Summary
Bobby, an itinerant soul cast adrift from his lodgings, finds his meager existence entangled with the criminal underworld through a serendipitous luggage swap. Carrying a cache of stolen gems instead of his threadbare garments, he enters a Sisyphean struggle to divest himself of the incriminating cargo. Whether abandoned on thoroughfares or cast onto moving vehicles, the suitcase possesses a boomerang-like fidelity, exacerbated by a tenacious canine companion. His alliance with a formidable female investigator leads to a chaotic pursuit and the eventual apprehension of the culprit, yet the narrative concludes on a note of bitter irony as bureaucratic jealousy ensures that Bobby’s 'luck' remains steadfastly abysmal.
Synopsis
Bobby, thrown out of his boarding house walks along the street carrying all his worldly possessions in a suitcase, bumps into a crook carrying a suit case of stolen jewels. The two suitcases (being alike in appearance) get mixed - Bobby getting the one containing the jewels. Realizing that detectives are after him he tries various ways to dispose of the troublesome suitcase. Whether he drops it on the street, or throws it on a passing trolley or auto truck, always the unwelcomed suitcase returns to him. As a last resort he throws it in a back yard, but a little dog picks it up in his mouth and "dogs" Bobby's very footsteps with it until he has to relieve him of it. Then the crook comes along and takes the suit case away from Bobby. Two detectives are working on the case, one a very charming young lady. Bobby immediately joins forces with her and between them they get the suitcase and return it to Smith and Co. (the people who have been robbed), only to find upon opening that it contains nothing but Bobby's old clothes. Suddenly the little dog is seen carrying the stolen suitcase containing the jewels, and Bobby and the lady give him a lively chase before they recover it from him. Luck turns and Bobby captures the crook, turns him over to the lady detective to arrest. The other detective working on the case gets jealous and decides he also must make an arrest just for the look of things, so he places the handcuffs on Bobby and takes him to jail.
Review Excerpt
"
The silent era of cinema often functioned as a laboratory for the absurd, a space where the laws of physics and the whims of fate conspired against the common man with a mathematical precision. In No Luck, directed by the prolific Ralph Ceder, we witness a quintessential manifestation of this ontological dread masked as slapstick. Bobby Dunn, a performer whose physicality often bordered on the elastic, portrays a protagonist whose very existence is defined by a lack of spatial and social perma..."
