Luck on AllMovie

Light comedian Johnny Hines specialized in entertaining, action-packed films, and this is one of the snappiest of the bunch. Hines has the support of some of the best comic talent of the era, including Charlie Murray, Polly Moran, and Flora Finch. The story is built on a slippery foundation of improbable gags, the first one being when wealthy Bob Carter (Hines) wins a cross-country marathon because he is pursued by an elephant frightened of a mouse. After the race, he bets his friend Alan Crosby (Edmund Breese) a hundred thousand dollars that he can earn ten thousand dollars in a year. (If the movies of the 1920s are to be believed, the rich spent all their time making up such silly bets.) Eventually, Carter takes a freight train and lands in a Pennsylvania town, where he builds a village with the help of an ambitious lawyer (Harry L. Fraser). His attempt to sell lots comes to an end when an enemy tries to have him charged with fraud. With the year gone and only a couple of hours left to scrounge up the ten thousand dollars, Carter hears from Crosland that his sweetheart, Sylvia Templeton (Violet Mersereau), has gone to see the slimy mine owner, Pollard (Warner P. Richmond). Pollard tries to attack her, but the mine collapses, burying them both. Carter comes to the rescue -- and manages to win the bet, too.