SHERLOCK, JR.

(1924)
With Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire, Ward Crane, Joseph Keaton
Directed by Buster Keaton
Silent, Black and White
Reviewed by JB

     One of the visual gems of the silent era, SHERLOCK, JR., along with THE GENERAL, is the film most cinema eggheads are speaking of when they talk of Buster Keaton as a great director.  Although the entire film is excellent, the sequence most often recalled is a technically amazing one (even a century later) where Keaton enters a movie theater and literally walks into a film in progress.

     Like THE THREE AGES, SHERLOCK, JR. is a transitional film, featuring realistic gags during the opening sequences and outlandish ones during the extended dream sequence.  Once Keaton began making features, he felt the need to leave behind the more cartoonish gags of his short films, yet the plot of SHERLOCK, JR. allows him to engage in those very kind of gags for one last time in his feature career. The film also includes one of the great Keaton chase scenes of all time.  A must-see for any fan of silent movies. ½ - JB

Buster Keaton     The Age of Comedy