"Seven Chances" contains one of the best and funniest chase sequences ever filmed. Having said that, the film does have some flaws.Beginning with the prologue filmed in two strip Technicolor, which I think was put in there more as a novelty because it serves no useful purpose in respect of the story. All the scenes are filmed at seasonal intervals where Buster Keaton is shown with his leading lady Ruth Dwyer in front of her house, afraid to express his love for her. The early part of the film kind of drags as Buster learns of his inheritance and begins his search for a bride.The story has Financial broker James Shannon (Keaton) and his partner (T. Roy Barnes) whose firm is on the brink of ruin, receiving news of Shannon's inheritance of seven million dollars from the estate of Shannon's grandfather. The news is delivered by the family lawyer (Snitz Edwards). The only proviso is that Shannon must be married by 7PM that very day.First Shannon unsuccessfully proposes to his girl friend Mary Jones (Dwyer). Next the trio (Keaton, Barnes and Edwards) visit their country club where they draft a list of seven (i.e. chances) women that Shannon could ask to marry. Naturally all turn him down unaware of the potential fortune awaiting them.The partner and the lawyer hit upon the idea of advertising for a wife for Shannon in the afternoon newspaper. Then the fun begins. Hordes of prospective brides show up at the church, Shannon flees and................................................The chase sequences at the climax of the film have become legendary. First the brides (where did Keaton get all those extras?) pursue him through the streets of 1925 Los Angeles then Buster accidentally starts a rock slide forcing him to try to outrun the falling rocks. I don't know how fast Buster could run but these scenes are expertly choreographed and are a highlight of Keaton's career. He also manages to throw in an array of patented Keaton sight gags and pratfalls, particularly in the climatic scenes.Highly recommended, particularly for the final third of the film.

True love takes a lot of work - but this is ridiculous!Jimmie Shannon (Buster Keaton) is a partner in a brokerage who can't quite bring himself to propose to Mary (Ruth Dwyer), the only woman he loves. Then, his business facing ruin, he discovers he stands to inherit a fortune if only he gets married that day. He proposes to Mary, but she's put off by his apparent insincerity. So Jimmie is left to find a woman, any woman, who will marry him. Will love prevail?The film is an odd one for Keaton, starting off with a brief color sequence (in 1925) and moving quite slowly for Buster through the first third. The story was one Keaton had handed to him, rather than one he worked on himself, and feels at times like a "ladies' picture," focusing as it does on Jimmie's frustrated feelings and Mary's unhappiness.For a while, Buster's not even the main laugh-getter in the film. For a while, he plays a kind of straight man to troll-visaged Snitz Edwards, playing the lawyer bringing the news of Jimmie's inheritance. Snitz chases after Jimmie and his partner, who think he's a process-server and dodge him, but Snitz prevails. Buster still pines for Mary, saying he can love no other woman (which she happens to hear over a telephone connection, changing her mind), but agrees to bring to bring a woman to church before the deadline out of loyalty to his partner."In case two show up, I'll marry the other," Snitz declares.There are other oddities about "Seven Chances," like racial humor (Jimmie almost proposes to a black woman; a blackface actor plays a thick-headed hired hand) and the "Saphead"-style character Buster plays. It would seem like a lesser Keaton for that, but instead emerges as a masterwork of pacing and narrative. Just as you begin to settle in to "Seven Chances" tea-cozy aesthetic, it ramps things up for one of the great double-rally endings in movie history.There's also a charming sequence where Jimmie tries to find a bride among a list of female members of his country club, the "seven chances" of the film's title. He burns through those chances in six minutes, and then gets rejected by a receptionist (Jean Arthur) and a hat-check girl (Rosalind Byrne) for good measure. The sequence plays with set design and framing to keep you always wondering as to what will happen next.One amazing thing about the film you might not notice is the clever use of panning. Camera pans were still fairly new in cinema; framing was often stationary. But Buster is always in motion, and the camera moves with him. One clever shot, of Buster finding a turtle attached to his tie, apparently employs a treadmill in order to achieve an overhead camera angle.The gags here keep coming, and give "Seven Chances" the feel of a classic Keaton short. Except there's a real story here to be told, and the humor always works to move the ideas forward. It's a classic demonstration of Keaton's ingenuity - even if he didn't have a hand in the film's conception or writing he directed it, and it shows - as well as his ability to find as many ways of making you laugh in as little time as possible.

Thursday July 26, 6:30pm, The Uptown, SeattleA lawyer appears at the office of two businessmen on the verge of ruin. "This man has some kind of a legal paper with him!" "Maybe it's a summons!" On the morning of his twenty seventh birthday, Jimmie (Buster Keaton) learns that his grandfather has left him seven million dollars, providing he is married by seven o'clock on the evening of… his twenty seventh birthday. He immediately proposes to his sweetheart, who turns him down. "He said he must wed someone, and it might as well be me!" In a panic, he pops the question to every girl in town and demonstrates why falling asleep in church is always a bad idea.Beginning with a Technicolor surprise, Keaton's Seven Chances includes the most outrageous chase ever filmed on the streets of Los Angeles, with a heart stopping leap across Beale's Cut. Keep an eye out for Jean Arthur's wedding ring!

Jimmie Shannon (Buster Keaton) is a broker in need of money. When a lawyer comes to tell him he has inherited a certain sum, Jimmie avoids him thinking he may be bringing a summons. And then when he does hear the good news, there's a catch...Directed by and starring Buster Keaton, this film portrays his particular brand of physical comedy, though perhaps not with as much danger as "The General" or as many tricks as "Sherlock Jr." The music of Robert Israel really carries this film. Not just because it's a silent film, but because it's great music -- moving, light and comedic. And there is an implied racial tone... Jimmie passes on proposing to both a Jew and a black woman.I literally "laughed out loud" at this film! It is a shame Keaton considered it his worst film. Who knew it was so hard to get someone to marry you for $7,000,000 (in 1925 money, no less)?