巴斯特基顿之七个机会

jc Tim Halloran

CTVA 310

5th October 2017

The best chasing sequences in 1925--- A short review of Seven Chances

On the last Sunday night in September 2017, Instructor Tim Halloran, holding a representative of Buster Keaton Features, asked, "What brings a large number of people here?”. I looked around and found around a hundred people sitting in the same threat room with me. Then, I had the same question as to the instructor. Three hours later, I figured out the reason: These comedies, "Seven Chances" and "Go West," played at the night, which was produced, acted and directed by Keaton in 1925, are excellent comedies with forward, hilarious, great chasing sequence series and special actions’ effects (Stunts). Particularly, audiences in the Ahman Theatre mostly come for "Seven Chances”; they love the chasing sequences about "Keaton" being chased by thousands of brides. The great impact of the "Seven Chances" on the audience benefits from a proper film pace, the perfect camera works arrangement, and the unforeseen stunts.

The pace of "Seven Chances" is a solid design. It packs a sluggish momentum with lots of simple, static camera shots at the beginning of the film. Audiences were introduced to a dating series about James and a girl: James wants to make an avowal to the girl, but he never says a word. Keaton used static, long shots at the same angle to establish the dating scene, thus, showing the background surrounding the story, James’ goal, and his irresolute and hesitant characters. The cadence here is kind of slow, but the camera work makes the dating scene look steady. It helps audiences to get into the characters' world. It also implies that James loves the girl and the love never changes. Although it takes forever for James to make an avowal, the magic of comedic arrives, coincidences happen and pushes James out of the predicament: in the following lot, James must get married to a woman to gain his uncle's money, to save his partner and firm; the slow film pace then starts to change.

The film pace gradually increases and the camera works that Keaton chooses to become more complex but brilliant. Audiences were getting caught in hilarious plots where James is seen as a psycho as he proposes to women, especially, after using all seven chances, but finds no bride to marry. He arrives at the church and falls asleep. As he sleeps, the climax approaches and the film pace is reaching to the highest. Keaton used eye-level static shots to shoot the sleeping scene of James and made a great camera work arrangement to shoot sequences of upcoming brides: wide and extremely wide shots with pan and moving movements, changing the camera position from low angle to high angle. One sleeping man, who is in a static shot, will meet thousands of running women who are in wide, moving shot. The sequences are very dramatic, static compared with moving. Brides continue to arrive in their thousands for one slim, short man, who is sleeping and knows nothing. Keaton used a cross-cutting method to show the relationship between the brides and James; it made audiences nervous and curious about what was going to happen. After James wakes up and is found by the thousands of brides, he gets notes from his dream girl's salves, and starts his long-distance running: he must, to escape from thousands of brides and marry his girl in her home. In his "long-distance running" journey, James has to jump from a cliff and survives a rock landslide... The plot has reached its climax and the pace reaches the highest speed. Making audiences laugh at hilarious escape sequences was not the only thing Keaton wanted to reach. In addition, he used stunts to make spectators feel more excited and noxious. Even though it was in 1925, Keaton still made excellent action effects.

In conclusion, the feature "Seven Chances" does not have a sluggish pace. It has a very tide pace with an entertaining drama conflict. However, what blew my imagination was the way that Keaton used cameras and his excellent stunts in 1925. The sequences about James being chased by thousands of brides, that would be one series I would never forget in Keaton’s features. To be honest, I would say it's the best chasing sequence that I have ever seen, the chasing series that involves stunts and the great use of cameras in 1925. It's remarkable, forward and well made. "Seven Chances" is a simple story that might be predictable, but it's an entertaining old comedic feature with exciting twists and stunts, and is filled with surprises.

1925年上映，距今95年，腾讯视频，时长1:35:43，豆瓣8.9分

这是我看的第二部默片电影，第一部是《神女》，于1934年上映，距今86年。

顺便把默片的时代背景了解了一下，1925-1930年属于有声电影开启的时代，在此之前，属于默片时代。

我发现默片电影比有声电影更考验演员的演技，需要动作、肢体、神情都到位，才能把剧本的核心内容传达给观众。

反观现在的有声电影，有些演员连台词功底都不及格，吐字不清，真的应该向这些前辈学习一下。

这部片子，有几个情节的设置很“卡位”，第一个是遗嘱揭开，男主发现自己要娶老婆，第二个女友的亲笔信由管家骑马送出去。

片子中有些情节，跟卓别林还挺像的，后来我在弹幕上看到有网友说，他跟卓别林是喜剧片数一数二的开山鼻祖。

单找阶段（未公开，被嫌弃） 群找阶段（公开，万人追） 最后结局（错过时间） 终末逆转（未过时间） 从我现在看过的巴顿的唯二作品《将军号》和《七次机会》来看，他擅于营造大场面，感官刺激十足，但是情感细腻程度远不如卓别林。

哈哈哈哈哈 好搞笑 巴斯特基顿是个杂技演员吧 有跑酷 有漂流 还有热气球 电影分三个故事 1.七次机会 得知有7亿遗产继承，条件是需要27岁前结婚，知道的当天就是他的生日，（对了没人庆祝生日呢），他去找玛丽告白，可是太直男了，说只是要找个人结婚，谁都可以。还好玛丽电话听到了他爱她，除了她谁都不想娶。登报征婚一大群女人那段好搞笑，太会跑了，永远别得罪女人，哈哈哈哈。最后在七点前成功结婚，结束。 2.邻居 我爱你，我也爱你。开头的串场好厉害，一张纸条，挑起多边矛盾。他真的好欠扁，滑头一个，串上串下太厉害了，哈哈哈。头被埋那段很喜欢，笑死了。三人串窗那段也好惊艳。最后男女主在一起，结束。 3.气球 开始没想到怎么跟气球联系上，哈哈哈哈。气球上搓衣板洗衣服觉得好可爱。堵河抓鱼破篓子，边抓边掉。跟女主第一段是女主跳河准备游泳撞上男主，第二段男主脚朝上头朝下闷在船里，女主救他，第三段女主斗牛，男主抖熊。最后在一起，坐船上要掉下去吓到我，船飘在空中还以为变成玄幻片了，结果是气球啊，结束。 好厉害，好多动作也好剧情也好衔接得太厉害了！！

第三部电影啦--《七次机会》

这部电影看的不是很仔细，一心二用的看的，但是还是从基顿身上学到了很多

在观看这部影片的时候，我发现影片中有许多经典的喜剧桥段在现在的喜剧影片中非常常见，如主人公在被追逐的过程中，因紧张情绪和被迫处境导致主人公和路人以及追逐者和路人之间发生的一些碰撞和摩擦，最著名的模仿例子莫过于《泰囧》，但在其中追逐的原调设定贯穿全片。另外，这是我看的基顿的第三部影片，和前两部影片一样，《七次机会》也是由追逐架构撑起喜剧片的故事设置，而基顿会在追逐的过程中，陷入窘迫的状态并做出杂技动作，这让剧情发展和喜剧调性显得不生硬，而人物的形象也不奇葩。

我发现基顿在蒂娜盈利特别喜欢设置一种喜剧形式--即人物境遇的对照，具体呈现为基顿在影片中被新娘追逐，被追者惊慌，追逐者兴奋生气，而围观路人冷静好奇，这一种人物平行关系的一瞬交织，但在交织的同时，人物的情绪和故事不同，会让观众产生错位感，进而让观众在脑中潜意识对比人物的关系，进而产生戏剧效果。这种对照设置现在经常被用于轻喜剧的演绎中，即不会让观众觉得突兀，又让整个喜剧调性不会特别偏颇。

看了基顿的3个片子，我发现基顿对于故事的创作似乎颇为娴熟，3个片子给我的感觉是故事情节完整连贯，剧情跌宕起伏，不是为了拍摄喜剧而展开的一个故事，而是为了讲故事，增添故事的趣味性而自然而然生成的一些喜剧效果。以《七次机会》为例，从字幕出现，故事便展开了，而基顿和玛丽的出现也为影片设定了故事架构，观众从开头便知道故事的结尾，但基顿却能在观众猜到故事结尾的情况下，通过在故事过程中设置各种反转，各种意外轻易抓住观众的眼球，在不影片的基调便是主人公和时间的赛跑，在赛跑中出现许多意外来为赛跑制造障碍和阻挠，以此完成一个完整的故事。

与时间赛跑，是故事编写中经常设置的一个故事核，故事编写者通过给主人公设置各种障碍来阻挠主人公的成功以完成一个完整的故事，非常经典的《罗拉快跑》即是“20分钟的爱情营救”片段，说到这里不得不感慨基顿的天才，早在29年代就能抓住这个故事架构思路。