Sherlock Jr.
Posted by J on September 17, 2008
They don’t make ‘em like they used to. Sherlock Jr. utilizes mostly-dead film techniques that have to be 
revived eventually. They’re too good. Consider: Buster Keaton, chased by a gang of crooks, has no place to hide. So his sidekick dresses up as an old woman, and in the moment when the crooks find him, Keaton jumps into the disguised sidekick. Then the sidekick walks away. It’s a cheap magic trick, but it’s absurdly hilarious. A movieful of these gags today would cost $15 million and, done right, would earn ten times that much. Some entrepreneur needs to wise up to this fact. (Note: we won’t hold our breath until the “Christian” movie industry figures this out.)
But Sherlock Jr., unlike most films (silent or talkie), is not juvenile. In fact we’re sure that academics have praised it in some obscure academic journal for its complex depiction of the self’s obliteration by technopoly. Or whatever. Since this site gets more readers in one day than an obscure academic journal gets in a lifetime, we won’t go there.
But do look closely. Buster’s character, a down-and-out film projectionist, splits in two. This doppleganger then jumps into a movie, or really several movies, as he is manipulated by cinematic forces he can’t control. Then Buster imagines himself in the upscale detective thriller that he is projecting, in which he becomes the star and the detective who must bust a criminal conspiracy. This is not insignificant: Sherlock Jr. is one of the very few movies to have a movie inside of a movie.
And yet it’s still fun. It’s hard to imagine anyone not loving the movie’s final motorcycle chase. Sherlock Jr. is better kids’ entertainment than you’ll find at the local library.
The Kino DVD of Sherlock Jr. has a special bonus, an original score by the Club Foot Orchestra. We know nothing about the Club Foot Orchestra, but we’d guess that this group is one of those retro-big band acts that were popular in the late 1990s. This score is playful, absurd, avant-garde, and fun, and it often fits the action. (For example, when the criminals are conspiring against Buster, the meter becomes complex and uncountable.) We weren’t sure if we liked it — too many John Cage-like elements for us — but it does up the artistic ante of the original movie’s opening bid.
Entertainment: 8
Intelligence: 8
Morality: just fine
