Buster Newton is just amazing. A projectionist is studying to be a detective and is in love with a young lady. Back at the movie theater he falls asleep on the job and dreams himself into the on-screen movie and the role of Sherlock Holmes. Stealing and lying don't pay off in the end; the truth will come out, whether it's through the shrewdness of an iconic figure like Sherlock Holmes or the simple sleuthing of a girl who's sure her boyfriend is innocent. Because of the perspective of the camera, this comes as somewhat of a shock (unless one has seen several Keaton films) since it appears that the hero should follow the man up the stairs. After an amusing gag where he winds up losing a dollar to a distressed theater patron, Keaton decides to settle for the one-dollar candy and changes the price on the box to four dollars, making sure that the girl notices this value when receiving the gift. He also searches the women quite cautiously by merely casting brief glances into the pockets on their dresses. Parents need to know that Sherlock Jr. is a wonderful introduction to silent films for kids, though there is some reading involved, which makes it less appealing for very young kids.At 44 minutes, the story flies by with plenty of action, including chase scenes with some gunfire and a funny runaway moped scene where Sherlock doesn't know his driver fell off miles and miles back. All rights reserved. It seems that his lofty goals can only be achieved through dreaming, the cinema, or actually an odd combination of the two, while practical steps fail or backfire. However, he is unsure what to do next and turns toward the movie couple for guidance. Families can talk about silent movies. In the dream segment, however, the protagonist is brimming with confidence and boldly puts his face up next to the girl’s, and the other suspects’ as well, when examining them in his initial search. The financial concerns of the main character are brought to attention when he wants to buy the girl a three-dollar box of candy but only has two dollars on him. He wants to impress his girl, though, so he pretends to spend more on a gift. Searching for streaming and purchasing options ... Common Sense is a nonprofit organization. Oscars Best Picture Winners Best Picture Winners Golden Globes Emmys San Diego Comic-Con New York Comic-Con Sundance Film Festival Toronto Int'l Film … They can also see how an old movie projector works. Oh and of course, a slip on a banana peel. Because the main character is unsuccessful in detective work, he returns to his movie projection job, and the most fascinating part of the film begins as he falls asleep during a film screening. Meanwhile, the girl finds the truth and acquits the guilty of the projectionist to her father. Of course, this is also an homage to Sherlock Holmes. Of course, reality cannot live up to idealized film situations, and the real couple’s kiss is not quite as smooth as the one on the silver screen. Sherlock Jr. is clever, charming, inventive, and full of surprises. Worth watching more than once. The film gives Keaton a ghostly dream-body, complete with the spirit of his hat, with which to enter the screen so that reality, the movie being shown, and his dreaming become intertwined. But then he is able to use the car’s top as a sail and create a makeshift boat that coasts along the water, until a few seconds later when it begins to sink. Join now. Unfortunately the detective how-to manual he reads incessantly is no help as he's thrown out on the street. Hand-holding and an innocent kiss between Keaton's character and his date. Did you ever forget you were watching a silent film and just get into the story? When he proposes her, his rival steals the chain watch of her father and incriminates him. It features the incredible physical comedy and stunts for which Keaton is famous, but it also deals self-reflexively with the cinema and plays around with the spatial relationships and behavioral ideas that the movies construct for audiences. Sherlock's adversaries attempt to poison his drink, plant a bomb on the pool table, and booby-trap a chair with a falling ax. Parents: Set preferences and get age-appropriate recommendations with Common Sense Media Plus. Interestingly, Sherlock Jr. has its film-within-the-film surprise, even frighten, the protagonist by showing him the logical extension of this behavior--a conclusion that many movies avoid. Thank you for your support. As Sherlock, he's onto the jewel thieves right under his nose and cleverly spoils their nefarious plots against him. The girl arrives at the projection booth and apologizes on behalf of her father for accusing the protagonist, and all is made well between the two. He then slips the pawn ticket into the projectionist's pocket and subsequently is found by the police. Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners. Even viewers who normally don't seek out silent movies or classics in general are in for a treat. Sherlock Jr. (1924) is stone-faced director/producer Buster Keaton's marvelously inventive, short silent film era, comic fantasy - his third and shortest feature film (after a series of two-reel shorts in the early 1920s). This melding of (the film’s) facts and fiction suggests the way film characters and their experiences can act as projections of certain aspects of a viewer’s real life. The film in itself is a piece of history. This nonnarrative segment points out how much films actually toy with space through cuts that jump between different perspectives and locales. Kids can think about how silent films were made, and what the difficulties were in staging an intricate chase scene and the film's dream sequence with none of the tools movie makers have today. Shots like this indicate how much Keaton understood about filmmaking and, specifically, the importance of camera placement in making his gags work. Get full reviews, ratings, and advice delivered weekly to your inbox. Our ratings are based on child development best practices. Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Jr. is a nearly impossible film not to enjoy in some way or another. What did you expect going in? Find more movies that help kids build character. The subsequent chase scenes are equally thrilling, and it seems Sherlock Jr. has saved the day, at least until he drives into the water. Keaton begins dreaming that the people involved in the recent stolen watch fiasco are actually wrapped up in the high-class melodrama being shown, except now the girl has been kidnapped and the four-dollar watch has transformed into a string of expensive pearls. The runaway moped scene had to take so much planning and careful direction. The first segment of the film concerns the protagonist’s unlikely aspirations to become a detective, and what better place to learn this vocation then through a book: "How to Be a Detective". This idea comments on the role of the movies as a place to lose oneself in cinematic fantasies and to become swept up in the dream-like events projected on a screen. Were any parts of Sherlock Jr. surprising? He is forbidden from seeing her again. In the quieter moments there's a bit of romance with a couple kisses and a lesson about truth willing out, but for the most part the story moves quickly and is full of surprises to keep young viewers' attention. A panic-stricken little girl wakes up on an aeroplane and finds everybody asleep. His character seems to be following directly behind the sheik until a staircase presents itself in their path, and the sheik walks up it while Keaton slams into a wall to the right of it. To say nothing of the effort it must have taken to make Keaton's dream-self rise up from the sleeping projectionist and climb into the movie on the screen below -- look Ma, no CGI. The dream sequence is this movie is fantastic! 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. Now he must fight to clear his name. He becomes engaged to a pretty girl but a ladies man known as the Sheik vies for her affection. What to Watch, Read, and Play While Your Kids Are Stuck Indoors, Common Sense Selections for family entertainment, Stoke kids' love of reading with great summer stories, Teachers: Find the best edtech tools for your classroom with in-depth expert reviews, 6 formas de usar los medios para que los niños mantengan el español, Wide Open School: recursos para el aprendizaje a distancia, Which Side of History? A detective is shown tied up by thieves. The protagonist becomes the master detective Sherlock Jr. who outwits the sheik and his henchmen in various ways. A car chase and crash with guns firing, a long sequence with a runaway moped dodging traffic and trains, and a run along the top of a train. Do you think not relying on technology somehow made this filmmaker more inventive? Noel: I did my initial re-watch of Sherlock, Jr. on Netflix, which has the version of the movie scored by Club Foot Orchestra, a San Francisco art-folk project that first started performing live soundtracks to silent movies in the 1980s, as a way to contextualize some of the band’s cultural influences. Plot Summary: Coming Soon. Or do you think he was limited by the lack of CGI and other effects common today? Sherlock Jr. poses this question and many more about the nature of reality, fantasy, and film to ensure its status as one of Keaton’s, and silent comedy’s, best films. There's so much packed into 44 minutes, it's hard to believe that there's a movie within a movie and a love story and a frame-up and it all ties together and makes perfect sense with just the occasional pithy caption. This is creative filmmaking at its finest. Common Sense Media, a nonprofit organization, earns a small affiliate fee from Amazon or iTunes when you use our links to make a purchase. Buster Keaton didn't have any of the tools we have today and still managed to make the action exciting. Furthermore, it is not really the movie itself that leads the protagonist into fantasy and adventure—that is his own dreaming. He doesn't have much luck but in his dreams, he the debonair and renowned detective Sherlock Jr. who faces danger and solves the crime. A meek and mild projectionist, who also cleans up after screenings, would like nothing better than to be a private detective. It is actually just the idea of the film that focuses his thoughts and sets his subconscious mind to work in creating a heroic fiction for himself. Makes me sad that silent movies are largley overlooked these days. Then he must save the girl and swim to shore, and it seems that this pattern of crisis countered by inventiveness could go on forever; unfortunately, it must end, and the protagonist awakens back in reality for the insightful conclusion. Common Sense and other associated names and logos are trademarks of Common Sense Media, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (FEIN: 41-2024986). Families will cherish Chaplin's silent slapstick. Parents need to know that Sherlock Jr. is a wonderful introduction to silent films for kids, though there is some reading involved, which makes it less appealing for very young kids. It makes him consider, as writer Dan Georgakas puts it, "how much of his destiny he wants dictated by the screen". The sequence where Sherlock Jr. jumps through a window and pulls a woman’s garment over his body to fool the thugs is incredible, and its mix of athleticism and ingenuity is something that only Keaton could accomplish. As he sits with the girl after presenting her with a ring, Keaton seems unsure of what to do next, and the two blunder their way through an awkward handholding exchange; later, of course, he will discover how to act around the girl by watching a movie couple. This preoccupation with money corresponds to Keaton’s new, affluent look in the fantasy segment of the film where he is able to move himself up a few notches in economic status. This is often what gives movies their power over a viewer: the personal resonance of the onscreen occurrences, how much recognizable reality is reflected, and the possibility for one to imagine himself doing the things being shown. A great silent comedy classic, with comic gunplay. A young man works as a projectionist at a movie theatre but dreams of becoming a famous detective.