Seven Chances

1925

Credits

Directed by: Buster Keaton

Release Date: March 16, 1925

Length: 6 Reels (5113 feet)
Faced with impending bankruptcy, Buster learns that he will inherit seven million dollars from his grandfathers will if he is married before 7:00 pm on his 27th birthday… today!

Starring
Buster Keaton: James Shannon
Ruth Dwyer: Mary Jones
T. Roy Barnes: Billy Meekin – James’ Partner
Snitz Edwards: James’ Lawyer
Frances Raymond: Mrs. Jones – Mary’s Mother
Jules Cowles: The Hired Hand
Jean Arthur: Switchboard Op Club
Erwin Connelly:The Clergyman
Jean Havez: Man on the Stair Landing

Copyright
4/22/25: Buster Keaton Productions Inc
2/4/53: Loews (Transferred to Rohauer, then to Cohen Media)
Current: Cohen Media
2021: Public Domain

Credits courtesy of Jack Dragga

Trivia

The opening sequence of the picture was filmed in color.

Watch for Buster to propose to a woman in a matching car.  It is his sister-in-law, the film star Constance Talmadge.

Buster used no stunt doubles, but there are two camera tricks in this film.  See if you can spot them.

The sequence with the boulders started out as an accident.  Buster dislodged three little rocks at the top of the hill, and they proceeded to chase him down.  The audience response was so favorable that the crew went back to the hill to create the present sequence.  The boulders are not real, but they were dangerous, some weighing up to 400 pounds!

The film was based on a successful Broadway play written by Roi Cooper Megrue and produced by the famous Broadway producer David Belasco. It opened Aug. 8, 1916, at George M. Cohan’s Theatre, and then moved to the Belasco Theatre on Oct. 23, 1916, playing there until it closed in December of that year.

From the Archives

Searching for Buster
by John Bengtson, author of Silent Echoes

Keaton Chronicle Vol. 12 / Issue 3 / Summer 2004

Posters and Images