Buster Keaton: Sherlock Jr.

Director - Buster Keaton
Writers - Jean C. Havez & Joseph A. Mitchell

Cast Character

Buster Keaton ... The Boy/Sherlock Jr.
Kathryn McGuire ... The Girl
Ward Crane ... The Villain
Joseph Keaton ... The Girls’ Father
Erwin Connelly ... Handyman/Thief
Ford West ... Theater Manger/Gillette

A movie projectionist and janitor (Buster Keaton) who is studying to become a detective is in love with a beautiful girl (Kathryn McGuire). On a date he presents her with chocolates and an engagement ring. However, there is another man who's also interested in his girl (Ward Crane).

One day he is accused of stealing his girlfriend's father's watch. He falls asleep on the job and dreams that he is a Sherlock Holmes-type detective, solving the case of who stole a valuable pearl necklace. - Wikipedia

Buster Keaton like no other director is a master or improbability, chance, surrealism and ingenious naivety. He is socially awkward and obsessively inventive. His small stature is no match for his determination and heart which are beating hard underneath his cool exterior. One always asks what is he thinking? He makes use of his calm demeanor in the toughest of situations and never looses his cool. He always thinks things out first before coming up with his wildly illogical and unpredictable solutions and inventions to solve the simplest of tasks. One movie that illustrates this is in his film The Boat when there is a hole in the ship and in his logic drills a hole in the side of the ship so the water can goes from one hole to the other. This makes sense in his completely rational mind but of course the ship leaks with water even more causing it to drown. This is one example why Buster Keaton is so funny. Other aspects include his use of vaudeville passed on from his parents as a tumbler which he worked for when he was young. He could take any fall and did all his own stunts and even broke his own neck in this film to which he found out much later in his career. The surrealist aspects which add to his absurd humor include painting a coat hanger on the wall to hang his jacket on. What is best about him is that he played working class characters that never resorted to cheating others to get ahead. He always had a decency about him in accomplishing his goals. He is funny because he takes things so literally oblivious to social clues and has an illogical way of viewing and figuring out things. He was ahead of his time and is still ahead of today's comedians. He never short changes himself on cheap gags and knows pacing, timing and how to build up a joke to hit the appropriate nerve to make you laugh.

Sherlock Jr. is his most surrealist film to date combining dreams, cinema and detective work. Being a detective at least in the movies is one of the most exciting professions there is. Buster's character of The Boy/Sherlock Jr. works in a cinema wanting to make his life of movies and fantasy a reality.

The film begins with the caption, "There is an old proverb which says: Don't try to do two things at once and expect to do justice to both." Our hero the projectionist tries to do both. He works at a movie theater while he studies to be a detective. He reads his How to be a Detective book with great interest. On his break the projectionist goes to the chocolate store looking for some treats to give to his girlfriend played by Kathyrn McGuire.

He sweeps the trash and finds a piece of trash stuck to his hand. The only way he can get it off is by putting it on the ground so someone can step on it. He finds a dollar now being able to afford that chocolate only to have a girl come to say she lost it. He tells her to describe it with the girl looking over his shoulder to see the eagle. She then describes to his request one of the most famous pieces of paper one can ever see and the projectionist gives it to her. Another woman says she lost a dollar and the projectionist, Buster Keaton, reluctantly gives her his own dollar. He appropriately takes her handkerchief to wipe off his tears now losing two dollars. Just to the projectionist's even further bad luck a tough looking man comes up and the projectionist gives him his dollar but the man refuses and looks in the trash to find a wallet full of cash. The projectionist goes crazy looking in the trash obsessively.

The projectionist uses his one dollar to buy a box of chocolates for the girl and changes the one on the box to a four so the gift looks more expensive being able to impress the girl. He meets her and they are both shy. He gives her the chocolates without ever changing his facial expression and flips the box so she can see the expensive price. Smooth. The villain played by Ward Crane enters and watches them later to steal Kathryn's father's watch.

The projectionist puts a ring on the girl's finger which she excitedly sees. When she looks at it she can't see the diamond so the projectionist pulls out his magnifying glass to show her. She tries to act thankful. The two touch hands nervously to have the villain come inside with a bigger box of chocolates taking her to another room. The villain gives the projectionist a banana and tells him to scram. The projectionist puts the banana peel on the ground and calls over the villain, trying to get him to slip on it which doesn't work. When he sees the villain touch his girlfriend he rushes back and slips on his own banana. Kathryn's father says someone stole his watch, so projectionist pulls out his trusty, "How to be a Detective" book. The villain gets worried so he plants the pawn receipt in the projectionist/Sherlock Jr.'s pocket. They see the pawn receipt and for the watch was four dollars and the price of his chocolates to the girl was the same - after he changed it. Now the villain has successfully framed him. The father kicks him out and the girl gives projectionist back his ring.

Sherlock Jr. now suspicious of the villain looks at his detective guide and sees Rule 5 - "Shadow your man closely." He does that literally. He walks one foot behind him ever so obvious. One great part is when the villain picks up a cigarette to smoke, takes a few drags and throws it behind him to have Sherlock Jr. catch it effortlessly and do the same. He even trips on cue with the villain. When the villain catches wind of Sherlock Jr. he locks him in the train car. Sherlock Jr. runs on the moving train cars, catches the water pipe from above and falls wet on the train tracks below. In real life Buster Keaton broke his neck and didn't find out until years later.

He goes back to his day job at the movie theater. The girl goes to the pawn shop and learns it was really the villain who sold the watch. Sherlock Jr. falls asleep and awakens from his body in a dream state. The next shot is clever because they overlapped two film negatives onto one another to give the illusion of Sherlock Jr. detaching from his body in his dream-state.

He watches the film and now he is transported as a character in a film within a film showing Buster Keaton's surrealist side. The two characters on screen become the villain and the girl. The dream Sherlock Jr. tries to wake up the sleeping Sherlock Jr. but it doesn't work. Sherlock Jr. rushes to the movie screen jumps into the movie once he sees the villain hold his girl's hand. The villain throws him out of the movie and into the audience.

Sherlock Jr. now interacts with a montage of images that put him in danger. As he tries to sit down the bench disappears to a new scene and he crashes on the floor to a new shot where cars almost hit him on the road. He goes from the edge of a cliff to a jungle with lions and dodging a train in the next shot. The camera dollies in and we enter in the film within the dream film of Sherlock Jr's mind. The father is missing some pearls and the villain and butler are working together. Here the villain is finally scared saying, "We are lost! He is sending for the world's greatest detective - Sherlock Jr.!" In our dreams we can be anything and no longer is the projectionist a meek worker - here is a grade A gumshoe.

The butler shows his secret weapon - exploding billiards balls and a latch under a seat to trigger a falling axe to kill Sherlock Jr. Enter in Sherlock Jr. dressing snappy and commanding the respect he so hungrily wants. People are awestruck by him in his dream state. He inspects each person with his sullen eyes. He tells the father not to bother explaining as this is an easy case for him. The butler tries to lure him to the trap chair but Sherlock Jr. straightens himself up. Sherlock Jr. avoids drinking the poisoned drink and trap chair and now begins playing billiards with the exploding ball. This now turns into a Clue like game. Sherlock Jr. begins hitting all the balls in except the explosive one adding to the absurdity. It's amazing to see how they shoot all the billiards balls in a way that the exploding ball is not once moved. Buster Keaton proves himself to be quite a pool player and most humorously misses the easiest shot making the cue ball sink in the pocket.

To the surprise of the villains the rigged ball doesn't explode. As the story progresses we see the caption: "By the next day the mastermind had completely solved the mystery - with the exception of locating the pearls and finding the thief." Gillette his assistant, a Watson type, helps him in his quest. The next shows Buster Keaton flirting with surrealism as he opens a safe door and enters outside in the daytime - when his previous scene is in the nighttime. Keaton is in love with absurdity and this is the fuel to his comedy. His characters are always sensibly illogical - their own worlds make sense to them with applicable laws and logic but not to the outside world.

He sees the villain and tails him again right behind him with no subtlety or restraint. The villain leaves his hat near a ladder upstairs to the roof to throw Sherlock Jr. off. Sherlock Jr. takes the bait and the villain locks him on the roof. Keaton shows his acrobatic skills as he grabs the train stop sign from the roof and using it to lower himself precisely as the villains car moves toward it landing him in the backseat. The timing is fluid and flawless. Sherlock Jr.now relaxes in the backseat cool and comfortable.

Sherlock Jr. finds a circular suitcase with a costume in it and places it on the window. The villain snatches Sherlock Jr. from outside and shows him a detective in a cage and threaten that when he is dead Sherlock Jr. will replace him. They tell him, "And now I'll tell you where our little sweetie is this minute!" We now see the henchmen bring in the girl to another location.

When the villain shows the pearls that were stolen earlier Sherlock Jr. grabs them, jumps through the window with the dress attached and seamlessly has it on him turning him incognito. As Sherlock Jr. walks away a man looks at the disgusted person's face and Sherlock Jr. makes a run for it. The next shots are something unexplainable in effects. This may be something Buster Keaton learned with his family in vaudeville. Sherlock Jr. sees a woman with a cart on her neck selling products - as she motions for him to come forward. He jumps into her chest and through the wall behind her without a camera cut.

As she walks away they inspect the wall and it turns revealing Sherlock Jr. who locks the wall in place trapping the men on the other side. Sherlock Jr. is now being chased on the highway and meets an undercover cop who helps him and lets him ride on the handlebars of his motorcycle. The undercover cop hits a bump and falls off to have Sherlock Jr. ride alone unaware. He weaves in and out of traffic saying to slow down but no one is driving the motorcycle. Adding to the ridiculousness his bike catches a tug-of-war competition and drags two men through the river. The next shot is superbly choreographed as Sherlock Jr. rides on a bridge to a missing chunk in the middle. Two trucks with flat tops ride through the missing area creating a floor so Sherlock Jr. can pass through. The last section of the bridge falls and has Sherlock Jr. land on the ground without special effects.

After dodging a train Sherlock Jr. looks behind him to be shocked no one is there. The butler who kidnapped her now gets fresh with her but our hero lands through the window kicking him to the ground. The car chase ensues and Sherlock Jr. throws the exploding 13 ball he saved to destroy the car behind him. He now lands in the water with his car that can float. He pulls up the convertible top to use as a sail and create his own sailboat. As he awakens he is back in the projector room in the movie theater. The girl visits him and tells him her father made a mistake about the stolen watch. They are both shy and Keaton looks to the hero on screen romancing the actress. He takes his cue and emulates him. He holds her and Sherlock Jr. holds the girl's hands. He looks to the character on screen and sees him put a ring on her finger to which Sherlock Jr. copies. Finally he sees the onscreen character give a kiss and he does the same. The next shot has the onscreen movie characters with a big family and Sherlock Jr. is finally confused.