Max Linder

(On Cable TV, May 2022) Here’s a fun discovery for anyone who thinks they’ve rounded up silent-era comedy through the Chaplin/Keaton/Lloyd trio. Seven Years Bad Luck is the Hollywood debut of notable French comedian Max Linder, who here re-creates several of his routines for the American public. Quite a lot of it still works well a hundred years later – the opening mirror routine alone clearly anticipates the Marx Brothers’ Duck Soup, his dandy character feels like the one Keaton would develop in a few films, and there’s a lot more after that. The film is a lot of fun (and at barely more than an hour, scarcely outstays its welcome) and ranks somewhere near mid-tier Keaton in terms of laughs. (It’s also in the public domain now, so there’s no excuse not to see it from its Wikipedia page.)  Reading about Linder explains why he remains a bit obscure – predating Chaplin/Keaton/Lloyd, he is their rough acknowledged inspiration… but his Hollywood career was short-lived and he committed suicide only a few years later. He has resurfaced as a notable silent-era comedian, but his work largely remains the province of connoisseurs. Seven Years Bad Luck is not only notable as a milestone in the history of movie comedy, it’s -more importantly- still quite fun to watch.