Hard Luck (1921 film)

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Hard Luck
Buster and his Chinese wife and children from the finale of Hard Luck (1921).
Directed by	Edward F. Cline Buster Keaton
Produced by	Joseph M. Schenck
Written by	Edward F. Cline Buster Keaton
Starring	Buster Keaton Virginia Fox Joe Roberts Bull Montana
Cinematography	Elgin Lessley
Editing by	Buster Keaton
Distributed by	Metro Pictures
Release date(s)	March 16, 1921
Running time	22 min.
Language	English (original titlecards)
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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 foreign archive print, and now the full film is available.

[edit] 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 whisky 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 a leap from a high dive causes him to disappear through the bottom of a pool. The missing finale of the film begins with the title YEARS LATER. An Asian-garbbed Buster climbs out of the hole in the now-dry pool accompanied by a Chinese wife and two young children.