With every discussion of Buster Keaton’s work we’ve been engaging in over the last few months, the conversation inevitably is steered towards remarking on how, despite it having been roughly a century since these films were produced, they remain as fresh and exciting as ever, and have aged remarkably well, assisted by the support and admiration they receive from wide portions of the global audience that keep these works eternally resonant and consistently positioned as the gold standard for silent era comedy. Yet, despite the constant repetition of this observation, I’m constantly struck by the ingenuity contained within these films, each one the definition of a masterpiece, and its position within film history only made more worthy through engaging with the work and how Keaton captures so many fascinating ideas, both physical and metaphorical, into these films that feel simultaneously sprawling and intimate, a quality that seems to have been best-executed during this era of silent filmmaking. Sherlock Jr. is one of his most acclaimed and beloved efforts, even by contemporary standards, and was his first solo endeavour into directing, after his previous two films (and several others that came afterwards) being made in collaboration with other filmmakers. It remains one of his most cherished works, and watching it over a hundred years later, we are once again struck by the pure ingenuity and brilliance that Keaton manages to condense into less than an hour, handcrafting an absolute masterpiece that is truly engaging, innovative and daring, qualities that many modern filmmakers that stand in his intimidating shadow could benefit from emulating in some form or another.

The subject matter covered in Sherlock Jr. is exceptionally simple but not any less resonant – Keaton plays The Projectionist, a happy-go-lucky young man who works at a movie theatre, while secretly educating himself in techniques to become a private detective, which he aims to use to win over the apple of his eye, a young woman who works at a nearby store and who he wishes to woo by any means necessary. The structure is as lean as it could be, and it is actually one of Keaton’s most economical films in terms of plot – there aren’t any massive thematic flights of fancy – it’s simple the story of a boy falling in love with a girl, but where a dastardly villain has the same ambition and uses unscrupulous methods to take advantage of the situation and leave our protagonist out in the cold as a result of his well-meaning nature. Yet, the depth comes not in the story but rather in how it executes these ideas – much like The Cameraman, which Keaton would make a few years later, Sherlock Jr. is a loving tribute to the film industry, looking at the experiences of someone so besotted by the art of moviemaking, he imagines himself becoming a character in one of the many hypnotic adventure films that he projects for fawning audiences, a concept that contains many layers and points towards Keaton’s own love of the medium and his fervent efforts to create works that capture the spirit of the industry. He doesn’t fixate on the details but instead provides a loving overview, which may not be particularly complex, but does everything it needs to do to create a charming, engaging atmosphere in which we can find a lot of value.

We often spend so much time discussing how Keaton’s directorial skills were the definition of revolutionary and pushed the boundaries of his craft, and as a result we neglect to notice just how wonderfully gifted he was as a dramatic actor, in the sense that he was not merely defined by the spectacle in which he consistently engaged, but had the technical skill to command the screen in the quieter and more intimate moments. Sherlock Jr. is a relatively short film (running only 44 minutes, the shortest of his twelve feature directorial efforts), so there is not much room for thorough character development – and yet, we cannot help but be entirely enamoured with the choices made in creating these characters. He is simply so magnetic and charismatic, despite playing a more milquetoast character that would be dull in the hands of just about anyone else. No one has managed to play this kind of meek and mild protagonist in such a way that they are hopelessly heroic and effortlessly compelling, and his dedication to choosing this particular archetype as his general persona over the course of his career allowed him to develop the character in fascinating, compelling ways, creating memorable performances that are just as good as anything else he does when crafting these films, which are both vehicles for his talents and opportunities to reinvent his particular style of acting. The supporting cast is certainly just as good – Kathryn McGuire is lovely as the object of his affection, and Ward Crane is a delightfully despicable villain who we love to hate, and works closely with Keaton to make for some wonderfully enthralling characters that are more than just thinly-written archetypes.

It may be tempting to look at a film like Sherlock Jr. and attempt to wax poetic about its deeper meaning and position it within the broader artistic context in which these stories were crafted – but in reality, much like any of his films, we watch it for the sake of being entertained, which is done exceptionally well and proves that Keaton was one of the true iconoclasts of his generation, and someone who frequently pushed the boundaries of what could be done on screen. Despite being his shortest and most compact directorial outing, the film features some of the most genuinely revolutionary moments in his career. There are several scenes in which his penchant for over-the-top physicality results in stunts that remain bewildering by even the most intricately detailed modern standards. It is not uncommon to watch some of Keaton’s work and spend a large portion of the time stunned to the point of trying to figure out how he achieved certain moments – and the fact that we still have many extremely insightful academics and industry professionals that simply cannot explain how these stunts were done proves their impeccable value and how they are the very definition of groundbreaking. It’s possible to take any two-minute segment of Sherlock Jr. and view it in isolation to be entirely enthralled and engaged, and despite its very short length, Keaton is doing some extremely impressive work, even beyond his capacity as the star, finding many opportunities to challenge the confines of the medium, which he viewed as a challenge rather than a limitation, and which forms the fundamental basis for this film and its wildly entertaining approach to examining an artform that was massively changed the moment Keaton stepped in front of a camera, and which remains influential to the present moment.

When pressed, I’d probably be inclined to say that Keaton’s most iconic work is between The General or Sherlock Jr. – choosing his best film is an impossible task and one I’m not particularly interested in discussing, since every one of them is brilliant in their way, but as far as cultural cache and pure iconography goes, it is difficult to imagine any of his other work usurping these two, with this one in particular containing an abundance of merit. It is a wonderfully easygoing, brisk comedy with a lot of depth and even more value as an expression of unbridled, carefully-curated artistic chaos in which Keaton captures the zeitgeist in a way that remains extremely influential and deeply compelling, conveying both a sincere affection for the social and cultural details that inspired this story, and a steadfast affection for the medium, which he viewed with respect, but only to the point where he was determined to redefine it on his terms. Hilarious, moving and never anything other than wholeheartedly entertaining, Sherlock Jr. is a foundational masterpiece, and a film that has only gotten better as time has progressed and shown that the passing decades are nothing if not entirely kind to his ambitious and daring artistic vision.