Film Analysis: Sherlock Jr - Movie Review Example

Film Analysis Order No. 342954 No. of pages: 2 6530 The film Sherlock Jr. opens with a proverb that s - "Don’t try to do two things at once and expect do justice to both." This is so true of the movie because the different scenes flit between dreams and reality which is to be discussed in this essay. "Sherlock Jr. (Keaton 1924)" belongs to the genre of Romantic comedy, whose central theme revolves around the dream of a projectionist who aspires to become a famous detective. How he tries hard to achieve this goal against the odds of everyday life, materials and objects conspiring to thwart his efforts is the gripping tale of Sherlock’s escapades. The dual role of a projectionist on one hand and an aspiring detective on the other, engages a curious audience to try and decipher which of the two he really is. The protagonist relationship that flits between the ‘real’ world and the ‘dream’ world leaves the audiences guessing about the authenticity of his actions. Buster Keaton (1895 – 1966) was an American silent film genius of a filmmaker and a comedy actor who was most famous for his silent films. He was well known for his deadpan expression that had earned him an interesting nickname “The Great Stone Face”1 (Roger Ebert, 2002) As he writes in his book, "the great stone face," with an expression that ranged from the impassive to the slightly quizzical.” (Roger Ebert, 2002) His Vaudeville background contributed to his unusual depiction of “masculinity” which at times is humorous but nevertheless celebrates it. Considered by many to be a visual masterpiece, Keaton’s ‘Shylock’ is one of the best loved films of all time and a great favorite during the silent comedy era. As a director Keaton understood how to fit his themes within a four sided frame that was malleable enough to encompass both dream and reality. Commenting on his style of working Richard Lester2 states that ‘‘He always puts his camera in the right place.’‘ ‘Dream and reality are central themes to the story of Sherlock Jr. and the following scenes show how this is established. One of the scenes has a pathetic romantic lead portraying Keaton as a movie projectionist as well as a janitor, who falls in love with a beautiful lady who is Kathryn McGuire whose other love interest is Ward Crane. In an important scene depicting the ‘real’ world, Keaton is shown proposing to his lady love with an engagement ring and a box of candy, but as fate would have it, he gets accused of stealing her father’s watch and using the money to buy the box of candy, and this brings him to a lot of shame and humiliation. In reality what happens is that Ward Crane who also loves the lady, feels jealous on seeing Keaton hand over the box of candy in the parlor. He finds the watch of the girl’s father and rushes off to the pawn shop and pledges the watch four dollars. He takes the money and goes to the candy store and purchases a big box of candy for his lady love. When it comes to light that the watch has been lost, everyone makes a search for it. Stealthily Crane pushes the pawn receipt into Keaton’s pocket and he is blamed for the crime. The next scene shows that he soon he falls asleep while he screens the film titled ‘Hearts and Pearls’ while thinking of this incident and is gradually transported to a world of ‘dreams’ where he imagines himself to be a detective sleuth following a trail in search of the culprit who stole the very valuable missing necklace. This is a classy example of his shifting between dreams and reality. In this scene, he is shown jumping into the middle of a scene shown on the screen, while the double from his dream makes an exit from his sleeping body and carries on watching the film. The two chief characters who are aristocrats in the film morph into his dream world characters – one his lady love and the other, Sheik (Crane) In real life, Buster is shown to be seriously studying to become a detective and when he is accused of stealing his girl friend’s father’s watch, it sets him into a thinking mood and he soon falls asleep and dreams that he is the actual detective Sherlock Holmes trying to find the culprit of the missing necklace. David Cook A.3 director and professor of film studies gives us deep insight on the importance of good filmmaking. In his history of filmmaking he explains the ways of filming of all the living directors against a fascinating historical technological and social backdrop. One of the important directors discussed by Cook, is Keaton whose techniques are well explained. In Sherlock Jr. the scenes switches back and forth from dreams to reality i.e. from the booth of the projectionist to the movie. He used one of his movie tricks to project this phenomenon and it was only in the 1940’s that Keaton admitted to making use of surveyor instruments to position the camera and himself at the right distances required to create the illusion of continuity. During such scenes where he projects himself on screen, the images and scenery around him keeps changing abruptly thus creating g such an illusion. Keaton’s comic persona comes through in his clown – centered style using slapstick comedy. He tried to draw a balance between the narrative and ‘traditions of theatrical realism.’ (Andrew Horton,) Keaton’s kind of comedy was not static but shifts between the aesthetics of melodramatic conventions to portray the ‘real world’ and his ‘dream’ world, trying to cater to the needs of his audience. Another important scene that flits between dreams and reality is when the father of his lady love calls him in as a detective to find who the thief was. Sheik conspires with the butler to foil the advances of the detective. They plot a few booby traps such as an exploding billiard ball, a chair with an axe and poison, but though Sherlock faced many close calls they were not able to nab him. Instead a chase begins with Sherlock on a bicycle and the butler and the Sheik in a car. After the long and eventful chase the motorcycle is seen crashing into the Sheiks cabin. Buster uses the billiard ball that he carried in his pocket and explodes it against the Sheik’s car. The next thing they know is that they find themselves in a lake. It is only then that Buster wakes up to reality in his projection room and finds that in reality it was his lady love who had come there to apologize to him for blaming him of the theft. The last scene has a classy resolve where the actor in the film takes the hand of the girl and the projectionist is shown doing the same. The actor is shown giving his love a ring and the projectionist is shown doing the same. The actor is then shown kissing his love and the projectionist turns towards his real love and kisses her on her lips. With this, the scene fades to black showing the actor and actress with a pair of twins and this scene now leaves the projectionist in a scratching his head in puzzled mood as to how he would end the scene. Conclusion Sherlock Jr. (1924) is directed by Buster Keaton himself and is a one of a kind movie that has earned its place in the Top 100 best movies. This silent American comedy film features actors like Kathryn McGuire and Ward Crane, besides Keaton himself in the lead role. Due to the film being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant,” Sherlock Jr. was selected by the Library of Congress to be preserved by the National film Registry in the United States. In an age when most comedies are all windup and no punch, this is the most treasurable of virtues." (Time, Film Review, 2005) References Andrew Herton, (Ed.) Buster Keaaton’s ‘Sherlock Jr.’ Cambridge Films Handbook. Cambridge University Press, UK. Cook David A. (2003) ‘History of Narrative’ 4th Edn., W.W. Norton, New York. Pgs. 1120 Robert Ebert, (2003) “The Films of Buster Keaton.” Sherlock Jr. (1924) Synopsis www.imdb.com/title/tt0015324/synopsis Time, Film Review (2005) Read More