Hard Luck (1921 film)

Infobox_Film
name = Hard Luck

---

caption = Buster and his Chinese wife and children from the finale of "Hard Luck" (1921).
director = Edward F. Cline
Buster Keaton
producer = Joseph M. Schenck
writer = Edward F. Cline
Buster Keaton
starring = Buster Keaton
Virginia Fox
Joe Roberts
Bull Montana
music =
cinematography = Elgin Lessley
editing = Buster Keaton
distributor = Metro Pictures
released = March 16, 1921
runtime = 22 minutes
language = Silent film
English (original intertitles)
country = USA
budget =
amg_id = 1:142436
imdb_id = 0012253
preceded_by =
followed_by = |

"Hard Luck" is a 1921 short comedy film starring comedian Buster Keaton. It was written and directed by Keaton and Edward F. Cline. The runtime is 22 minutes. For sixty years it was Keaton's only major lost film until it was partially reconstructed in 1987, with the critical final scene (which Keaton called the greatest laugh-getting scene of his career) still missing. This scene was later discovered in a Russian archive print, and now the full film is available.

Plot

Buster plays a down on his luck young man who decides to commit suicide after losing his job and his girl. After several inept attempts to end his life - and bolstered by whiskey disguised as poison - he joins an expedition to capture an armadillo. Buster finds himself becoming more confident through a series of adventures (such as fishing and fox hunting) as the film proceeds. The confidence becomes his undoing as he misses the pool in a dive from a high board and hits the ground on the far side with such force that he disappears into a hole. The missing finale of the film begins with the title "Some years later Buster emerged". An Asian-garbed Buster climbs out of the hole in the now dry and deserted pool followed by a Chinese wife and two young children.

Cast

* Buster Keaton - Suicidal Boy
* Virginia Fox - Virginia
* Joe Roberts - Lizard Lip Luke
* Bull Montana - Virginia's husband (uncredited)

ee also

* Buster Keaton filmography

External links

*

References

*cite book|last = Keaton|first = Eleanor|authorlink = |coauthors = Vance, Jeffrey|title = Buster Keaton Remembered|publisher = Harry N. Abrams, Inc|year= 2001|id = ISBN 0-8109-4227-5