Sherlock, Jr.



"While employed as a moving picture operator in a small town theater he was also studying to be a detective."

- intertitle

This 1924 Buster Keaton film is an oddity -- longer than the average comedy short but not long enough to be a feature film, it's an Affectionate Parody of the 1922 John Barrymore film Sherlock Holmes, with Buster playing a movie projectionist and would-be sleuth. Framed for theft by a romantic rival and unable to prove his innocence, the protagonist goes back to the movie theater where he works, dozes off next to the projector, and dreams that he is Sherlock, Jr., the World's Greatest Detective.

Today, the movie is best remembered for the sequence in which the projectionist's ghostly dream avatar walks into the movie screen, where a series of jump cuts places him in embarrassing and dangerous situations. These scenes may have inspired or influenced Woody Allen's The Purple Rose of Cairo (in which a character from a Depression-era romantic comedy steps off the screen into the real world), the Arnold Schwarzenegger film Last Action Hero (in which a young boy enters an action movie and brings the hero into reality), and the Merrie Melodies short "Duck Amuck" (in which Daffy Duck is tormented by an animator).

The dream concept gave Keaton leeway to push the boundaries of his filmmaking. He takes the opportunity to recreate some classic vaudeville stunts, including one startling moment when he appears to jump through another actor's torso. The high-society setting of the dream also gave him an excuse to use more luxurious sets and costumes than was usual in his films.

This film is available through YouTube.

"His assistant -- Gillette. A Gem who was Ever-Ready in a bad scrape."
 * Affectionate Parody: Buster's dapper detective is based on John Barrymore's portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in his eponymous 1922 film.
 * All Just a Dream
 * Babies Ever After: The end of Hearts and Pearls, the film within the film.
 * Badass: Buster Keaton, in real life. When they filmed the shot where the stream from a railroad water tower washes him off the spout and onto the tracks, he landed badly and got up complaining of a headache. After a drink and a short lie down, he continued filming. Years later, an X-ray revealed that he had broken his neck without noticing.
 * Also see Deadfoot Leadfoot, below.
 * Bad Guys Play Pool
 * Banana Peel: causes Keaton to do an enormous pratfall
 * Beyond the Impossible: Sherlock Jr. appears to jump through both his disguised assistant and the wall behind him, and Gillette spins around and walks away immediately afterward. This, like the quick change, is a stunt Keaton learned in vaudeville, but unlike the quick change this gag is not fully explained within the film.
 * Brick Joke: The exploding "13" ball.
 * But You Were There and You and You: All of the characters in the framing story appear in the dream sequence in analogous roles.
 * The Butler Did It
 * Changing Clothes Is a Free Action: The hero performs a quick change on camera by literally, but we watch him set it up in advance (though most first-time viewers probably won't realize what they're seeing until the payoff).
 * Chase Scene
 * Clear Their Name: The Girl succeeds in discovering who stole her father's watch.
 * Deadfoot Leadfoot: Sorta -- the hero hops onto the handlebars of a motorcycle. Shortly afterward the driver (still alive) falls off, but the 'cycle keeps going. Keaton rides a speeding motorcycle while perched on the handlebars for this sequence, without realizing that the driver fell off until shortly before the crash.
 * Death Trap: The villains rig a billiards room with an exploding pool ball, a poisoned drink, and a falling ax controlled by a hidden trigger.
 * Double Take: Sherlock Jr. performs an epic take when he realizes he's riding the handlebars of a driverless motorcycle.
 * Dream Sequence: Most of the film.
 * Dynamic Entry: Sherlock Jr. arrives at the shack where the girl is being held captive.
 * Fade to Black: At the end, the hero watches the movie within the movie for tips on how to treat his sweetheart. Imitating the onscreen action, he gives the girl a ring, kisses her ... and is left scratching his head in bewilderment when a fade to black is followed by Babies Ever After.
 * Frame-Up: The projectionist takes the fall for the local sheik's misdeed.
 * Framing Device: The "waking life" sequences that introduce the characters and scenario of the hero's dream, and to which we return for the film's end.
 * I Have You Now, My Pretty
 * Incredibly Obvious Tail: When the book said "Shadow your man closely," it didn't mean that closely.
 * Instant Costume Change: the vaudeville quick-change gag jumping out the window.
 * The Klutz: In both his waking and dream life, the hero has a tendency to walk into doors.
 * Literal-Minded: "Shadow your man closely."
 * Love Triangle: The Projectionist, the Girl, and the Local Sheik
 * Made of Explodium: I don't know what the 13 ball is made of, but dropping it is a bad idea.
 * Master of Disguise: Subverted with the hero in both waking and dream life.
 * Played straight with Gillette.
 * Mirror Routine: A variation -- Sherlock Jr. appears to be standing before a full-length mirror, then walks through what is actually a doorway between two identical rooms.
 * Pinball Projectile: The hero performs amazing trick shots while playing pool with the bad guys in order to miss (sometimes just barely) the 13 ball.
 * Poisoned Chalice Switcheroo
 * The Pratfall: when Keaton slips on a Banana Peel.
 * Punched Across the Room: Possibly justified, since the assailant had just been flung off a speeding motorcycle.
 * Railroad Tracks of Doom
 * Read the Freaking Manual: Subverted -- the projectionist faithfully obeys the dictates of How To Be a Detective.
 * Show Within a Show: The hero falls asleep watching a melodramatic film, Hearts and Pearls; or, The Lounge Lizard's Lost Love, which influences his dream.
 * Somebody Set Up Us the Bomb: The bad guys' exploding pool ball is turned against them during the climactic chase.
 * Stealth Pun: The title card introducing Sherlock Jr.'s helper. To get the whole joke, you need to know that.


 * Sticky Situation
 * Take the Wheel: Sherlock Jr. briefly hands the steering wheel off to the girl so he can throw the exploding pool ball at his pursuers.
 * Thirteen Is Unlucky: The exploding pool ball.
 * Trapped in TV Land: The projectionst dreams that he walks through the theater and into the movie screen, where he becomes part of the film.