Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

Sherlock, Jr. (1924)

Sherlock, Jr. (1924) is Buster Keaton’s slightly bizarre and very funny spoof of detective films, which features Kathryn McGuire, Joe Keaton and Steve Murphy.

Not financially successful at the time of its release, the film has gained stature over time for its inventiveness and bizarre gags.

The film is accompanied by a music score arranged and conducted by Robert Israel.

Supplemental material includes audio commentary for Sherlock Jr. by film critic Matt Singer; audio commentary for Seven Chances by film critic Adam Nayman; a Three Stooges short A Brideless Groom (1947) that recycles the premise of Seven Chances (17 minutes); and Edison short How a French Nobleman Got a Wife Through the New York Herald Personal Columns (1904) directed by Edwin S. Porter.

This will likely be our recommended home video edition of the film.

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This Region A Blu-ray Disc edition is also available directly from . . .

The film is accompanied by a music score composed and conducted by Timothy Brock and performed by the Orchestra del Teatro Comunale di Bologna.

Supplemental material includes the featurettes “Buster Keaton: The Great Stone Face” (4 minutes) and “Buster Keaton: The Comedian” (4 minutes, both excerpted from the 2018 documentary The Great Buster: A Celebration); and two modern Cohen trailers for the restorations of these two films.

The digital stabilization and clean-up makes this disc a more attractive edition than the 2010 Kino BD edition noted below.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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This Region 0 Blu-ray Disc edition is also available directly from COHEN MEDIA GROUP through . . .

This Blu-ray Disc edition, remastered in high-definition from 35mm materials, should be the best available home video edition of Sherlock, Jr, but the source material is a bit compromised by dust, speckling, ond other print flaws, with inserts from a fair 16mm reduction print. We are a little disappointed in this HD scan that is comprised more of dots rather than smooth greytones. Any still frame from the transfer shows clearly-defined dots in the lighter areas of the image. In motion, the dots make the picture overemphasize filmstock grain. Adjusting the sharpness setting on your monitor will minimize this issue. The periodic frame jitters and speckling can be a distraction.

The film is accompanied by three optional music scores: a small ensemble performance by The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra in 5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo sound; a jazzy small ensemble score by The Club Foot Orchestra in 2.0 stereo, which was originally prepared for Kino’s home video editions of the 1990s; and a vintage music score synchronized by Jay Ward in 2.0 mono, which is not any different from some of the cobbled together music scores assembled by small budget video producers. We recommend the Mont Alto score.

Supplemental material includes an audio commentary by David Kalat; a documentary on Sherlock Jr. written by David B. Pearson (23 minutes); a fantastic video tour of Keaton filming locations conducted by John Bengston, which is full of awe-inspiring revelations (10 minutes); and a photo gallery (26 images).

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

This Blu-ray Disc boxset contains the high-definition home video release of Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Jr. Image quality is as noted in the Blu-ray Disc above from Kino.

There are the same music and audio options available as in the single-disc edition noted above.

This boxset edition of Sherlock Jr. is identical to Kino’s single-disc Blu-ray Disc edition noted above. If you have not already purchased the single-disc editions from Kino, this is a great way to collect Buster’s film in one fell swoop.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
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United Kingdom: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.co.uk. Support Silent Era.

The film is accompanied by a music score composed by Timothy Brock.

Supplementary material includes audio commentary on Sherlock Jr. by historian David Kalat; a video interview with film scholar Peter Kramer discussing The General; a documentary on Keaton and his struggles working within the Hollywood studio system (52 minutes); an audio recording of Buster Keaton in conversation with television writer Bill Cox (58 minutes); video essays on Sherlock Jr. and The General shooting locations by John Bengtson; “Movie Magic & Mysteries” featurette; filmed introductions to The General by Orson Welles and Gloria Swanson; a video tour featurette on The General; home movie footage taken on the set of The General; a video essay on the production of Steamboat Bill, Jr.; and an insert booklet with articles on the three films, historical writings, and photographs.

Sight unseen, this is our recommended European home video edition of the film. North American collectors will need a region-free PAL DVD player capable of outputting an NTSC-compatible signal to view this edition.

United Kingdom: Click the logomark to purchase this Region B Blu-ray Disc edition from Amazon.co.uk. Support Silent Era.

This DVD edition, remastered in high-definition, improves on the previous Kino DVD edition of Sherlock, Jr. There is clearer image detail and an improved greyscale range in the picture. One or two shots appear to have been sourced from a very-good but slightly blurry 35mm duplicate print.

The film is accompanied by three optional music scores: a small ensemble performance by The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra in 5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo sound; a jazzy small ensemble score by The Club Foot Orchestra in 2.0 stereo, which was originally prepared for Kino’s home video editions of the 1990s; and a vintage music score synchronized by Jay Ward in 2.0 mono, which is not any different from some of the cobbled together music scores assembled by small budget video producers. We recommend the Mont Alto score.

Supplemental material includes an audio commentary by David Kalat; a documentary on Sherlock Jr. written by David B. Pearson (23 minutes); a fantastic video tour of Keaton filming locations conducted by John Bengston, which is full of awe-inspiring revelations (10 minutes); and a photo gallery (26 images).

This is our recommended DVD home video edition of Sherlock Jr.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued and is . . .

This early DVD edition has been mastered from the same analog video transfer produced by David Shepard for release on VHS videotape and laserdisc earlier in the 1990s. The source print is very-good.

We have come to think that the music score to Sherlock, Jr., composed and performed by the Club Foot Orchestra, is out-of-place with the film and is out-of-sync (here, ahead of the film’s action).

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued and is . . .