Sherlock Jr. (1924)

Director: Buster Keaton

Starring: Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire, Joe Keaton

A film projectionist longs to be a detective, and puts his meagre skills to work when he is framed by a rival for stealing his girlfriend’s father’s pocketwatch.

Buster Keaton stars as a character simply known as Projectionist. He is a moving picture operator who is also studying to be a detective. No one has faith in him as a detective but he is destined to make it work. He gets a chance at doing detective work when a Sheik steals a girl’s watch, and he vows to find the culprit. The Sheik frames Projectionist.

Falling asleep at work while projecting a movie, Projectionist dreams he enters the movie he is showing, and much of the rest of the film is set during this dream. As it turns out, the movie is about jewel thieves, and he is the detective. Fearing they might get caught, the thieves want to kill Projectionist. They invite him to a game of pool, with the 13-Ball being a bomb. This scene was absolutely hilarious!

Buster Keaton once again performs his own stunts, and he is magnificent. The stunts during the final act are mind boggling, to say the least! It simply is incredible what they’ve accomplished with the practical effects. I actually watched many of these scenes a few time to fully grasp the complexity of these stunts, and how well Buster performed them – and how dangerous they were! Stunning!

(Silent Film)

Would I watch it again? Yes.