#3 Sherlock Jr. 1924

Sherlock Jr.
Released: 1924
IMDB Rating (At the moment): 8,4/10 #231

Directed by: Buster Keaton
Written by: Jean Havez, Joseph Mitchell and Clyde Bruckman
Starring: Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire, Joe Keaton

This is truly a peculiar story. It is about a film projectionist who in the meantime study to become a detective. And a case comes up just when he tries to propose to his love interest. But the film is more about a dream Sherlock Jr has about him being a detective and saving the day.

The camera techniques used in this film is truly stunning. At least for being quite old. There is scenes that take place inside a film screen and the actor falls into different settings. It is really amusing. I particularly like the way they have used the set design and put every place into its own function.

There are two scenes that blew me away. One is where Sherlock Jr is stalking the thief, and he is really close. The choreography is both amusing and brilliant. The second scene is where the main character is trapped on a motor cycle and is speeding through different settings. It is true stunt!

I absolutely adored this film. It is cool, because it is a meta film. And I had no idea they existed in the 20s! It is smart, creative and in the mean time very silly. The typical comedy stereotypes exist in this film, for example the classic "tripping on the banana peel"-joke. But it is all good because this is a masterpiece that deserves to be in the top 250.

I'm getting back to this with stunts, Buster Keaton made all stunts himself and actually in this film he severely hurt himself in the neck when falling down a tube connected to a water basin. The injury caused terrible migraine which Keaton had to live with for the rest of his life.

And when you watch be sure to laugh at the last scene, it is so corny and cute at the same time. Watch this film! (Available on YouTube.)