Buster Keaton - Seven Chances (1925)

includes the best chase ever. crisp restauration.

Curated by Markus Fiedler

Total Runtime: 0:56:07

Seven Chances is a 1925 American comedy silent film directed by and starring Buster Keaton, based on a play written by Roi Cooper Megrue, produced in 1916 by David Belasco. Additional cast members include T. Roy Barnes,Snitz Edwards and Ruth Dwyer. Jean Arthur, a future star, has an uncredited supporting role. The film's opening scenes were shot in early Technicolor, and this rare color footage still survives on the Kino International special edition DVD print.^[1]

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Plot[edit]

Jimmy Shannon (Buster Keaton) is the junior partner in the brokerage firm of Meekin and Shannon, which is on the brink of financial ruin. A lawyer (whom they dodged, mistakenly believing he was trying to add to their woes) finally manages to inform Jimmy of the terms of his grandfather's will. He will inherit seven million dollars if he is married by 7:00 p.m. on his 27th birthday, which happens to be that same day.

Shannon immediately seeks out his sweetheart, Mary Jones, who readily accepts his proposal. However, when he clumsily explains why they have to get married that day, she breaks up with him.

He returns to the country club to break the news to his partner and the lawyer. Though Jimmy's heart is set on Mary, Meekin persuades him to try proposing to other women to save them both from ruin or even possibly jail. He has Jimmy look in the club's dining room; Jimmy knows seven women there (the chances of the title). Each turns him down. In desperation, Jimmy asks any woman he comes across. Even the hat check girl rejects him. He finally finds one who agrees, but it turns out she is underage when her mother spots her and takes her away.

Meanwhile, Mary's mother persuades her to reconsider. She writes a note agreeing to marry Jimmy and sends the hired hand to deliver it.

Unaware of this, Meekin has his partner's predicament (and potential inheritance) printed in the newspaper, asking would-be brides to go to the Broad Street Church at 5 p.m. Hordes of veiled women descend on the place. When they spot Jimmy (who had fallen asleep on a pew), they begin to fight over him. Then the clergyman appears and announces he believes it all to be a practical joke. Infuriated, the women chase after Jimmy. While hiding, he gets Mary's note. He races to Mary's house, pursued by furious females. Along the way, he accidentally starts an avalanche, which drives away the mob.

When he gets to Mary's home, Meekin shows him his watch; he is minutes too late. Mary still wants to marry him, money or no, but he refuses to let her share his impending disgrace. Fortunately, when he leaves, he sees by the church clock that Meekin's watch is fast. He and Mary wed just in time.

Cast[edit]

Buster Keaton as Jimmy Shannon
T. Roy Barnes as His Partner [Billy Meekin]
Snitz Edwards as His Lawyer
Ruth Dwyer as His Girl [Mary Jones]
Frances Raymond as Her Mother
Erwin Connelly as The Clergyman
Jules Cowles as The Hired Hand
Jean Arthur as the receptionist at the country club (uncredited)

Production[edit]

Keaton intended to finish with a fadeout of him still running from the mob of women, dissatisfied, but not having any better idea for an ending. However, during a preview, the audience laughed most loudly when Keaton's character accidentally dislodged a rock, which struck two others, sending them tumbling down after the hero. Keaton had 150 paper mache-and-chicken wire fakes made in various sizes up to 8 feet (2.4 m) in diameter for what is now considered one of his most memorable sequences.^[2]

Reception[edit]

Critical response[edit]

Church in Seven Chances

When released, Mordaunt Hall, the film critic for The New York Times, gave the film a mixed review, and wrote, "After viewing Buster Keaton's latest comedy, Seven Chances, one is justified in assuming; that there is a slump in the fun market...it took the combined efforts of three experienced gag men to turn the stage effort into screen material. The result inclines one's belief in the old adage concerning too many cooks, as although there are quite a number of good twists some of them have been produced in haste. The ideas did not have time to ripen and are therefore put before the audience in a rather sour state."^[3]

Film critic Dennis Schwartz liked the film and wrote, "A less ambitious but, nevertheless, hilarious Buster Keaton comedy. It's taken from the play by David Belasco and scripted by a team of writers. This minor film is based on a one-joke premise, but it has one of the greatest ever chase scenes. Keaton proves he's a master at building the comedy until it reaches its absolute breaking point."^[4]

Time Out London gave the film a positive review and wrote, "Less ambitious and less concerned with plastic values than the best of Keaton, this is nevertheless a dazzlingly balletic comedy in which Buster has a matter of hours to acquire the wife on which a seven million dollar inheritance depends...From this leisurely start, the film takes off into a fantastically elaborate, gloriously inventive chase sequence, in which Buster escapes the mob of pursuing harridans only to find an escalating avalanche of rocks taking over at his heels as he hurtles downhill. Added only after an initial preview, the rocks make for one of the great Keaton action gags."^[5]

Awards[edit]

British Film Institute Awards: Sutherland Trophy - Special Mention, Buster Keaton, 1966

Remakes[edit]

The story was reworked several times, notably by the Three Stooges twice in the films Brideless Groom (also written by Clyde Bruckman) and Husbands Beware , inThe Suitor (Le Soupirant), a 1962 French comedy starring Pierre Etaix, and in The Bachelor, a 1999 film starring Chris O'Donnell and Renée Zellweger.

The International Buster Keaton Society recreated the Seven Chances "Bridal Run" in the streets of Muskegon, Michigan at their 2010 convention.^[6]

The Andy Kaufman Show (1983)

Andy whips the crowd into a frenzy with his unusual performances, one of his last before his death. Features his Foreign Man character, an Elvis performance, and a Tony Clifton marionette

Total Runtime: 0:57:57

1970s1980sandz kaufmancomedyusa

In this video release of a 1983 episode from the critically acclaimed PBS series Soundstage, oddball comedian and satirist Andy Kaufman is featured in one of the last performances before his untimely death in 1984. Considered by some critics and fans to be a Dadaist, and known for blurring the borders between his stage persona and his "true" personality, Kaufman inflicted a brand of humor that was unique, sometimes slipping beyond comedy into performance art -- or mental illness. Here his format is the late-night talk show, and his sidekick is a marionette of his alter ego, obnoxious dive-lounge comedian Tony Clifton. Also included in the show: Kaufman reprises his Foreign Man character, impersonates Elvis Presley, seems to expose guest Dr. Alex Schorr as a fraud, and apparently has a genuine argument with his former girlfriend Elayne Boosler. ~ Steve Blackburn, Rovi
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In 1980 a very similar looking show would be filmed for PBS's SoundStage, called the The Andy Kaufman Show. It would feature a peanut gallery like Funhouse and is often confused with Andy's Funhouse. The show opens right in the middle of an interview Kaufman is doing in which he is laughing hysterically, and then he proceeds to thank the audience for watching and the credits roll. After this, opening credits do come on and the show has its "proper" beginning. This show is easy to confuse with Andy's Funhouse as they both feature "The Has-Been Corner" and Kaufman wears his "I Love Grandma" shirt in both shows among other similarities.
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http://www.plowboyfrazier.com/Soundstage.html

The late comedian Andy Kaufman had a sense of humor that was definitely an acquired taste. And speaking of taste, Stan Frazier got to consume a good deal of his offbeat stylings -- amongst other questionable things -- on a PBS special in 1983 called Soundstage: The Andy Kaufman Show. But more of that after a bit of back story...

Kaufman was long fascinated by the professional wrestling business, so much so he actually made wrestling a regular part of his stand-up routine. Calling himself "The Intergender Champion of the World," he defended a championship title against women in primarily legitimate contests. Kaufman would do a whole performance, like a wrestling promo, before the matches where he would berate the women into pure rage. The women truly wanted to kill him, and it's a wonder Kaufman kept his undefeated streak intact after several hundred contests.

One of the most successful professional wrestling promotions of the early 1980s was the Championship Wrestling Association (CWA), known to wrestling community as the Memphis promotion, operated by Jerry Jarrett. Some of the brightest and most colorful performers in the industry worked here at the time: the Fabulous Ones, Beautiful Bobby Eaton, Jimmy Hart, the Moondogs, Superstar Bill Dundee and many others. The top dog in the area, without question, was Jerry "The King" Lawler, and he used Kaufman's love of the sport, along with his willingness to do anything to be a part of it, to create one of the most famous (or infamous) wrestling angles of all time. Without going into great detail, Kaufman wrestled Lawler at the Mid-South Coliseum and was on the receiving end of two piledrivers, which sent him to the hospital. Soon after, Lawler and Kaufman has an altercation on Late Night with David Letterman. For years people wondered if what they witnessed was real or scripted, but it was in reality one of the best kept secrets ever.

Kaufman met Stan Frazier in Memphis. Frazier (who was jumping between several goofy gimmicks at the time) was a part of Jimmy Hart's First Family, a group of heels that dominated the area's storylines. For most of his run in Memphis, Kaufman was a member of the First Family.

How Andy Kaufman landed a special on the ultra-conservative PBS in the early 1980s is completely beyond me. His comedy was anything but universal, and I would have expected An Evening with Señor Wences before this. But there it was, and it has grown to be a bit of a cult hit over the years.

I could go into full detail of the show (available on DVD and VHS everywhere), but I'd rather focus on the matter at hand. Stan Frazier had a small and memorable part in the special that is best described visually.

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Buster Keaton - Seven Chances (1925)