Sherlock, Jr.
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Sherlock, Jr.
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This film has been preserved in the National Film Registry in 1991.
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Sherlock Jr. is a 1924 American silent comedy film directed by and starring Buster Keaton and written by Clyde Bruckman, Jean Havez, and Joseph A. Mitchell. It features Kathryn McGuire, Joe Keaton, and Ward Crane.
It's Buster Keaton's third and shortest feature film (after a series of two-reel shorts in the early 1920s).
Why It Rocks
- As usual, Buster Keaton is a master of both acting and comedy as here he's portraying a movie theater projectionist who becomes an amateur sleuth.
- Even with the fractured storyline and 45-minute runtime, the main story still manages to be incredibly engaging and fairly easy to follow.
- Top-notched editing from Buster Keaton: In all of his work, editing was an essential component to the stunts he so amazingly performed. Rarely could they be completed in one take, so he had to edit different shots together to create the illusion of one continuous stunt. Although there are plenty of these scenes in this film in particular, the greatest editing achievement in the film is during the dream sequence. Keaton’s character, a movie projectionist, falls asleep at his post and he dreams that he walks into the film that’s playing in the theater. What follows is an incredible montage of rapidly changing settings that Keaton interacts with flawlessly, like diving from a rock into water, only to have it change to a pile of snow. The effect delivers the visual comedy that Keaton aimed for within his signature slapstick.
- There are even various moments when reactions from a studio audience are heard (laughter, applause, etc.). That's how meta and self-aware the film is.
- This is easily the most technically advanced film Keaton's ever made (which is notably impressive for the 1920s) not to mention those special effects and especially that iconic dream sequence as mentioned above.
- Plus, the film doesn't just go straight to the exaggeration and superhuman elements right away. First it gives the audience a glimpse of what Keaton's reality is like and what obstacles are preventing him from clearing his name and handing out with his girlfriend. Then, once the audience has spent enough time to know his position, that's when the film gets to the fantastical film-within-film world, which shows the endless possibilities of the film world. This makes the moment feel earned and genuine and not forced in any way.
- Despite being a comedy, the film can be very dark and even surreal at times. It's a vision of moviegoing as a wish-fulfillment device, uncontrollable nightmare, and surrogate life.
- Keaton makes full use of the fact that he's in a film with his vast level of creativity presented here. Aside from the subtle to manic slapstick, there's also loads of impressive athletic stunts (such as running on top of a train, the motorbike scene and riding down water-spout down to the tracks) which are made even more impressive as Keaton did them all himself.
- There's a nice ironic twist where the female love interest ends up being the one who solves the mystery and discovers the culprit, rather than the male hero.
Trivia
- Having first earned the nickname of "Buster" after a fall down the stairs as a child, young Joseph Frank Keaton further developed his signature physical comedy and pratfalls on stage with his family. That vaudeville act included his father, Joe Keaton, who starred alongside his son as "the girl's father" in the film.
- Only one character is credited with a name - Ford West as Sherlock's assistant "Gillette" in the film's extended dream sequence. This is an homage to William Gillette, an actor famous for portraying Sherlock Holmes on stage and in a 1916 feature film. He is introduced with the written description "A Gem who was Ever-Ready in a bad scrape" -- a tongue-in-cheek reference to the popular brand of razor.
- During the filming of a sequence in which Keaton is blasted by a torrential deluge from a railroad water tower, the stunt resulted in a fracture of the actor's neck. Despite the pain of the injury, production continued -and in fact, the damage wasn't diagnosed until an X-ray was taken of the affected area years later.
The Film (inside the public domain)
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