Directed by Buster Keaton

Position on the list (at time of viewing): 117

Just five months after his previous entry on the list, Keaton returns with one of the most groundbreaking and brilliant silent films ever made. Keaton was ashamed of the incredibly long production schedule–he usually finished movies in two months! This is my absolute personal favorite Keaton film (although not his highest ranked on the list), and for my money the best silent comedy ever made. That won’t be an opinion agreed upon by many; most people would pick a Chaplin or at least another Keaton, but I love how innovative and visually inventive and just well made it is.

Perhaps the most significant reason that I love this movie so much is that it’s so delightfully and effortlessly meta in a way that no film before even attempted and that few films would attempt for decades afterwards. If you have not seen this movie, my recommendation would be that you just go see it without reading any more of this review. It’s only 45 minutes long and it changed film forever. It’s about a film projectionist with delusions of grandeur who gets in way over his head pursuing a beautiful Girl (Kathryn McGuire), and it uses his profession to examine the medium of film in ways that surprise and delight. For an artist (and a comic artist) to be so thoroughly exploring the relationship between artist and art, between medium and audience this early in the lifespan of that medium almost defies belief. It’s as if The Stanley Parable or Portal came out in 1985. It just makes no sense to me. The way Keaton plays with the idea of the movie in both the text and subtext of the movie is evidence of his genius, and it has to be seen to be believed.

If you’re still reading this review and not just watching Sherlock Jr., I assume you are either unconvinced or just curious about the movie. I will try to fix both problems. While I freely admit that this is not Keaton’s funniest film (it’s funny, to be sure, but nothing compared to Seven Chances or The General), it does have a number of other impressive elements. First are the visual tricks that Keaton does here, some of the first signs that he was a master of the technical elements of film. Other directors at the time talked about buying tickets to see the movie multiple times, just to try to figure out how Keaton composed some of his shots. Most he never explained, and some took years to figure out. The movie is also famous as (surprisingly) being one of the most dangerous Keaton ever filmed. Despite having no stunts on the order of some of his wilder films, this one ended up nearly costing Keaton his life. Although it wasn’t discovered until years later, Keaton actually broke his neck filming a stunt for Sherlock, Jr. He continued filming through blinding migraines and incapacitating pain, because he cared that much about the production.

This production was a passion project for Keaton (obviously). He actually formulated the entire film around its central gimmick (which I won’t spoil), because he wanted to film something that crazy. The film didn’t test well, however (remember, I admitted that it wasn’t his funniest film), and Keaton kept cutting and cutting until it was down to under an hour. The rest of the movie is lost, tragically. Even with the drastic changes, the movie still didn’t do as well as Keaton’s other films, and he considered it a failure for most of his life. Now it’s seen as one of the most influential comedies ever made.

And if all of that fascinating production history and brilliant subversion of the art of film isn’t enough for you, you get to watch one of the funniest people ever take on the burgeoning spy genre. As has been discussed in previous entries in this series, spy movies were big business in the 1920s, and here Keaton gets to let a little air out of that balloon. Watching him turn the tropes of the genre into comic bits with his traditional deadpan face and characteristic ineptitude was hilarious. This is the movie that makes Keaton the second greatest director of this decade in my opinion. It’s miles away from anything anyone else is doing and it’s all couched in so simple and charming a comedy that you might not even notice how mind-blowing it all is. Actually, that’s not accurate. I’m pretty sure it would be impossible to miss all of the genius on display here. There’s just something so unpretentious to his approach to (literally) breaking down the walls of cinema. While this isn’t the last time he’s going to visit these metatextual themes (keep an eye out for The Cameraman later on this list), it is arguably his best treatment of the idea. Films as diverse as The Wizard of Oz and The Purple Rose of Cairo have pulled from this movie, and there’s a very good reason. If you’re going to steal, steal big. This is an absolute classic that should be watched by anyone who considers themselves a lover of movies.

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