Buster Keaton) comes to visit. The two haven't seen each other since Willie was little. Willie also runs into a girl from school who just happens to be King's daughter (Marion Byron.) Willie's dad tries to teach him the ropes of running a steamboat but Bill soon winds up in jail. When a major storm hits, King's ship sinks with him on-board, the jail is thrown into the water, and King's daughter is left clinging to a home floating away in the river. Only one man can save them all!



MY THOUGHTS

A masterpiece of comedy and stunt-work.
This just might be Buster Keaton's perfect blend of life-threatening stunts and silly slapstick.
Keaton's stunt-work here rivals The General in terms of its daring and epic-quality. The comedy is also on par with his best works.

The Great Stone Face's role is essentially the same inept, hapless character he always played. Anything that can he run into head-first or fall off of, is!

The film is structured better than most all silent comedies. The humorous moments in the film build and build. They start out small, like Willie's 'makeover,' where his father tries to buy him a new hat to replace his effeminate beret. The comedy builds and becomes bigger and bigger as the action moves to the steamboat and then a failed escape plan after his father has been jailed. This culminates in one of the biggest storms in Hollywood history.

The storm effects are still amazing to watch even 80 years later and are remarkably realistic. One of the highlights is this famous scene:



Real buildings are tossed about and crumble all over the place as Keaton runs among the flying debris.

Among the jokes and action is a love story. It resembles Romeo And Juliet, but of course the only tragedy here is the hero's incessant clumsiness!

This was Buster Keaton's last comedy before he signed with MGM and lost his total creative freedom... and his later films suffered. But this is one hell of a way to go out.

College

College
1927 - United Artists/ Joseph M. Schenck Productions
Directed By James W. Horne



SYNOPSIS

It's high school graduation and nerdy Ronald (Buster Keaton) still hasn't won the heart of the most popular girl in school (Anne Cornwall) because she's interested in athletes. He enrolls at the same college and begins a series of disastrous attempts to master baseball and all the track and field events. The college dean pities him forces the rowing team to accept him... as their leader!



MY THOUGHTS

In my opinion Buster Keaton was the best of the comedic actors of the silent era. This isn't one of his best features, but still funny even for a modern audience.

Keaton's stunt work is excellent as always (including the clip above.) but his (literally) backbreaking work in his film 'The General' is far better. The very end, where he shows he isn't so bad an athlete when his girl must be saved, is an excellent stunt sequence.

His films Sherlock Jr., The Cameraman, and Steamboat Bill are funnier, but the entire sequence where he tries out for baseball and track and field are consistently hilarious. When he runs out to play third base in full catcher's gear is a delight, and then gets even funnier, when batting gets hit in the butt by a ball, and later causes a triple play on the basepaths.

The 'Great Stone Face' provides a great dramatic performance as well. It's amazing how much sympathy a character can get from the audience without even showing any emotion.

The supporting music does not draw too much attention towards itself. That is a good thing with silent films, as DVD distributors tend to tack on music that has no relevance to the action on screen and as a result it's very distracting.

Though not his best film, College remains an essential film for fans of the best of the silent comedians.