Sherlock Jr. (1924)

Buster Keaton was ever the perfectionist when it came to his films. His comedic timing and stunts where what made him the film genius that he was and Sherlock Jr. is a perfect example of the hard work, pain, and perfectionism he put into his motion picture to make them the best that they could possibly be.

The story of Sherlock Jr. is one that Buster usually showed in his pictures, of Buster going after the girl he loves and the troubles that follow. We see Buster as a poor projectionist at a theater who is in love with a girl, who has another admirer that tries to push Buster out of the picture by framing him as stealing the watch of the girl's father. A sad Buster falls asleep at the theater during a movie where we puts himself and the other characters in the movie he is watching concerning a case of stolen pearls. Buster assumes the role of a debonair detective named Sherlock Jr. He is on the case to foil the masterminds that have stolen the pearls. Sherlock Jr. out-smarts and out-lucks the bad guys to solve the case. Meanwhile in the realworld the girl discovers who really stole the watch and comes wake Buster and tell him that they found out the truth and their love blooms.

A rather simple story isn't it? Seems more like a short then a feature film. Well the film does last only 44 minutes, but that is because Buster Keaton, as filmmaker and editor, was critical about himself and the film that he edited down multiple times to comedic perfection. He may not have liked this picture, but he did everything he could to make the film as funny and enjoyable as possible. His gags were worked to perfection. From a scene early in the film where he discovers a dollar to buy the girl chocolates only to lose money in the end of the scene, to the end scene where Buster watches a movie playing and reenacts the film to his girl to win her over only to leave Buster scratching his head when we see the picture he is watching ending with the couple with babies.

The stunts Buster performs are marvelous. The scene with Buster driving through town on the handlebars of a motorcycle leaves you in awe. Buster jumps from the top of a building to land safely in a car. He plays a wonderful game of pool with an explosive ball that he never makes contact with. He even performs a stunt where we nearly broke his neck falling from a train water tower. This stunt would haunt him with horrible headaches for years, but he did it all for the art of the film.

On top of stunts and gags, there is some real great movie magic here to. The scene where he first falls asleep he literally walks into the movie screen and as the scenes in the movie change he remains unchanged, sending him from a mountain top, to a loin filled jungle, to the beach, to the snowy mountains, and it is all seamless. We find that Keaton and his cameraman worked tirelessly to perfect the correct setups and angles for these seamless transitions.

It is rather amazing what he pulls off with this film during this period of motion picture. We see all of his hard work has paid off with this film. Despite its low reviews at the time, the picture has gained notoriety as time passed and sits on AFI's top 100 comedies list at number 62. Buster's hard work has paid off and we reap the benefits.