Hard Luck

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.

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)' is a very unusual Buster Keaton short, and I'll demonstrate this with a very brief synopsis. Down-on-his-luck Buster, having just lost his love and livelihood, resolves to end his life. This proves more difficult than anticipated. After several incredibly droll failed suicide attempts, Buster escapes the need to kill himself by accidentally getting drunk. He staggers into a meeting of zoo staff, and promptly accepts their challenge to capture the ultra-rare armadillo for the zoo's animal collection ("I was on a branch of the zoo!"). Buster then goes fishing, presumably to catch an armadillo, though that subplot is never mentioned again. Buster then wanders into a country club, where he spots a pretty girl (Virginia Fox) embarking on a fox-hunt, and decides to do the same. Later, an evil fugitive named Lizard Lip Luke (Joe Roberts) takes the girl hostage, and Buster saves the day.

Our hero quickly proposes to the rescued damsel-in-distress, but, on hearing of her current marriage, he decides to do some high-diving into a swimming pool (that, without exaggeration, is all the transition we are afforded between these two plot-points). The film's final gag, believed lost for years, has recently been restored, and allegedly brought Buster Keaton his most rapturous audience response: certainly, it comes completely out of left-field! In fact, so bizarre was this conclusion that it made me rethink my original stance on the film as a whole. Beforehand, I was inclined to view 'Hard Luck' as a collection of random gags clumsily cobbled together into a two-reeler. However, something tells me now that the anarchy of Keaton's storyline was very much intended. This is cinematic insanity in the same vein as 'Hellzapoppin' (1941)' or the Marx Brothers.

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.