Hard Luck

Buster Keaton often cited Hard Luck (1921) as his favorite among his independent short film work, the reason being that the twist ending gave him the biggest laugh of his career, with people still laughing over it on their way out of the movie house. In hindsight, the film is not that wonderful, including the ending, but it is not without merits. The first part is a classic example of "suicide comedy," a controversial subject for us nowadays, but back then, an inept fellow trying to rub himself out in humorous ways was rather common in short subjects. Harold Lloyd and even Mickey Mouse indulged in this sort of gallows humor too. The rest of the film is funny, but not as imaginative or clever as Keaton's best short film work.

This was an odd Buster Keaton in that the story totally changed directions multiple times, out of nowhere. The strange 22-minute movie begins with Buster trying to kill himself in various forms. Obviously, he doesn't succeed and the reasons why are funny. It may morbid to some but I found this part very clever and the best part of the film.

All of sudden, he's obtained the job of hunting for an armadillo for a local zoo and while he's doing that, he winds up in a country club where they are having a fox hunt. There are numerous sight gags involving Buster trying to mount the horse, many times while the horse is moving.

Later, some gigantic outlaw, "Lizard Lip Luke," and his gang appear and are robbing this place where Keaton and a girl he likes are located, and our hero, thanks to some inventive thinking, gets rid of the gang. He thinks that entitles him to marry the girl but she tells him, "I'm already married." Huh?

Then the movie ends on a really bizarre note as Buster ambles over to a nearby swimming pool and climbs the ladder to perform a high dive. Unfortunately we don't see much of this scene because most of the footage has been lost forever. However, Kino Video, which put this long-lost film on DVD, is nice to explain in advance - and during that last scene - what we missed.

I can see where some people might label this an "unven" Keaton short, since the story is so disjointed, but that's part of the charm: you never know what's coming next. There are some really unique sight gags in here - strange even for silent comedies. This film is pure insanity!

It seems a puzzle. Different pieces together, the genius of Buster Keaton as glue, the unlucky poor man and his adventures. Significant- it is the right expected film. Rediscovered in 1987, it represents new proof of perfect art , in which the gags , performances and adventure are windows to a fascinating creation process and trip across the sensitivity of a time.

The film was long time lost, until it was restored in the '80s with the final scene still missing. That final scene (which Keaton himself called 'the greatest laugh-getting scene of his career') was later found, and now the film can be enjoyed in it's entirety with the fantastic scene of Buster diving into the pool, but missing it.

Buster stars as out of luck guy who has lost his job and girlfriend, so he tries different methods of taking his own life until he drinks from the bottle which says 'poison'. Luckily for Buster, the bottle contained whiskey that waiter of the restaurant hid from others. Drunken Buster crashes in to the meeting where zoologists discuss the need of including new species among their exhibits. Buster agrees to take the task and all new set of exciting adventures begin.

Hard Luck (1921)

**** (out of 4)

Complete version

A down on his luck and depressed Buster Keaton tries to commit suicide but even has hard luck at that. This is probably my favorite Keaton short and while a few of the jokes don't work the majority of them are right on the money and hilarious. There are countless memorable scenes here including the attempt to hang himself, jumping in front of the "car" and the wonderful stunts with the horse towards the end. This was my first time watching the complete version of this, which shows what happens when Keaton jumps off the high dive (it was missing from earlier versions). I had never read or heard what happened in this once lost segment but the wait was certainly worth it because the gag is among the most mind numbing stunts in Keaton's career.