Runtime: 45 minutes
Directed by: Buster Keaton
Starring: Keaton, Kathryn McGuire, Joe Keaton, Erwin Connelly, Ward Crane
From: Buster Keaton Productions
A nice way to celebrate Buster Keaton being born on the 4th of October 125 years ago.
Last night Turner Classic Movies paid tribute to this event by showing Buster's most popular feature-length features. The General was also viewed; I reviewed that in 2015 and don't need to do that. However, it had been a lot longer since I saw this. As it's only 45 minutes long, it was an easy Sunday night watch along with a great one. I was even able to ignore the melancholy thought while viewing the title character as a movie theatre projectionist/budding sleuth that every cinema is likely to shut down again soon for who knows how long because not enough people have returned to see films on the big screen.
Anyhow, Jr. is a poor sap who is manipulated by a scoundrel because he wants his girl, officially known as The Girl... I guess this is along the same lines of Chris Nolan naming the protagonist in Tenet The Protagonist. But back on track... a large chunk of the film is our hero falling asleep on the job and daydreaming he is in the movies he's showing. That ends up with him as master detective Sherlock Jr., thwarting the bad guys after many great sight gags, stunts and pratfalls.
While I do prefer The General, that is no slight on Jr. and how all the fat was trimmed on this tale so the end result was 45 minutes of tremendous entertainment, along with all the creativity, billiards trick shots, and Keaton literally putting his body on the line... breaking his neck on a big stunt-a fact he did not know for a decade. I was happy to see both of those classics once more last night, in other words.
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