Sherlock Jr.

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Sherlock Jr. (1924)

A film projectionist longs to be a detective, and puts his meager skills to work when he is framed by a rival for stealing his girlfriend’s father’s pocket watch.

Sherlock Jr. was Keaton’s most complicated film for special optical effects and in-camera tricks. The film’s most famous trick shot involves Keaton jumping into a small suitcase and disappearing. Keaton later said that it was an old vaudeville trick that his father had invented.

In 1991, Sherlock Jr. was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” In 2000, the American Film Institute, as part of its AFI 100 Years… series, ranked the film #62 in its list of the funniest films of all time (AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Laughs).

In 2005, Time named Sherlock Jr. as one of the All-Time 100 Movies. The magazine stated “The impeccable comedian directs himself in an impeccable silent comedy…Is this, as some critics have argued, an example of primitive American surrealism? Sure. But let’s not get fancy about it. It is more significantly, a great example of American minimalism—simple objects and movement manipulated in casually complex ways to generate a steadily rising gale of laughter. The whole thing is only 45 minutes long, not a second of which is wasted. In an age when most comedies are all windup and no punch, this is the most treasurable of virtues.”

In 2012, it was ranked number 61 in a list of the best-edited films of all time as selected by the members of the Motion Picture Editors Guild.

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