CBAA to screen silent Buster Keaton classic

MOSES LAKE — On March 28, the audience at the Wallenstien Theater will be swept back to a time when girls were flappers, young men were sheiks, jazz was king and liquor was bootlegged when Columbia Basin Allied Arts screens the 1924 classic silent comedy “Sherlock Jr.” 

“It's a fantastic storyline,” said Shawn Cardwell, executive director of CBAA. “It's got a film-within-a-film element to it, a love story element, lots of comedy, lots of follies. It's going to be really fun.” 

“Sherlock Jr.” stars Buster Keaton as a movie projectionist who dreams of being a detective. The Projectionist (all of the characters are referred to by descriptors rather than names) is also in love with The Girl, but he’s competing for her affections against The Sheik, a handsome rotter who steals a watch from The Girl’s Father and frames The Projectionist for it. The action takes a strange turn when The Projectionist falls asleep in his theater and dreams a melodrama in which he’s a heroic detective and The Sheik is also The Villain. From there, the film showcases Keaton’s physical comedy genius, with lots of chases, wild jumps, motorcycle daredevilry and, at one point, an exploding pool ball. 

Silent movies in the 1920s were usually accompanied in the theater by a live organ or piano player, but for this performance, CBAA is bringing in cello virtuoso Gideon Freudmann. Freudmann has composed a special score for “Sherlock Jr.” that incorporates classical, jazz, folk and world music elements, according to his website. 

“He has this amazing electric cello that he makes the most non-cello, like non-classical sounds out of,” Cardwell said. “It's incredible the range that he has, and then he also has other sound effect apparatus that he'll use throughout the show.” 

The screening is a last-minute substitution for another show that had to be canceled for reasons beyond CBAA’s control, Cardwell said. Anyone who had tickets for “A Room with a View” can use those tickets for “Sherlock Jr.” instead, she said. CBAA screened the silent vampire movie “Nosferatu” during the COVID-19 pandemic, also with music by Freudmann. 

“Sherlock Jr.” is ranked among the top 100 comedies of all time by the American Film Institute and has been recognized by film experts for pioneering the film-within-a-film device and for its special effects, which were ahead of their time. Nevertheless, the film was not a financial success when it was released, and Keaton, who almost always did his own stunts, fractured his neck in a scene where he was walking on top of a moving train, according to one biography. The movie is only 45 minutes long, but it packs in lots of comedic action. It’s also suitable for all ages.  

“It's definitely an old-timey feeling event,” Cardwell said. “I remember as a kid going to churches and seeing silent films with a live organ soundtrack, and I'm really excited to bring that nostalgia back … It's going to be really fun for people who love historic film, and for families, and for people who love cello.” 

    The Projectionist, fancying himself an amateur detective, searches The Sheik for a missing watch in the Buster Keaton film “Sherlock Jr.”
  

    Buster Keaton takes a harrowing ride on the handlebars of a motorcycle in “Sherlock Jr.” Keaton, famous for doing his own stunts, reportedly fractured his neck while making the film.
  

    Electric cellist Gideon Freudmann will perform a score specially composed for “Sherlock Jr.” at its screening at the Wallenstien Theater March 28.