Skip to main content

Sherlock Jr (1924) - a perfect movie

I went down the rabbit trail of silent era comedies this week. This church is held up by the three pillars of Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, and Harold Lloyd (Their characters I have respectively titled as the Hapless, the Scamp, and the Buffon). Having watched several different works of art from these three, I think they should be considered required viewing and study for film making, stunt design, and comedy writing.

I think calling Keaton “hapless” is close - but not quite on the nose. He has an insane amount of luck, but just not when it comes to getting ahead in life. Chaplin's character is a homeless tramp, but he is more of a hilarious mischievous small-time criminal. And Lloyd, whether playing ‘Luckless Luke’ or ‘Harold’ with glasses has a graduate degree in clowning. They are all supreme stunt coordinators and performers.


I tried to make a critical comparison of the three, but I just don’t have it in me. They are all different and each very good. Keaton was my favorite. I did find a Chaplin movie called “One A.M” (1916) in which he plays a different persona than the Tramp. I believe he titled that character “the Inebriate” - it is 25 minutes of a well-to-do Chaplin trying to make it upstairs to sleep it off. It is very funny.


I will make this declaration - “Sherlock Jr” (1924) may be a perfect movie.


Buster Keaton plays an employee at a movie theater who gets into a bit of conflict with a cad who is trying to steal his girl. In the end all is set right. From top to bottom, you are looking at a hilarious character, a series of “dialogue” jokes with double meanings and wickedly clever puns, stunts that would make the “Fast and Furious” or “Mission Impossible” teams have to think hard, and visual effects that are really astounding (even without remembering this is from 100 years ago). Keaton takes you on this ride and makes you laugh and gasp and shake your head in disbelief. There are scenes in here that left me surprised he ever walked again. He uses very few inter-titles. He has mastered 'show, don't tell'.


I highly recommend it.


List of movies I watched - I laughed out loud during every one of them:

  • "Sherlock Jr" (1924) - Keaton
  • "One A.M' (1916) - Chaplin
  • "Safety Last" (1923) - Lloyd
  • "Neighbors" (1920) - Keaton
  • "The Railrodder" (1965) - Keaton
    • thanks Shaun - this is his LAST silent film ... and while not as fun as his much earlier work, it was a good example. He made one more after this just before he died of lung cancer.
  • "Making a Living" (1914) - Chaplin
  • "Lonesome Luke, Messenger" (1917) - Lloyd
  • "City Lights" (1931) - Chaplin
  • "Never Weaken" (1921) - Lloyd

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

They Live (1988)

 "They Live" (1988) is a movie I had never seen until last night when I went over to my sister's place. What a gem (my sister and this movie). Roddy Piper does some of his best work - which even for a Canadian is pretty dull. If, while watching it, you imagine that he never heard the director call 'action', then his performance makes total sense. Offsetting this is any scene where Keith David or Peter Jason are in. They are acting their butts of and are enthralling. (Just so you don't get confused - Peter Jason is neither Meatloaf nor Jason Sudekis' father ... You might think he is, but he isn't). The movie itself is a 94 minute indictment on Reagonmics, and gets plenty preachy. It would be under an hour of you cut out the establishing shots of people walking. But - THE REASON this movie needs to be seen - is a fight scene between Roddy and Keith. It goes on for 5+ minutes - you think it is over at least 3 times - it has all the beats of a professional...
Post a Comment
Read more

Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958) - it is a good deal better than the remakes

I got around to watching the original 1958 comedy caper film - the one that "Welcome to Collinwood" was pantomiming. "Big Deal on Madonna Street" is hilarious. It is 25 minutes longer than the remake and never once did I feel the need to check my watch. I even paused to go refill my water glass. There will be no problem telling who is who or how the story goes - it is well shot and characters are unique. The story is a simple and fun. Comparing the "BDoMS" and "WtC" - they are identical in terms of characters and scenes. "Big Deal on Madonna Street" street is terrific, and "WtC" is a slog. The biggest difference is seen in the dialog. In "Big Deal" the people just talk, like you might expect people to talk. They are funny, but not odd. The colloquialisms happen, but they aren't hard to see through. In "WtC", they are using a vernacular to make sure you are immersed deep in an Eastern European ethnic nei...
Post a Comment
Read more

Con Air (1997) - another example of the Jacob's ladder effect

As we work our way through Merry Cage-mas, an argument could be made that "Con Air" is a fever dream Nick Cage's character has just before dying during that opening bar fight. 1) Monica Potter has abs of steel and is supposedly pregnant with their daughter. She is so not pregnant looking. So much so that, I do not know how they would have been far enough along to ultrasound the embryo. Additionally, he has just walked off a fishing boat into the bar she works at after getting home from deployment - when was the child conceived? 2) Nick Cage is immediately arrested and  sentenced to seven years in prison. During the film he writes & received fully formed letters from this child. In them, he talks about all the things they used to do with each other. When did these things happen?  3) Upon making his way into the titular 'Con Air' plane, Nick Cage has a shrink wrapped bunny rabbit doll he bought for this little girl as a present. Where did that come from? The pri...
Post a Comment
Read more