Jon Mirsalis on Piano "Those who care for Keaton cannot care mildly" -James Agee Keaton's deadpan demeanor and ever-enduring patience gave his character a melancholic air, so suited to the dreamer in Sherlock Jr. In this "comical and lyrical contemplation of the film medium" (Andrew Sarris), Keaton is a projectionist who falls asleep and dreams himself into a film he is projecting. Not unlike the conceits of The Man with a Movie Camera, "the dream (embraces) and finally (takes) the place of reality, with the synthesis resolved in the world of the screen, a world at once acted in and observed by Keaton and true to his actual situation." (J.A. Fieschi, in Georges Sadoul's Dictionary of Films) Along with Sherlock Jr., we offer a William K. Everson compilation of two-reelers by Chaplin, Charlie Chase, and Laurel and Hardy, among others, to celebrate the joys of silent comedy and its masters. Purely visual, physical comedy at its best is intelligent and daft, acrobatic and balletic, in control and making mayhem. The sight gag is as much the domain of cinema as is the recording of reality, but it wants an audience, shared infectious laughter-unhindered by the fear of missing any dialogue. (EK)