Sherlock, Jr. (1924)

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Wikidata Q1569918, film, IMDb tt0015324, TMDB 992: matched by corpus:resolve, told apart by the only film by that title.

What a model would be handed about it, for corpus:ask.

Who talked about it

Blank Check with Griffin & David

Came from

What the speakers say it drew on. Each is a speaker's account: “the maker said so” when they report the maker's own words, “the host's read” when the read is theirs.

Houdini: 1 line the host's read ×1

  1. unmapped (borrowed magic bits): Houdini ⇒ Sherlock, Jr. (the host's read). The dream sequence let Keaton use vaudeville and Houdini-style magic bits in a movie grounded in reality.
    “there were magic bits that he knew from vaudeville, from Houdini and other magicians”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:53:54 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

Merton of the Movies (stage play): 1 line the host's read ×1

  1. lineage (possible source): Merton of the Movies (stage play) ⇒ Sherlock, Jr. (the host's read). Keaton had seen a satiric play that may have given him the idea of a story set around a movie theater.
    “there's a satiric play apparently called Merton of the movies.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:53:06 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

Rudolph Valentino: 1 line the host's read ×1

  1. unmapped (namesake): Rudolph Valentino ⇒ Sherlock, Jr. (the host's read). The villain is called the Sheik after Valentino.
    “the sheik's so named because a la Rudolph Valentino.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:07:31 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

Led to

What the speakers say drew on it, marked the same way.

What's Up, Doc?: 1 line the host's read ×1

  1. lineage (homage): Sherlock, Jr. ⇒ What's Up, Doc? (the host's read). The Chinese-dragon bicycle chase in What's Up, Doc? is a complete homage to the stag-party sequence.
    “The bicycled Chinese dragon sequence and what's up dog is complete homage to this sequence.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:38:39 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

Connected to

Bugs Bunny cartoons: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (intrusion gag): Sherlock, Jr. → Bugs Bunny cartoons. The film rejecting Keaton's linear-time presence is like Bugs Bunny messing with Daffy.
    “It's Bugs Bunny fucking with Daffy.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:27:58 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

Buster Keaton: 1 line people ×1

  1. people (acting contrast within the film): Sherlock, Jr. → Buster Keaton. The rival and his crew do stereotypical heavy silent-film acting, which makes Keaton's modern performance stand out.
    “those 2 guys are absolutely doing what most people think of as silent film acting.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:45:14 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

Corridor Crew (YouTube channel): 1 line craft ×1

  1. craft (effects analysis): Sherlock, Jr. → Corridor Crew (YouTube channel). A YouTube channel was stumped by three of the film's special-effects sequences, more than by modern movies.
    “they were more stump trying to figure out the special effects of Sherlock Jr. than most modern movies.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:18:51 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

Dumb and Dumber: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (childlike innocence): Sherlock, Jr. → Dumb and Dumber. Keaton's baffled reaction to the sudden babies is compared to a childlike, non-sexual innocence like Dumb and Dumber.
    “where he has a childlike innocence, so he is not drawn towards sexual situations, if I may be permitted in comparison.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:41:03 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

Elgin Leslie: 1 line people ×1

  1. people (cinematographer collaboration): Sherlock, Jr. → Elgin Leslie. Keaton and his long-term DP set up the black-velvet and matched-position effects together.
    “Shout out to his long-term DP.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:22:31 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

Houdini: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (borrowed magic bits): Sherlock, Jr. → Houdini. The dream sequence let Keaton use vaudeville and Houdini-style magic bits in a movie grounded in reality.
    “there were magic bits that he knew from vaudeville, from Houdini and other magicians”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:53:54 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

Kumail Nanjiani: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (comedy opening): Sherlock, Jr. → Kumail Nanjiani. Nanjiani says a comedy should open with a guy spilling hot coffee, and Keaton opens with a guy under the boot.
    “the opening of any comedy movie should be a guy accidentally spilling hot coffee on himself.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:05:29 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)

Merton of the Movies (stage play): 1 line lineage ×1

  1. lineage (possible source): Sherlock, Jr. → Merton of the Movies (stage play). Keaton had seen a satiric play that may have given him the idea of a story set around a movie theater.
    “there's a satiric play apparently called Merton of the movies.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:53:06 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

Pulp Fiction: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (coincidence gag): Sherlock, Jr. → Pulp Fiction. The wrong-man-walks-by coincidence in the pawn shop is compared to Ving Rhames walking by in Pulp Fiction.
    “much like Ving Reims and Pulp Fiction, just happens to walk by at that moment.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:16:38 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

Rear Window: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (theater-viewing): Sherlock, Jr. → Rear Window. A CalArts teacher argued certain films, like Sherlock Jr., should be seen in a theater while Rear Window can be appreciated at home.
    “you can watch rear window at home and appreciate it.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:00:20 · Griffin Newman (0.70 sure it was them)

Roscoe (Fatty) Arbuckle: 1 line people ×1

  1. people (co-director): Sherlock, Jr. → Roscoe (Fatty) Arbuckle. Arbuckle was brought on as co-director and given the pseudonym William B. Goodrich, then edged out.
    “this is the movie where he came up with uh, William B. Goodrich, which was his, like, nom de plume for directing, uh, Freddie Arbuckle.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:55:49 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

Rudolph Valentino: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (namesake): Sherlock, Jr. → Rudolph Valentino. The villain is called the Sheik after Valentino.
    “the sheik's so named because a la Rudolph Valentino.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:07:31 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

The Crowd: 1 line people ×1

  1. people (acting style contrast): The Crowd → Sherlock, Jr.. Naturalistic acting in The Crowd coexisted in the same era with semaphore-style silent acting, which Keaton avoided.
    “There's an indicating quality where fingers are being waved in the air and that's a stream that coexisted.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:44:00 · James Urbaniak (0.50 sure it was them)

The General: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (critical standing): Sherlock, Jr. → The General. Sherlock Jr. has supplanted The General as the critical consensus perfect Keaton movie.
    “I feel like it's supplanted the general as sort of the critic consensus, perfect Keaton movie.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:58:18 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)

The Navigator: 1 line people ×1

  1. people (people): Sherlock, Jr. → The Navigator. The same long-term cinematographer, Elgin Leslie, shot both Sherlock Jr. and The Navigator.
    “who was named Elgin Leslie, who shot this and the navigator and the bulk of his shorts and most of his features of this era.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:22:33 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

W. C. Fields: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (vaudeville pool): Sherlock, Jr. → W. C. Fields. Vaudevillians really could play pool; W. C. Fields had an eccentric pool bit in his act.
    “WC Fields also had a bit in his act where he did eccentric pool and he does them in some films.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:29:13 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

What's Up, Doc?: 1 line lineage ×1

  1. lineage (homage): Sherlock, Jr. → What's Up, Doc?. The Chinese-dragon bicycle chase in What's Up, Doc? is a complete homage to the stag-party sequence.
    “The bicycled Chinese dragon sequence and what's up dog is complete homage to this sequence.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:38:39 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

Wile E. Coyote cartoons: 1 line unmapped ×1

  1. unmapped (cartoon logic): Sherlock, Jr. → Wile E. Coyote cartoons. Keaton riding the handlebars without noticing the driver is gone follows Wile E. Coyote logic.
    “it's Wiley Coyote logic.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:36:50 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

Where it came up

What was said about it, by kind

craft (1)

  1. craft (effects analysis): Sherlock, Jr. → Corridor Crew (YouTube channel). A YouTube channel was stumped by three of the film's special-effects sequences, more than by modern movies.
    “they were more stump trying to figure out the special effects of Sherlock Jr. than most modern movies.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:18:51 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

lineage (2)

  1. lineage (possible source): Sherlock, Jr. → Merton of the Movies (stage play). Keaton had seen a satiric play that may have given him the idea of a story set around a movie theater.
    “there's a satiric play apparently called Merton of the movies.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:53:06 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. lineage (homage): Sherlock, Jr. → What's Up, Doc?. The Chinese-dragon bicycle chase in What's Up, Doc? is a complete homage to the stag-party sequence.
    “The bicycled Chinese dragon sequence and what's up dog is complete homage to this sequence.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:38:39 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

people (5)

  1. people (acting style contrast): The Crowd → Sherlock, Jr.. Naturalistic acting in The Crowd coexisted in the same era with semaphore-style silent acting, which Keaton avoided.
    “There's an indicating quality where fingers are being waved in the air and that's a stream that coexisted.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:44:00 · James Urbaniak (0.50 sure it was them)
  2. people (acting contrast within the film): Sherlock, Jr. → Buster Keaton. The rival and his crew do stereotypical heavy silent-film acting, which makes Keaton's modern performance stand out.
    “those 2 guys are absolutely doing what most people think of as silent film acting.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:45:14 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  3. people (co-director): Sherlock, Jr. → Roscoe (Fatty) Arbuckle. Arbuckle was brought on as co-director and given the pseudonym William B. Goodrich, then edged out.
    “this is the movie where he came up with uh, William B. Goodrich, which was his, like, nom de plume for directing, uh, Freddie Arbuckle.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:55:49 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  4. people (cinematographer collaboration): Sherlock, Jr. → Elgin Leslie. Keaton and his long-term DP set up the black-velvet and matched-position effects together.
    “Shout out to his long-term DP.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:22:31 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  5. people (people): Sherlock, Jr. → The Navigator. The same long-term cinematographer, Elgin Leslie, shot both Sherlock Jr. and The Navigator.
    “who was named Elgin Leslie, who shot this and the navigator and the bulk of his shorts and most of his features of this era.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:22:33 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)

unmapped (10)

  1. unmapped (borrowed magic bits): Sherlock, Jr. → Houdini. The dream sequence let Keaton use vaudeville and Houdini-style magic bits in a movie grounded in reality.
    “there were magic bits that he knew from vaudeville, from Houdini and other magicians”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:53:54 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  2. unmapped (critical standing): Sherlock, Jr. → The General. Sherlock Jr. has supplanted The General as the critical consensus perfect Keaton movie.
    “I feel like it's supplanted the general as sort of the critic consensus, perfect Keaton movie.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:58:18 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  3. unmapped (theater-viewing): Sherlock, Jr. → Rear Window. A CalArts teacher argued certain films, like Sherlock Jr., should be seen in a theater while Rear Window can be appreciated at home.
    “you can watch rear window at home and appreciate it.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:00:20 · Griffin Newman (0.70 sure it was them)
  4. unmapped (comedy opening): Sherlock, Jr. → Kumail Nanjiani. Nanjiani says a comedy should open with a guy spilling hot coffee, and Keaton opens with a guy under the boot.
    “the opening of any comedy movie should be a guy accidentally spilling hot coffee on himself.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:05:29 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  5. unmapped (namesake): Sherlock, Jr. → Rudolph Valentino. The villain is called the Sheik after Valentino.
    “the sheik's so named because a la Rudolph Valentino.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:07:31 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  6. unmapped (coincidence gag): Sherlock, Jr. → Pulp Fiction. The wrong-man-walks-by coincidence in the pawn shop is compared to Ving Rhames walking by in Pulp Fiction.
    “much like Ving Reims and Pulp Fiction, just happens to walk by at that moment.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:16:38 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  7. unmapped (intrusion gag): Sherlock, Jr. → Bugs Bunny cartoons. The film rejecting Keaton's linear-time presence is like Bugs Bunny messing with Daffy.
    “It's Bugs Bunny fucking with Daffy.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:27:58 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  8. unmapped (vaudeville pool): Sherlock, Jr. → W. C. Fields. Vaudevillians really could play pool; W. C. Fields had an eccentric pool bit in his act.
    “WC Fields also had a bit in his act where he did eccentric pool and he does them in some films.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:29:13 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  9. unmapped (cartoon logic): Sherlock, Jr. → Wile E. Coyote cartoons. Keaton riding the handlebars without noticing the driver is gone follows Wile E. Coyote logic.
    “it's Wiley Coyote logic.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:36:50 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  10. unmapped (childlike innocence): Sherlock, Jr. → Dumb and Dumber. Keaton's baffled reaction to the sudden babies is compared to a childlike, non-sexual innocence like Dumb and Dumber.
    “where he has a childlike innocence, so he is not drawn towards sexual situations, if I may be permitted in comparison.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:41:03 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)

Fun items about it

  1. fun, about Sherlock, Jr.: The opening lost-dollar bit is James's favorite Keaton bit; the title card just says 'describe it' and he later repeats the rectangle callback.
    “It is my single favorite Buster Keaton bit of all time.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 0:46:50 · James Urbaniak (0.70 sure it was them)
  2. fun, about Sherlock, Jr.: Seen in a theater, the 'describe it.' title card got a huge laugh and the whole audience was suddenly in.
    “and then the title comes up that just says, describe it.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:03:07 · Griffin Newman (0.60 sure it was them)
  3. fun, about Sherlock, Jr.: The first joke of the film is a close-up of the book How to Be a Detective, followed by the licked-thumb fingerprint.
    “And then he takes the book down and he's has a picture.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:11:06 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  4. fun, about Sherlock, Jr.: Keaton broke his neck on the water-tower gag in Sherlock Jr. and only learned years later from an X-ray that it had healed.
    “someone took an x-ray of him and was like, you have broken your, like, at some point you broke your neck.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:13:49 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  5. fun, about Sherlock, Jr.: Gillette's title card plays on razor brands (Gillette, Ever-Ready, Gem); the studio's name on screen, Veronal, was a sleeping drug.
    “And Vernal was a sedative.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:18:02 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  6. fun, about Sherlock, Jr.: Walking into the movie screen looks like a miracle: it is a second set built behind the proscenium and lit differently so it reads as a flat projected image.
    “And he just steps casually into the screen, and it feels like a miracle”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:23:08 · David Sims (0.50 sure it was them)
  7. fun, about Sherlock, Jr.: Keaton matched his body position across cuts to wildly different locations, shots made hours or weeks apart, by overlaying the earlier film.
    “they had an initial shot of him and then they like put the film over the film.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:25:00 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  8. fun, about Sherlock, Jr.: In the Sherlock Jr. jump through the old woman's suitcase, a disguised Gillette is the old lady, a vaudeville magic bit that startled a 1990s Film Forum audience.
    “that really is a what the fuck moment when you see it with an audience.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:34:06 · Griffin Newman (0.50 sure it was them)
  9. fun, about Sherlock, Jr.: In the gag where Gillette falls off the motorbike, it is really Keaton doing the stunt for the actor, and the handlebar ride mixes real shots and process shots.
    “So Keaton did the stunt for the actor who played Gillette.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:36:47 · Griffin Newman (0.40 sure it was them)
  10. fun, about Sherlock, Jr.: Keaton's baby-gag reading: every other movie cue he can copy in real time, but he cannot produce twin babies; contributors read it as a joke about movies skipping the 9 months.
    “This is going to take 9 months.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:41:33 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)
  11. fun, about Sherlock, Jr.: The pool-table sequence stumped the crew for an hour until Keaton chalked the balls and solved it in a day.
    “He coated the balls with chalk and would just like figured it out, like within a day, how to do it all.”
    Blank Check with Griffin & David · Sherlock Jr. / The Navigator with James Urbaniak · 1:43:02 · David Sims (0.40 sure it was them)

Who the speakers said made it

As said on the shows, not checked against the real credits.