Sherlock Jr. (1924) | |
| Director(s) | Buster Keaton |
| Producer(s) | Buster Keaton (uncredited), Joseph M. Schenck (uncredited) |
| Top Genres | Comedy, Fantasy, Silent Films |
| Top Topics | Detectives |
Featured Cast:
Sherlock Jr. Overview:
Sherlock Jr. (1924) was a Silent Films - Comedy Film directed by Buster Keaton and produced by Buster Keaton and Joseph M. Schenck.
Sherlock Jr. was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1991.
BlogHub Articles:
Silents are Golden: A Closer Look At: Sherlock Jr. (1924)
By Lea Stans on Jun 25, 2024 From Classic Movie Hub BlogA Closer Look At: Sherlock Jr. (1924) Buster Keaton, Sherlock Jr 2024 marks the 100th anniversary of one of Buster Keaton?s most beloved films: his third feature, Sherlock Jr. (1924). Still every bit as funny and fresh as it was in the early 20th century, its sophisticated special effects have... Read full article
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Quotes from
The sheik:
We are lost! He is sending for the world's greatest detective - Sherlock Jr.!
Projectionist: [as Sherlock Jr., riding on the handlebars of a motorcycle, unaware the driver fell off] Be careful or one of us will get hurt.
The sheik: [to Sherlock Jr. about a man locked in a tight cage] That's a detective. When he's dead I'll put you in there.
read more quotes from Sherlock Jr....
Projectionist: [as Sherlock Jr., riding on the handlebars of a motorcycle, unaware the driver fell off] Be careful or one of us will get hurt.
The sheik: [to Sherlock Jr. about a man locked in a tight cage] That's a detective. When he's dead I'll put you in there.
read more quotes from Sherlock Jr....
Facts about
This film was selected to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress, in 1991.
For the sequence in which Buster Keaton's "dream-self" enters the "movie within a movie," Keaton employed the power of suggestion. He shot an actual movie featuring Ward Crane and Kathryn McGuire in a living room setting. As the sequence begins, the movie is playing on the theater movie screen. The film cuts back and forth between Buster sleeping in the projection booth, and his "dream-self" climbing on stage as the movie is showing. In the scene where Buster's "dream-self" steps through the movie screen and into the movie, the living room setting was re-created on the theater stage, and a large hole was cut in the movie screen for Keaton to step through. The actors were placed in the living room setting, creating the illusion that Buster stepped inside the movie screen to join them.
For the scene where Sherlock Jr., escaping some gangsters, leaps headfirst through the body of his assistant, Gillette (who is disguised as an old lady selling neckties), and disappears, Buster Keaton used an old magician's trick. Prior to the trick, Gillette is seen standing with his back against a wooden fence. A section of the fence was sawed out and placed on hinges, so that it opened up and back like a garage door. Ford West (the actor playing Gillette) was then strapped to the underside of the cutaway section, so that when it was opened, West's body was hanging parallel to the ground, but his head and arms stuck out through the upper part of the opening in the fence. The dress and open suitcase were then hung from West's shoulders, so that they hung down in front of the fence, concealing the opening. Both the dress and the suitcase had holes cut in them. With the cameras rolling, Keaton leaped headfirst straight through the hole in the suitcase, the hole in the dress, and the opening in the fence. (He later recalled that he "landed face-first in the dirt" on the other side.) The cutaway fence section was then swung down to close the opening, so that West's body landed perfectly inside the dress. Attendants on the other side of the fence cut the straps holding West's torso and feet to the cutawayread more facts about Sherlock Jr....
For the sequence in which Buster Keaton's "dream-self" enters the "movie within a movie," Keaton employed the power of suggestion. He shot an actual movie featuring Ward Crane and Kathryn McGuire in a living room setting. As the sequence begins, the movie is playing on the theater movie screen. The film cuts back and forth between Buster sleeping in the projection booth, and his "dream-self" climbing on stage as the movie is showing. In the scene where Buster's "dream-self" steps through the movie screen and into the movie, the living room setting was re-created on the theater stage, and a large hole was cut in the movie screen for Keaton to step through. The actors were placed in the living room setting, creating the illusion that Buster stepped inside the movie screen to join them.
For the scene where Sherlock Jr., escaping some gangsters, leaps headfirst through the body of his assistant, Gillette (who is disguised as an old lady selling neckties), and disappears, Buster Keaton used an old magician's trick. Prior to the trick, Gillette is seen standing with his back against a wooden fence. A section of the fence was sawed out and placed on hinges, so that it opened up and back like a garage door. Ford West (the actor playing Gillette) was then strapped to the underside of the cutaway section, so that when it was opened, West's body was hanging parallel to the ground, but his head and arms stuck out through the upper part of the opening in the fence. The dress and open suitcase were then hung from West's shoulders, so that they hung down in front of the fence, concealing the opening. Both the dress and the suitcase had holes cut in them. With the cameras rolling, Keaton leaped headfirst straight through the hole in the suitcase, the hole in the dress, and the opening in the fence. (He later recalled that he "landed face-first in the dirt" on the other side.) The cutaway fence section was then swung down to close the opening, so that West's body landed perfectly inside the dress. Attendants on the other side of the fence cut the straps holding West's torso and feet to the cutawayread more facts about Sherlock Jr....
