25. Seven Chances (1925)

Running Time: 56 minutes

Directed By: Buster Keaton

Written By: Clyde Bruckman, Jean C. Havez, Joseph A. Mitchell

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

I FIGURED I'D BETTER WRITE THIS REVIEW BEFORE SEVEN O'CLOCK TO AVOID CATASTROPHE

Yet another Buster Keaton film, and yet another timeless classic. Let's jump right into it, shall we?

Buster Keaton plays financial broker Jimmy Shannon, who thanks to a bad deal, needs to make some fast cash to avoid disgrace in the community and possible prison time. Enter a lawyer, played by Snitz Edwards, who makes Jimmy aware of an inheritance that his grandfather left him, in the amount of seven million dollars. There is however, one stipulation to collect the money: Jimmy must marry a woman, by seven o'clock on his twenty seventh birthday, which is the same day that Jimmy finds out about the inheritance, leaving him only hours to find a bride.

The woman he wants to marry is Mary, a woman for whom he's loved for quite sometime, yet unable to bring himself to tell her. He visits her and asks her, but after mucking his words, turns her off to the idea of marriage, leaving Jimmy to have to find a bride from scratch.

Along with his friend and business partner Billy and the lawyer, he goes all over town looking for a bride, in what is an absolutely hilarious search. In one scene we see Jimmy walking up a flight of stairs, all the while proposing marriage to a complete stranger, at the top of the stairs he gets a negative response, only to turn around, walk back down the stairs with another woman and propose to her, again, to a negative response.

Billy eventually gets the idea to advertise the situation in the paper, posting a picture of Jimmy and the details of the inheritance. This brings a storm of brides to the church in hunt of Jimmy and the seven million, that they will stand to marry in to. What follows is an absolutely hilarious and stunning scene, where all the brides chase Jimmy through the town, thinking that he was just pulling one over on them, and seeking their revenge. While running down a hillside, Jimmy trips over some rocks and now, is not only being chased by angry women, but boulders, that are tumbling down the hill after him. CLASSIC stuff!

Again Keaton doesn't fail to impress me, as he proves to me time and time again, with each film, why he's still remembered and talked about today. I still proclaim that Buster Keaton has been my biggest and most talented find of this journey, so far, providing me with three movies already, that could easily be a part of my favorite movies of all time list. There were two other short films on the disc that also contained Seven Chances, and I was so tempted to watch them, but sticking to the pages of the 1001 book, sealed the disc up and shipped it back to Netflix.

RATING: 10/10 Now I'm really not sure which one I liked better, between this, Our Hospitality and Sherlock Jr., they were all fantastic and I'd be hard pressed to pick a favorite, but all I know right now is that Seven Chances was a masterpiece in comedy perfection.

NEXT UP: The Phantom of the Opera...Directed by and starring Lon Chaney, who I've heard a lot about. This one's on Netflix to watch instantly, so as soon as I get the time, you'll get the review.

October 7, 2009 10:46pm