Do you have ANY idea how difficult it was to find this picture when there's a fairly famous "junior" out there playing Mr. Holmes right now?
I almost didn’t count this one. After all, my purpose behind Catching Up with the Classics is to find new things to love. And, well, I kind of already love Buster Keaton.
I mean, what’s not to love? He’s this tiny, adorable man who’s always unlucky in love and hard on his luck. He runs and jumps and fights and scraps, and he never changes his expression. It’s a very special kind of comedy, and one I love deeply.
However, I’d never seen Sherlock Jr., and it regularly makes “Best Movies of All-Time” lists. So I guess from that perspective, it totally counts.
Well, to no one’s surprise, this movie’s pretty awesome. There are some fantastic camera tricks that, even today, are worthy of applause. Back in the day, I can only imagine what the response would be like.
And the stunts… There wasn’t much along the lines of special effects back in the day. A lot of tricks in movies we take for granted nowadays – things like jumps from great heights and wild acrobatics often – are often brushed aside as camera tricks or wireworks. Sometimes, when you get a chance to see those kinds of stunts without dramatic angles or visible wires, you respect them a lot more. And that’s certainly the case with Sherlock Jr.
I don’t want to give away the final scene for anyone who hasn’t seen it – it’s not one of the great film endings of City Lights or Gone with the Wind or whatever, but there’s still something lovable about watching poor, hapless Buster trying to mimic what he sees on the screen in his own love life. I’m sure there’s some critical analysis I could do here regarding the way film instructs life or something like that, but, for now, I’ll just enjoy a good movie.
You should, too.
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