--- title: "Seven Chances" year: 1925 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/seven-chances" fi1m_id: "seven-chances" imdb_id: "tt0016332" tmdb_id: 32600 wikidata_id: "Q1188131" fi1m_score: 78 critics_reviews: 2 published: "2026-09-25T06:17:27.999203+00:00" updated: "2026-09-25T06:18:27.549187+00:00" region: "PE" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Seven Chances (1925) Directed by Buster Keaton · 56m · Comedy, Romance ## Identity Seven Chances - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/seven-chances - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** seven-chances - **IMDb ID:** tt0016332 - **TMDB ID:** 32600 - **Wikidata ID:** Q1188131 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0016332/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/32600, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1188131 **Fi1m score: 78** · Critics: 2 of 6 reviews so far *In a sentence:* Buster Keaton has the sort of courtship that makes bachelorhood look restful > Buster Keaton’s *Seven Chances* is nimble, funny and rather thin on romance. The repeated proposals can feel mechanical, but his precise physical comedy makes 56 minutes of marital difficulty worth the trouble. ## Synopsis James ‘Jimmie’ Shannon (Buster Keaton) has a girlfriend, Mary Jones (Ruth Dwyer), a business partner, Billy Meekin (T. Roy Barnes), and a lawyer (Snitz Edwards). Asking a woman to marry him still proves difficult. At a club, one woman laughs at him; at a golf course, another does the same. A third shreds his written proposal, while a woman on a staircase receives the question in person. Jimmie wants a yes, but laughter and refusals keep getting in the way. Each new approach means putting the question again, with no guarantee of a more agreeable answer. ## Review We recommend *Seven Chances* for Buster Keaton’s physical comedy, though its repeated proposals occasionally feel like a routine being worked through. Marriage supplies an efficient reason for embarrassment, and embarrassment gives him plenty to do. The pleasure is in watching a man try to conduct himself properly while receiving unhelpful answers. At 56 minutes, the film has little room for courtship, and it does not make much room for it. As James ‘Jimmie’ Shannon, Buster Keaton makes the business of asking the question funnier than the prospect of getting an answer. Ruth Dwyer’s Mary Jones is his girl, T. Roy Barnes plays his partner Billy Meekin, and Snitz Edwards is his lawyer. That small circle gives Jimmie a life beyond the proposals, although the romantic attachment remains lightly drawn. We understand that marriage matters here without finding the relationship especially involving. The comic performance is doing most of the work. The screenplay by Jean C. Havez, Clyde Bruckman and Joseph A. Mitchell is happiest when a refusal becomes something visible. A woman laughing at Jimmie gives him an answer; a woman shredding his proposal note makes the answer harder to overlook. We laughed at the torn note, because the woman disposes of his question so efficiently. There is a pleasing lack of ceremony about it, which suits the comedy better than romantic delicacy would. Byron Houck and Elgin Lessley’s cinematography makes the physical jokes easy to follow. The club and golf-course encounters need us to register Jimmie’s approach and the women’s responses, and the images do that without making the joke feel laboured. We can attend to the awkwardness of the exchange. The photography lets the performer claim our attention, giving the small differences between one unsuccessful approach and another a fair chance to register. Buster Keaton also edits, and the handling of time is sharper than the thin romantic material might lead us to expect. A proposal has a simple rhythm: the approach, the question, the response, then the uncomfortable business of carrying on. The film gets considerable mileage from making us anticipate that response. The difficulty comes when anticipation becomes certainty, and another refusal offers too little that is different. These stretches are not disastrous, but they do make a short film feel less brisk than it ought to. Physical comedy can become tiring when the performer seems to be congratulating himself between jokes. Buster Keaton avoids that difficulty: his seriousness lets the embarrassment stand, without asking us to applaud his cleverness. We warm to the effort even when the courtship itself does little for us. This is where the film earns its place in the genre, through the care given to actions that could have been merely frantic or cruel. Anyone looking for an involving romance may find the repeated rebuffs more interesting than the couple. For an evening of physical comedy, there is enough invention to outweigh that limitation. The occasional repetition is worth accepting for the precision of the individual jokes. Choose it for Buster Keaton; expect rather less from the marriage advice. *Fi1m score 78, published 25 September 2026.* ## Straight answers **Is Seven Chances worth watching?** *Seven Chances* is worth watching for Buster Keaton’s precise physical comedy, and we score it 78 out of 100. Its 56 minutes suit an evening when laughter matters more than romance, though the repeated proposals sometimes feel mechanical and the central relationship gives us little to care about. **How long is Seven Chances, and what is it rated?** *Seven Chances* runs 56m. It is a comedy and romance film. **Where can I watch Seven Chances in Peru?** *Seven Chances* is not on any streaming or rental service in Peru at the moment. It is available in 16 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily. **How does Seven Chances compare to The Lady Eve?** *Seven Chances* is our choice for Keaton’s physical precision, while [*The Lady Eve*](https://film.one/film/the-lady-eve) is the stronger romantic comedy, with a sharper, more involving relationship. We find Keaton’s repeated proposals funny but thin on feeling; Preston Sturges gives Barbara Stanwyck room to be calculating and vulnerable opposite Henry Fonda, though the slapstick can become insistent. ### Reviews we read (2) - **Slant Magazine**, Jaime N. Christley (3.5/5): Christley praises Seven Chances as a complete, inventive comedy, while finding Kino’s Blu-ray worthwhile but imperfect. He singles out the gorgeous two-strip Technicolor prologue and strong visual presentation, while criticizing the score and some supplements. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/seven-chances/) - **Time Out**, TM (70/100, inferred): The review says the comedy is less ambitious than Keaton’s best work but still dazzling. It singles out the film’s balletic comedy for praise. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/seven-chances) ## Details - **Director:** Buster Keaton - **Director:** Buster Keaton - **Screenplay:** Clyde Bruckman, Joseph A. Mitchell, Jean C. Havez - **Cinematography:** Byron Houck, Elgin Lessley - **Editor:** Buster Keaton - **Producer:** Buster Keaton, Joseph M. Schenck - **Cast:** Buster Keaton as James 'Jimmie' Shannon; T. Roy Barnes as Billy Meekin, His Partner; Snitz Edwards as His Lawyer; Ruth Dwyer as Mary Jones, His Girl; Frances Raymond as Mrs. Jones, Her Mother; Erwin Connelly as The Clergyman; Jules Cowles as The Hired Hand; Eugenia Gilbert as First Chance: Girl Who Laughs at Jimmie at the Club - **Runtime:** 56m - **First release (the US):** 15 March 1925 - **Genres:** Comedy, Romance - **Box office:** $598,288 - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Qlq0y36iQQ ## Where to watch in Peru Not streaming, renting or buying in Peru at the last check. Also available in: AR, AT, BE, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, DE, FR, GB, IE, MX, NL, PA, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *The Freshman* (1925): The same care over physical embarrassment, with college life supplying the hazards. - *The Lady Eve* (1941), Fi1m 90: A confident schemer meets a nervous innocent, and neither stays in charge. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-lady-eve.md) - *Jour de fête* (1949): A village postman turns everyday work into an increasingly troublesome physical performance. - *A New Leaf* (1971): Another awkward courtship, with sharper manners and considerably less affection for humanity. - *Kung Fu Hustle* (2004): Precisely timed physical comedy grows into mayhem without losing its sense of direction. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/seven-chances