MovieChat Forums > Sherlock Jr. (1924) Discussion > Shadow your man closely

Shadow your man closely

posted 18 years ago by jimmydude6581
6 replies | jump to latest

I love it when he's shadowing the guy, and he flips the cigarette and he catches it! That type of physical comedy doesn't exist anymore.

[–] novastar_6 17 years ago

Sad but true. In 40 minutes he was a hell of a lot funnier than anybody, and I mean ANYBODY in the movies today with the 90 minute runtime and top name stars and multi-million dollar budgets. I swear, people of today need to take lessons from those before them. THIS is funny, movies today are not.

[–] Chrissie 15 years ago

They stopped being that funny the moment MGM took the reins away from Buster Keaton and put a bunch of clueless hacks in charge. They killed all the improv and on-the-fly that made Buster Keaton great. Those idiots didn't understand Buster and his need to just let things flow.

They also didn't understand his character. Buster's little guy might be situationally clueless, but he wasn't stupid. The MGM hacks made his characters total morons. Buster's little guy was modest and chastely shy, but the MGM hacks mistook innocence for idiocy. Buster's little guy might get a metric buttload of crap unloaded on him, but he persevered and won the day with his persistence, courage, and ingenuity. The MGM hacks instead made Buster just a pure puppet, a total victim of circumstance who pulls through only through sheer dumb luck.

In short, they cut out everything that made Buster's characters, and his movies, appealing.

It's like watching the finest aged camembert being adulterated with whey solids and processed into Cheez-Whiz.

[–] Strazdamonas 13 years ago

MGM ruined everything it touched, including Keaton, Chaplin, marx brohers and many others.

--------------
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for enough good men to do nothing.

[–] cmashieldscapting 13 years ago

They were chewed by the lion.

[–] iloveyoumoretoday 16 years ago

LOL I love that part too.

Get down & boogie!
Jean Harlow is the original blonde bombshell.

[–] Disardor 14 years ago

Yes, that whole scene is just brilliant. The choreography is excellent and it's a prime example of great physical comedy, as you said. Really love this movie.