Buster Keatons Sherlock Jr.

When I started this movie I thought that I was in for a boring 40 minutes. I was unenthused and figured I would dislike the movie and then have to write a post on how much I enjoyed it ... but it turned out differently. This movie was amazing. Not just for a movie made in the 20's, but even for movies made nowadays. Keaton possessed such a great talent for movie making that even most directors now cannot match. The movie was funny, entertaining, and even a little romantic.

One of the scenes I thought was the funniest was near the beginning when Keaton finds a dollar in a pile of trash he was supposed to be sweeping up. Before this scene Keaton was at the store and saw a beautiful box he wanted to buy, but it was $3 and he only had $2. He goes back to work and starts sweeping up his pile, that is when the comedy starts.

The scene starts out with a normal range shot. You can see all of Keatons body (including his feet) and you can see the background (the movie theater). The camera is shaking a little bit but not a ton. He sees a piece of paper stuck to his broom and tries to scrape it off with his foot. The piece of paper then gets stuck on his foot and he tries to get it off with his other foot. When it gets stuck on the other foot he tries to get if off with his hand, and, you guessed it, it gets stuck on his hand. He then sets the piece of paper on the ground in front of the door to the movie theater and a man comes out, steps on the paper, and it is sticking to his foot as he walks off.

The film cuts to a medium range shot of a man with a mustache. He sees the same item that Keaton saw in the window of the store but discovers he has no money and walks off.

Cut back to Keaton in the same shot as before. He has now gotten all of the trash into a neater pile, and then bends down and pulls out a dollar. He starts to put his coat on when a woman comes to the pile of trash and starts searching. She asks Keaton if he found the dollar and the shot switches to a medium range shot of the both of them. After a couple of stupid questions, he reluctantly gives her the dollar. He returns his coat (in same shot as the first) and sees an older woman come up and start searching. Shot switches to a medium range shot of the woman only, she is crying.

The scene goes on and eventually he only has one dollar left and buys a less expensive box, but I will spare you all of those details. Nonetheless I thought this scene was brilliant and hilarious, and deserved a shot by shot analysis.