Hard Luck (1921)

Hard Luck (1921)

„Hard Luck“ is a 1921 silent slapstick comedy short film written and directed by Edward F. Cline and Buster Keaton.

After losing his job and his girlfriend, an unemployed, down on his luck, young Suicidal Boy decides to kill himself. He tries lying in front of a streetcar, but it stops in front of him, then changes direction and proceeds up the line. He tries cutting a rope to cause a safe being hauled up the side of a building to fall on him, but it misses. He tries hanging himself from a tree branch, but just falls out of the tree with the rope wrapped around him.

Pursued by two cops for his antics, he tries jumping on a streetcar, but it again reaches the end of the line and returns him to the police. He jumps through an open window to avoid them, and in his new environs he finds a bottle marked ”poison” which he rapidly consumes, however it really contains whiskey. The waiter who had marked it poison was just trying to keep his stash to himself. The Suicidal Boy joins a table of men discussing the need for an adventurer to bring in an armadillo for the zoo. Bolstered by the whiskey, he volunteers to join the expedition to capture an armadillo.

Strange things ensue as the Suicidal Boy finds himself becoming more confident through his efforts as a wild game hunter. He drops unspent shells into his fire and they go off, chasing him. He catches a small fish, but uses it as bait to catch a bigger fish, turning around and using that to catch an even bigger one, until finally the fish is too big and is able to escape.

The Suicidal Boy camps near a country club and helps a pretty young girl, Virginia, get on her horse by kneeling down and letting her step on him. She invites him to a fox hunt. He has a lot of trouble with his horse, finally able to mount it by dropping from a tree branch onto its back, and the fox follows him around without him noticing. He winds up dropping from the top of a bridge onto a bull rather than his horse.

Lizard Lip Luke and his gang of outlaws show up to rob the club and menace Virginia. The Suicidal Boy beats them by throwing more unspent shells into the furnace and the gang tries to shoot it out with the furnace, each one going down one at a time.

His new confidence becomes his undoing as the Suicidal Boy now proposes to Virginia, who reveals that she has a husband already. Disappointed, rejected by the girl, he takes the dive off the high diving board. He misses the pool and hits the ground on the far side with such force that he leaves a hole, disappearing into it. Title: ”years later“ and he emerges from the crater, climbing out of the hole in the now dry and deserted pool, dressed in Asian-garb, with a Chinese wife and followed by two young children.

Cast:

• Buster Keaton – Suicidal Boy
• Virginia Fox – Virginia
• Joe Roberts – Lizard Lip Luke
• Bull Montana – Virginia’s Husband
• Bessie Wong – Chinese Wife
• Natalie Talmadge – Fainting Female Bank Customer

„Buster Keaton ist nicht totzukriegen“ (Hard Luck) ist eine Stummfilm-Slapstick-Komödie aus dem Jahr 1921, geschrieben und inszeniert von Edward F. Cline und Buster Keaton.

Ein vom Pech verfolgter junger Mann unternimmt mehrere Selbstmordversuche, scheitert aber auch dabei. Durch eine Reihe von kleinen Abenteuern wird er immer selbstbewusster, bis ihm dies zum Verhängnis wird.