A screening of Buster Keaton’s 1924 silent comedy accompanied by a live soundtrack.
Little John Nee and his able assistant Mr. Fionn Robinson using the very latest in technology including gramophones, electrical musical instruments, modern valve amplification and fashionable synthetic sounds shall voyage over 100 years back in time in a courageous attempt to collaborate with the flickering ghosts of the early silver screen.
Buster Keaton stars as a kindly movie projectionist who longs to be a detective. When his fiancée (Kathryn McGuire) is robbed by a local thief (Ward Crane), the poor projectionist is framed for the crime. Using his amateur detective skills, the projectionist follows the thief to the train station — only to find himself locked in a train car. Disheartened, he returns to his movie theatre, where he falls asleep and dreams that he is the great Sherlock Holmes.
Although he had been popular with critics and the public for several years, Buster Keaton became a major star with The Navigator, released after Sherlock Jr. Nevertheless, Sherlock Jr. is a masterpiece. It contains a story within a story, through which Keaton deals with opposition central to Western culture: dream versus reality, and reality versus art.
(1924 / USA / 42 mins)
Suitable for all the family!
Commissioned by The Regional Cultural Centre Letterkenny as part of the Sound Film Soundtrack Festival in April 2023.
