Film Club: Sherlock Jr & Cops + Live Score

A Buster Keaton double-bill with live piano accompaniment from Cyrus Gabrysch... (dir. Buster Keaton) USA, 1924 – 45 mins (U)

Keaton plays a film projectionist in this, one of cinema’s greatest films. Studying to become a detective, he’s in love with a beautiful girl, but he’s not the only one. One day he’s accused of stealing his girlfriend's father's watch by his her family, much to the delight of the other suitor. Heartbroken, he drifts off to sleep at work, and dreams of world where he’s the detective, rather than the alleged.

Ninety years old, and quite simply one of the greatest comedies of all time.

Cops (dir. Edward F. Cline & Buster Keaton) USA, 1922 – 20 mins (PG)

In arguably his most well known short, Keaton plays a young man hoping for business success to win over the girl that he loves. But when, in desperation, he steals some money, he ignites a series of ever more spectacular disasters that escalate into one of cinema’s greatest chase sequences, with seemingly the entire Los Angeles police force on his tail. Full of classic stunts and hair-raising escapades, this is Keaton at his witty, deadpan best.