Hard Luck

Hard Luck (1921) is a Buster Keaton silent short you can watch online on iFILM. Broke and out of work, the hapless hero keeps trying to end it all — and keeps botching every attempt.

Each failed try accidentally turns lucky, and the poor sap slowly regains his nerve, drifting into petty adventures until his new confidence becomes his own downfall. The posters promised "2000 feet of roaring laughter," and the film cashes that in one stunt at a time. Keaton plays it stone-faced and takes every fall himself, with Virginia Fox and the hulking Joe Roberts along for the ride. Twenty-two minutes where every misfortune lands funnier than the last. Stream Hard Luck online on iFILM.