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Love is a funny thing and, in the hands of master comedian Buster Keaton, it is celebrated as a fantastic riot of elaborate setpieces and outrageous stunts. Seven Chances, from 1925, is Keaton’s sweet answer to the subtleties that sometimes escaped his more adventurous yarns. Often overlooked because it is less ambitious, Seven Chances is also the film whose storyline is the most copied. From the Three Stooges (who borrowed the story twice) to 1999’s The Bachelor, its reworking knows no bounds. Yet, it flourishes most in Keaton’s hands.
Loosely based on a play written by Roi Cooper Megrue, Keaton plays Jimmy Shannon, a financial broker teetering on the edge of financial ruin, who is unable to express his feelings to the woman (Ruth Dwyer) he loves. In the humorous three-minute (and Technicolor proud) opening, Keaton establishes the weakness of his character’s lack of eloquent expression through a series of fantastic sight gags. He just can’t tell her how he feels.
He has to, though. That very night, it seems, or this business is doomed. His grandfather’s will promises that he will be rewarded $7 million dollars if he’s married by 7 p.m. on his 27th birthday and, after blundering the first proposal, he and his business partner (T. Roy Barnes) must race to get him to the church - with any woman - on time.
Guided by their lawyer (Snitz Edwards), Keaton and Barnes survey the Country Club for any eligible female…a list that, humorously enough, includes minors and the elderly. Yet, Keaton’s such a flub at expressing his feelings that he can’t get a “yes” and the time is running out.
Cue the chaos.
What follows is a flip-flop of situational comedy when word gets out about the money to be earned by simply saying “I do” to this meek character and, quite suddenly, Keaton finds himself being chased by the ugliest collection of women ever assembled on film. Frightened by their homely looks and aggressive nature, Keaton outruns them and cops and, in the fantastic climax, even boulders.
Yes, Keaton runs the gamete of the storyline’s inherent zaniness; we go from a leisurely stroll through some gentle comedic beats (where the best gags are in camera effects of the passing of time and distance) and end the picture with a dazzling display of Keaton’s continuous gravity-defying stunts. Inheritance be damned, Keaton’s stone-faced expression seems to say to the screen, a man’s still got to have some pride!
Keaton pushes the comedy to the breaking point with tight chase sequences and lightning fast visual gags that practically whir by during his gallop across Los Angeles. There’s also, on display before its time, a masterful approach to the timing of lapse sequences that prove Keaton’s genius was not limited solely to comedy but to cinematic creativity, too. Seven Chances isn’t Keaton’s best work. It doesn’t have to be; not every outing has to be a grand slam. Seven Chances, however, is a certifiable homerun and should be celebrated by those unfamiliar with Keaton’s legacy and his dedicated fans alike.
MPAA Rating: This title has not been rated by the MPAA.
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