Sherlock Jr. (1924)

Country: USA

Released: April 21st, 1924

Genre: Comedy

Directed by: Buster Keaton

Produced by: Joseph M. Schneck

Written by: Clyde Bruckman

Buster Keaton, you were a god amongst men.

Holy shit this movie is so good. I mean, HOLY SHIT. I cannot get over how absolutely amazing this goddamned movie is. This. THIS is how you make a movie. This is how you use the visual medium of film to its full potential. In forty-five minutes Keaton does more with a camera and a car than Von Stroheim does with three hours and Monte Carlo in Foolish Wives. It's actually baffling how much better Sherlock Jr. is to its contemporaries. Like, really baffling. I know different genres will elicit different reactions and require different styles to execute but still. There is more creativity here than in almost every other film I've seen so far put together. 

How is that possible? 

Anyways before I strain my wrist jerking this movie off any longer I might as well just get into it (vague innuendo not intended).

Calling this a movie is a bit of a stretch. This is more the cinematic equivalent of a tech demo for a video-game. Much like Safety Last there really isn't much of a story to go off of and it's just a series of sequences strung together. Actually no that's not fair, Safety Last has more of plot that Sherlock Jr. At least there the story beats feed into each other. Here a bunch of shit happens. Basically the story follows Keaton as a film projectionist who aspires to become a detective. He's framed for petty theft, losing the affections of his sweetheart (Kathryn McGuire), and goes back to work only to fall asleep in the projection booth. The rest of the movie is just him dreaming until he wakes up and his girlfriend announces that the real thief has been caught off screen in a blatant deus ex machina. So how is it that this paltry plot is way more enjoyable to watch than Safety Last or even Keaton's previous work Our Hospitality? Because the sequences, while narratively redundant, are so fucking good, so masterfully executed, so funny, that you immediately forget the weak plot and get sucked in to the filmmaking on display.

The first of these sequences involves Keaton following the villain (Ward Crane) through town because that's what his "How to Detective for Dummy's" book told him he should do. Keaton spends the whole chase inches from the guy, ducking and weaving out of his field of vision in a scene that's so delightful I forgot how cliche the schtick is. In fact the whole film is chalk full of cliches with fresh life breathed into them thanks to creative set-ups and near perfect execution. And yes, I am aware that many of these cliches where probably innovative for their time, but when you have an old-as-dirt joke like slipping on a banana peel it better be the best damn slip ever. Yet the crazy thing is that it almost is! No one pratfalls like Keaton and he sticks the joke wonderfully, even subverting the joke somewhat by having the villain act like a red-herring victim. 

By far the best scene in the whole film and the moment where it was elavated from good to genius happens when Keaton falls asleep in the projections booth. His spirit or dream state or whatever climbs out of his body in the translucent effect used in previous films like Körkarlen and watches the movie on the screen. The characters he's watching begin to morph and to his shock are replaced by villain who framed him and his girlfriend. Now when I first saw this I thought it was pretty neat; it fit well with the character and blurred the line between the film and the real world, creating a story within a story scenario. Had it ended there it would have felt fresh and innovative. 

But it didn't end there. 

Keaton proceeds to jump into the screen and finds himself in the film, floundering about as the movie changes around him in one seamlessly uninterrupted cut. I was so utterly blown away! I mean, watching it all I could think of was "how did they do that!?" I knew it must have been editing but it was so clean and fluid that it felt real. It felt magical. I can't remember the last time I felt that in... well, in any fucking movie. I felt like a kid again looking at something fantastical. That's the power of movie magic is goddammit. I know it sounds crazy and maybe I'm overhyping it, but it's really what I felt. Like for a genuine moment Buster Keaton really did jump into a movie. The editing, the jokes, the setting all come together to create one of the greatest examples of slapstick, fuck, of comedy, that I've ever seen and one of the earliest examples of surrealist comedies to probably appear in the US.

I wish I could spend all night raving about this damn movie. I haven't even gotten to the final car chase and motorcycle ride where everyone did there own stunts (as a matter of fact Keaton almost broke his neck making the movie and suffered from health issues for the rest of his life). Those are real trains he's narrowly missing there, kids! Or what about the the scene where two of the villains try to kill Keaton with an explosive billiard ball only to have him miss it with every shot? I don't even want to imagine the number of takes it took to get that scene down. Instead I'll just talk about the final scene when Keaton and his love are reunited. Overcome with embarrassment Keaton looks at the movie behind her for instructions on how to hold her hand and kiss her. The scene is so sweet and Keaton has such a cute expression that when the credits rolled I realized I was wearing the biggest, dumbest grin on the planet.

There are few movies I've seen so far that I'd give a universal recommendation to. Most movie goers can't really relate to Swedish surrealism or German expressionism, and apart from a scholarly approach there isn't much they offer in terms of entertainment that contemporary cinema can't offer. 

Sherlock Jr. on the other hand feels timeless. There is so much to enjoy here that I would recommend it to my freaking mom. If nothing else at least check out the dream scene (link here), maybe you'll enjoy it as much as I did. Besides, great cinema needs to be appreciated.