Starring Buster Keaton, T. Roy Barnes and Snitz Edwards
Produced by Buster Keaton Productions
Boy meets girl one summer day. They connect. He wants to say he loves her but can't get the words out. He cannot express his feelings in the fall, or the winter or even the spring. He seems to be a commitment-phobe.
Of course, that's not the boy James' only problem. He and his business partner were tricked into a bad financial deal. At a minimum it will ruin the firm. At worst? Jail.
Fortunately, a lawyer arrives with the will of James' uncle. At first, the business partners put off the messenger, fearing he is delivering a different legal summons. But the lawyer tracks them to their country club where he convinces them to read the document. And it's a doozy. James has been left $7 million...
...providing he marries someone by 7:00 in the evening on his 27th birthday. And as movie luck would have it, James turned 27 that very day. He needs a bride and fast to get the money and save the firm.
So James races off to the obvious choice, the aforementioned-mentioned girl Mary. He arrives, but still can't propose straightaway. He sits on a bench and practices what he might say. The girl overhears and excitedly says yes, surprising her guy. Then, he ruins it by explaining the money and how he has to marry "some" girl. Mary is not just "some" girl or "any" girl. James heads back to the country club brideless.
His business partner and lawyer (who has seemingly become invested in the outcome of the day) soon hatch a plan. They scan the dining area of the club and recognize seven single women. He'll propose until one says yes. Simple, right?
Not quite. The first rejects him before a laughing crowd, the second does the same. He throws a note to a third on a balcony who returns her answer in a rain of confetti. His partner proposes to the fourth on his behalf in an unsuccessful way. The fifth and six decline as he ascends and descends a staircase. The seventh? No thanks in a phone booth.So the trio move onto plan C. The partner and lawyer will try to find a bride on their own. While James continues looking for one himself. They'll meet at the church at 5:00.
James approaches a few more women at the club before taking to the road. After striking out multiple times, he heads to the church which he finds empty.
Dejected and exhausted, James slumbers in the first pew. But then, a bride walks in. Then three more. Soon, James awakens to a church full of willing wives-to-be. It turns out his partner explained their dilemma in the local newspaper. It also turns out there are a lot of women interested in a guy with $7 million.
The brides decide they were the victims of some practical joke and aim their ire toward James whose photo appeared in the paper. James is soon evading a mob of bridal veils in the streets of his small town.
Will James make it to the altar on time? And will he find out that Mary has reconsidered marrying him?
The Seven Chances is staggering. Truth be told, in evaluating movies of this era, I tend to compare the movies against each other more than to modern films. Part of it is the result of immersion in the time period and part of it is that the movies of today are just so different. Not better or worse, just different.
The Seven Chances is now one of my favorite comedies. Not of the 1920s, but of any period. It's a marvel of structure, characters and technique. Oh and it's actually funny too.
Structurally, the film is all about momentum. The beginning is barely a comedy. It's got some humorous bits. We get a clever minute long trip through a year in the life of our lovebirds, the passage of time shown through the aging of Mary's dog. We get the set up of the firm's struggles and the introduction of the lawyer. Not a laugh to be found. But things start to feel a little off. The lawyer can't keep his glasses on. There's an odd synchronicity to James and his partner's movements. There's something off, but we are only being given hints.
When reach the "seven chances" portion, the comedic ball really starts downhill, but slowly at first. The first two reject him embarrassing ways. Then the third releases the confetti and the comic timing and editing of the moment is so perfect, it's the first legitimate laugh out loud moment. The next where his more debonair partner starts proposing to a woman who wants the partner and not James is funny with a great punchline. The remaining three are great visual gags, punctuated by one of the funniest movie lines I have ever read.
Once the trio separates, the movie picks up more momentum. James tries and fails to find a bride multiple times. My favorites: the hat check girl's simple no (another joke that exists all in the timing), the proposal while driving and the barbershop attempt. When he finally gets to the church, he's exhausted and we need the break.
Of course, then we get one of the movie's best visual gags as brides start trickling into the church. Then it becomes a downpour. Then a flash flood. When James awakens to a packed church, the look on his face when he realizes what is happening is perfect.
He escapes momentarily and tries to get the time at a clock shop. He looks at the clocks in the window and every one bears a different time. He asks the shop owner who pulls his pocketwatch, furrows his brow, and begins repairing it.
Throughout it all there is a consistency to the character of James that serves the film well. He's introduced as someone who can't say I love you and the will hits him right where he is weakest. He stumbles through a proposal to the girl he loves, not because he doesn't want to say it, but because he does not know how. He's always the romantic though. He never uses the money to leverage a "yes" to any of the proposals. His partner does that.
Technically, this movie does big and little things right. It's shot in a way that parallels the momentum of the tale. It's static cameras until James leaves the country club. The we get some camera movement following his car. Then some subtle dolly moves following him down the street. By the end, the camera is in full gallop right along with James as he avoids the mob.
There are the signature camera tricks here as well. The best and most obvious is the car that travels without moving. James enters the car at the country club, the background dissolves and he is at Mary's house. And the avalanche in the climax is fantastic.
The Seven Chances is that rare 1920s movie that combines structure, character and cinematography to tell a compelling and funny story. It's a leap forward for comedies of the time and is now one of my favorites ever.
***** out of *****
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