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SEVEN CHANCES
Review by Michael Jacobson
Stars: Buster
Keaton, Ruth Dwyer, Ray Barnes, Snitz Edwards
Director: Buster Keaton
Audio: Dolby Stereo
Video: Standard 1.33:1
Studio: Image Entertainment
Features: Two short films
Length: 96 Minutes complete
Release Date: January 11, 2000
Film ***
Those who saw or remember the recent Chris O'Donnell
movie The Bachelor may have heard the title Seven Chances somewhere
along the way…the modern film was based on this classic Buster Keaton silent.
Naturally, as a big Keaton fan, I tend to prefer his version all the way,
even though in many ways, it doesn't fit the mold of the true Buster Keaton
movie.
The story is simple: Keaton
plays Jimmie Shannon, a young banker in love with Mary (Dwyer) but too shy to
tell her. After some unfortunate
dealings, he and his partner find themselves in dire straits, both financially
and legally, but soon a lawyer arrives with a possible way out.
Jimmie is to inherit $7 million, provided that he be married by no later
than 7 P.M. on his 27th birthday.
The problem? His birthday is
today. He wants to wed Mary,
naturally, but when that goes awry, he's forced into a frantic search for a
bride to save his skin.
When his chances dissipate one by one, his partner makes a
desperate move: advertising for a
bride in the evening paper. The
response is a little too enthusiastic: hundreds
of women dressed in wedding attire show up at the church to take the hand of the
bewildered Jimmy. They soon become
convinced it was all a joke, leaving poor Jimmy to run for his life.
In the meantime, Mary realizes the truth about Jimmy's
feelings for her, and sends word that she'll take the vows with him after all.
Can Jimmy get away from the enraged mob, collect his true love, and make
it to the preacher before the fateful clock strikes seven?
Maybe.
I say this isn't a typical Keaton film, and truth be
told, it was a picture he never wanted to do.
His producer (and father-in-law) Joseph Schenck bought the rights to the
play by Roi Cooper Megrue as a vehicle for Buster, and Buster reluctantly agreed
to make the film out of obligation. Much
of the film lacks Keaton's impeccable sense of physical comedy and outrageous
stunts, though it seems to make up for it with a quiet warmth and appealing
charm.
The story behind the movie's legendary finale is a good
one: Keaton had crafted and
constructed an outrageous chase sequence involving the hundreds of would-be
brides, similar in scope to his short comedy masterpiece, Cops. But something wasn't working. He made the chase bigger and bigger, though he instinctively
knew that bigger didn't automatically translate to funnier.
When screened for a test audience, they barely laughed, and Keaton could
sense disaster.
But something toward the end of the chase drew a big laugh
from the crowd. What was it?
During the end of the chase, when Keaton was tumbling down the side of a
big hill, he accidentally dislodged a few rocks with his fall.
You can see in the film that he looked up with surprise to find the rocks
following him down! “I really had
to scram to get out of the way!” he recalled.
The audience liked the concept of the rocks, but the chase had ended just
as it was coming to life.
Keaton quickly went back and shot additional footage to
match. He and his crew constructed
a number of rolling rocks, ranging from about tennis ball size into ones much
bigger than he was. He built upon
the rock chase, making it bigger and better and more frantic, and even found
that he could use the rocks as a means to disperse the women waiting for him at
the bottom of the hill. In a
picture that was almost devoid of Keaton's famed physical touches, the finale
proved to be one of his greatest triumphs.
The agility he displays in dodging those rocks and boulders is
amazing…and hilarious.
Seven Chances became a moderate success for Keaton,
but would always be remembered for the great rock chase that happened by
accident, and recalled with great fondness by film historians for that
inimitable scene.
Video ***1/2
The video quality of this Image DVD is one of the very best
I've seen for silent era films. The
sharpness and detail are amazing throughout.
Even smaller objects or objects in deep focus are crisply rendered.
If you've only seen public domain or other versions of this film,
you're in for a treat. The print
itself is remarkably clean: spots,
nicks and scratches are at a minimum. The film is also presented in a beautiful sepia tone, which
helps enrich the images and give them an even cleaner look. Buster Keaton fans can rejoice with this DVD presentation.
Audio ***
The audio consists of a simple but terrific stereo
recording of a new orchestral accompaniment.
The music matches and enhances the images perfectly, and the sound is
lively, dynamic, and perfectly clean and noise free throughout.
Features ***
As a bonus, this disc includes two Buster Keaton shorts.
Neighbors (1920) ranks amongst his funniest works, as he plays a
young man who literally loves his neighbor, a beautiful young girl from next
door. However, to disagree with Robert Frost, good fences don't
make for good neighbors in this scenario. The
second short is The Balloonatic (1923), mostly a string of wild gags with
Buster's mishaps in a hot air balloon as the bookends.
The visual quality is not quite as good on the shorts as it is on the
main feature, but still perfectly watchable.
Summary:
Seven Chances doesn't rank amongst the very best of Buster Keaton's films, but mediocre Buster is still better than a lot of comics' best. This is a simple, charming tale with a famous, rousing finale that continues to please fans of Keaton and silent comedies in general. With this quality disc presentation from Image, it's definitely worth picking up.