Sherlock Jr.

Silent films that are loud? Or loudly accompanied. That's the least you can expect when UC Berkeley DJs bust a move on Buster Keaton. With Sherlock Jr., Keaton put a new spin on cinema, and that's what we'll do with our vinyl audio augments and digital enhancements. In this featurette, Buster plays a movie projectionist who's studying to be a detective. When his girlfriend's father wrongly accuses him of jacking a watch, Buster sets out to track down the pilfered timepiece. But this is no customary comic mystery. Sherlock falls asleep in the theater booth and dreamily enters the film he's projecting. From then on it's a cavalcade of self-reflexive pratfalls as much about movie magic as they are about the delirium of deadpan. Our hapless hero hoists himself on his own banana peel, rides the handlebars of a driverless motorcycle, and drops from a water tower at breakneck speed, literally. We'll throw in a few silent shorts from PFA's collection and see what all the noise is about.

This page may by only partially complete.