Sherlock Jr.

I was going to write about "what constitutes a mystery" when I discovered that Buster Keaton's silent film "Sherlock Jr." was playing at the Castro Theater in San Francisco with The Club Foot Orchestra's original musical score as live accompaniment -- so instead I sprang off to view one of Sherlock's many offspring.  I have nothing brilliant to say about this movie except that it is brilliant. If you haven't seen it, do so, preferably in a beautiful old movie palace with a live orchestra. If you have seen it, see it again, in any form.

Keaton made the movie in 1924 while Conan Doyle was still alive. "Sherlock" by then had already become a byword for detective and Keaton had fun playing with the concept.  The Castro Theater was built in 1922 so "Sherlock Jr." undoubtedly played there when it first came out, probably with a live orchestra. I had fun thinking about that.

Buster Keaton performed all his own stunts in his movies and he actually broke his neck while filming this one. He didn't realize it and apparently continued to walk around for months as if nothing had happened. The film isn't really a mystery, but it's mysterious, with a movie inside a movie and a dream within a dream. Buster Keaton's long, lugubrious face is a mystery itself. Who is this man?