Sherlock Jr. is a 1924 American silent comedy written, directed by and starring Buster Keaton as a film projectionist who dreams himself directly into the movie he is screening, becoming a detective navigating a plot assembled from the conventions of the crime pictures of the day. The film is noted for technically intricate visual effects and stunts, including a sequence in which Keaton's dream-self is disoriented by a rapid series of scene changes edited to place him convincingly inside each new setting, all achieved through in-camera trickery rather than later manipulation of the film. Sherlock Jr. is widely regarded as one of Keaton's most technically accomplished films and an influential early exploration of cinema's own illusion-making within a film's own story.
Facts
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Original Language FAQs
How did Buster Keaton seem to vanish through the peddler woman in Sherlock Jr.?
It was a stage illusion rather than a camera trick: a hidden trapdoor and a dummy costume let Keaton dive through a disguised assistant.
The Library of Congress essay by the film historian Jeffrey Vance explains that this gag was not a camera trick. It reworked a vaudeville stage trick of Keaton's father and used a small hinged trapdoor in the wall behind the tray lid that looks like the peddler woman's chest. The disguised assistant's lower body was lifted into a horizontal position, and a costume containing a mannequin's ankles and feet hung in its place. After Keaton dove through, the legs were lowered and the wall closed to complete the illusion. Vance calls it a dangerous stunt that required great precision and skill.
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Source Sherlock Jr. (Wikipedia)
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Source Sherlock Jr. (Wikipedia)
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Sources
1. Wikidata: Sherlock Jr.
Wikidata Q1569918, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source 2. Sherlock Jr. (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLead paragraph, first sentence
Sherlock Jr. is a 1924 American silent comedy film directed by and starring Buster Keaton and written by Clyde Bruckman, Jean Havez, and Joseph A. Mitchell.
Lead paragraph, first sentence, original language
is a 1924 American silent comedy film directed by and starring Buster Keaton and written by Clyde Bruckman, Jean Havez, and Joseph A. Mitchell.
In Medium: Film, Article lead sentence
Sherlock Jr. is a 1924 American silent comedy film directed by and starring Buster Keaton and written by Clyde Bruckman, Jean Havez, and Joseph A. Mitchell. It features Kathryn McGuire, Joe Keaton, and Ward Crane. In 1991, Sherlock Jr. was
Created By: Buster Keaton, Article lead sentence
Sherlock Jr. is a 1924 American silent comedy film directed by and starring Buster Keaton and written by Clyde Bruckman, Jean Havez, and Joseph A. Mitchell.
In Group: American Silent Comedies, Lead
Sherlock Jr. is a 1924 American silent comedy film directed by and starring Buster Keaton and written by Clyde Bruckman, Jean Havez, and Joseph A.
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