Sherlock Jr.

Sherlock Jr. (1924) is Buster Keaton's silent comedy you can watch online on iFILM. Keaton plays a small-town movie projectionist who dreams of becoming a detective.

He's courting a girl, but a rival swipes a pocketwatch from her father's house and pins the theft on him. Disgraced and sent packing, the projectionist dozes off in his booth mid-screening. Then the trick happens: he steps straight into the picture on the screen and becomes Sherlock Jr., a slick sleuth solving the very crime he was blamed for, dodging traps and chases along the way.

Forty-five minutes of pure invention. Keaton directed it and did his own stunts, breaking his neck in one gag and only finding out years later. The shot where he walks into the film and the scenery cuts under his feet faster than he can adjust is still pulled apart in film classes. Stream Sherlock Jr. (1924) online on iFILM.