I am not sure if there is a filmmaker in movie history whose geniuis is as self-evident in his films as is Buster Keaton's. Watching a great Keaton film is like watching Eisenstien solve equations, and also much funnier.
His achievement becomes even more impressive when you know his biography (I hearilly recommend Marion Meade's book Buster Keaton: Cut to the Chase). Horribly physically abused by his father and neglected by his mother, Keaton recieved almost no education while growing up and remained nearly illiterate throught his life. Despite this, he was a genius with an instincutal grasp for how movies worked- technically, the only contemporaries who could rival him were Griffith, Lang and Eisenstien, and artistically, creating holistic, hilarious and intelligent works that were far ahead of his time. Despite the fact he was unable to read a novel, he posesed an understanding of structure that allowed him to break all the rules and still have his movies flow like a composition by Bach.
Seven Chances is currently tied with Sherlock, Jr. as my favorite Keaton's films as director, I still have six left to go (I saw The General a long time ago, when I was too young to appreciate it.) Based on another forgotten play, this time by Roi Cooper Mergue, the film has a simple premise: Jimmy (Keaton) must get married by 7:00 pm on his 27th birthday, or else he will loose a seven million dollar inheritence from an uncle. Unfortatnley for him, he finds this out on his 27th birthday, giving him only a few hours to choose his mate for life. Oh no!
Joke after joke is funny, and there are some impressive and really dangerious stunts. One of things that make Keaton movies so rich is how logical everything is- no matter how redicoulous the situation is, everything has an explanation that makes sense- everyone is acting in their best interest. In addition the comedy, Keaton adds a cute romantic story that works. Pretty much everything, aside from two unfortane jokes (one anti-Semitic and the other racist) works here, this is one of the finest comedies ever made from one of the greatest directors of all time. See it now!
Seven Chances (1925)