Production Budget Analysis

The production budget for Sherlock Jr. (1924) has not been publicly disclosed.

CAST: Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire, Joe Keaton, Erwin Connelly, Ward Crane, Doris Deane DIRECTOR: Buster Keaton CINEMATOGRAPHY: Byron Houck, Elgin Lessley PRODUCTION: Metro Pictures Corporation

Box Office Performance

Theatrical box office data is not publicly available for Sherlock Jr. (1924). This may indicate a limited release, direct-to-streaming, or a release predating modern box office tracking.

Profitability Assessment

Insufficient publicly available data to assess profitability.

INDUSTRY IMPACT

Dwight Macdonald, in his book On Movies, notes the sophistication of the premise: the second half of Sherlock Junior cuts free across magical territory. By a great stroke of invention, the lovesick Buster is a movie projectionist, so that the medium becomes the artist's material, an advanced approach Buster had never heard of ... He falls asleep in the projection booth, dreaming about his girl and his frustrated love. His doppelganger extracts itself from his sleeping body ... and walks down the aisle of the darkened theatre to climb up on the stage and into the society-crook melodrama being projected on the screen ... There's no explanation for this or any other lapsus naturalis in this 1924 film which makes later efforts by Dalí, Buñuel and Cocteau look pedestrian and a bit timid. They felt obliged to clarify matters by a symbolistic apparatus. Keaton never rose—or sunk—to that.

In 2005, Time named Sherlock Jr. as one of the All-Time 100 Movies, writing "The impeccable comedian directs himself in an impeccable silent comedy ... Is this, as some critics have argued, an example of primitive American surrealism? Sure. But let's not get fancy about it. It is more significantly, a great example of American minimalism—simple objects and movement manipulated in casually complex ways to generate a steadily rising gale of laughter. The whole thing is only 45 minutes long, not a second of which is wasted.

PRODUCTION NOTES

▸ Production

Originally titled The Misfit, production began in January 1924 in Los Angeles. Keaton later said that his character walking onto the screen and into a film was "the reason for making the whole picture ... Just that one situation." Having cast her in Three Ages, Keaton cast Marion Harlan as the lead actress, but she became sick and was replaced by up-and-coming Keystone Studios actress Kathryn McGuire, who had previously starred in The Silent Call and was a WAMPAS Baby Star of 1923.

Keaton initially hired Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle as his co-director for the film. Keaton had been discovered by Arbuckle, whose career was at a standstill after being accused of raping Virginia Rappe in 1921. During the scandal and court case, Arbuckle had lost his mansion and cars and was in debt for $750,000. Keaton wanted to help his old friend and hired Arbuckle under the pseudonym "William Goodrich". It is believed that the idea for the film was a tribute to Oscar Heinrich, the forensic scientist involved in the rape trial against Arbuckle. Filming began well and Arbuckle was happy to be back on set, but after Keaton corrected a mistake that Arbuckle had made, his attitude changed dramatically.

Arbuckle became angry and abusive on set, yelling at actors and according to Keaton becoming "flushed and mad ... [the scandal] just changed his disposition." In his autobiography, Keaton claimed that Arbuckle was difficult to work with and he arranged for him to direct The Red Mill instead so that Keaton could complete the film alone. The Red Mill did not begin production until 1927. Arbuckle's second wife Doris Deane later claimed that Arbuckle had directed the entire film and had come up with all of the ideas for the film.

The production included one of Keaton's most famous on-set accidents. In a scene where Keaton grabs a water spout while walking on a moving boxcar train, the water unexpectedly flooded down on Keaton much harder than anticipated, throwing him to the ground.

▸ Music & Score

In 1997, Australian ensemble Blue Grassy Knoll who specialise in scoring for Keaton's films, wrote a score for Sherlock Jr which premiered at the Melbourne International Film Festival. They have since performed the score around the world, including the New Victory Theatre in New York, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and most recently an outdoor screening in Federation Square, Melbourne.

In 2014, the Dallas Chamber Symphony commissioned Craig Marks to write an original musical score for Sherlock Jr. It premiered during a concert screening at Moody Performance Hall on February 25, 2014, with Richard McKay conducting.

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Summary: 2 wins total

Additional Recognition: In 1991, Sherlock Jr. was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

The film was ranked 62nd on the American Film Institute's list AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs (2000).