Sherlock Jr. (1924)

The longer review

Keaton plays a small-town projectionist who wants to be a detective. He's framed for stealing a watch from his girlfriend's father, loses the girl to a smooth rival, and goes back to the booth to sulk. Then he falls asleep, his dream self climbs out of his body, walks down the aisle and steps into the film on the screen.

The scene that follows is why people still study Sherlock Jr. Once he's inside the movie, the movie keeps cutting. He sits on a garden bench and the shot changes to a busy street. He dives into the sea and lands in a snowbank. Each cut is matched so precisely that his position holds steady while the world swaps out around him. In 1924 that took surveying equipment and endless patience, and the result still looks like sleight of hand.

The rest of the dream is a detective spoof, with Keaton as the suave "Sherlock Jr." solving the case in the most needlessly complicated ways possible. There's a pool game with an exploding ball, a stunt where he disappears through a disguise, and a long ride on the handlebars of a motorcycle with no one driving. During a gag with a railway water tower, Keaton was knocked onto the tracks by the water; he said he learned years afterward that he had fractured his neck.

At 45 minutes it's barely a feature, which is part of the appeal. There isn't a dead scene in it. The final gag, where the waking projectionist copies a screen romance move by move, is sweet and dry in a way that's very Keaton.

Before you watch

The short running time makes this the easiest silent film to recommend to a skeptic. Pick a restored version with a recorded score.