Sherlock Jr. and The Balloonatic

Monday September 12, 7:00pm The Paramount Theater

"Say Mr. Detective, before you clean up any mysteries, clean up this theater."

In an age before computer generated effects Sherlock Jr’s out of control ride on the handlebars of a motorcycle is astonishing. It is a sequence that could never be duplicated in the modern era.

Buster plays a theater projectionist with dreams of becoming a master sleuth. When he loses his girl to "The Local Sheik" Buster retreats to a dream world where he literally steps into the movie he is screening and becomes the "world’s greatest detective". As "Sherlock Jr." he dodges exploding billiards, falling blades and poisoned drinks, finally ending up on the motorcycle in what has to be Keaton’s best and most unbelievable stunt. As Buster runs down a street he encounters a cop on a motorcycle. The cop threatens to write him a speeding ticket and Buster solicits his help. Jumping on the handlebars they speed along. Why is he running? It doesn’t matter. The chase is central to most of Keaton’s films. The bike goes over a bump and the cop is bounced, leaving Buster on his own but unaware no one is driving! Attempting to understand how Keaton filmed this sequence is confounding. There are shots in which we can assume he is in control and driving (Keaton’s coattails hide his position at one point). There are other shots when the bike is obviously on a truck (a wonderful shot shows Buster racing a train to a crossing). There are still other shots that seem impossible or at least extremely dangerous (Buster speeds along a road as ditch diggers fling dirt in his face). Years later, after an accident, x-rays of his neck revealed spinal fractures that may have been caused by the spills he took shooting this picture. The brilliance and originality of visual gags throughout Sherlock Jr. make it one of Keaton’s very best feature films alongside The Cameraman and Seven Chances.

Buster finds himself adrift "Three-and-a-half miles higher than a kite" in The Balloonatic. While he’s there he washes his socks! When the balloon crash lands in the woods Buster is menaced by bears and rescued by a stream fishing cutie in one of Keaton’s simplest and most charming two-reelers