In 1924, Monty Banks, (alias Mario Bianchi, born in Cesena) was under contract with Grand Asher, where he starred in a series of short films. He thus decided to try his luck with features. For Racing Luck, he turned to one of the directors of the aforementioned series: Herman C. Raymaker, whom he met while working with Sennett and who directed him in his first big successes with Warner. For the script, he turned to two of Keaton’s collaborators: Jean Havez and Lex Neal (in the driving lesson scene, we can see an «homage» to their former employer). Despite the credentials, what is especially striking about the film is the clear desire to get away from burlesque. With the exception, at most, of the final sequence, the gags function solely as ornamentation for the comedy, if not for the melodrama. If there is one influence which appears determinant, in this case, it is that of Chaplin. Similarly to him, Monty based many scenes solely on the nuances of his own performance. The film ends with a long sequence of a car race, in which actor and director alike find both the light-heartedness and the scorn of verisimilitude, typical of the Keystone period.

Jean Marie Buchet, Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique