In the last third of the movie Sherlock Jr., there is a scene where the detective, Sherlock Jr., jumps out of the window and into women's clothing to disguise himself from his pursuers. The scene starts out with a wide shot where Sherlock Jr. pops his head out of the car that he jumped into to ride to the location with the man who stole the pearls. When Sherlock Jr. pops his head out, he sees that there is another hitchhiker on the car, hits him on the head, and leaps out of the vehicle to see who the hitchhiker is.
The camera cuts to a full shot behind the car, showing that the hitchhiker is just a friend in disguise, with a circular package that contains a dress, with which Sherlock Jr. arranges in a fashion that can easily be accessed.
Next, the scene cuts to a three quarter shot of the man who stole the pearls in a room of men who he is trying to sell the pearls to. The men are quite excited over the pearls, and this shows that the pearls are indeed of great value. The scene cuts back to the full shot of Sherlock Jr. and he points in the other direction for the other man to hide. After, the camera shows a full length shot of the front of the building, which Sherlock Jr. runs in front of, and places the circular dress package in the window, and then he proceeds to stand and sway in front of the door, to draw attention to himself to the men on the inside.
The scene cuts back to the three quarter shot of the men in the building, and as they have seem to come to an agreement, the man who stole the pearls turns to leave, but then turns back when he notices Sherlock Jr. standing in the doorway. Next, the scene cuts to a mid shot of Sherlock Jr. to show that he is still standing and swaying in the doorway. The scene goes back to the shot of the men, and they leave their positions to get Sherlock Jr. The scene cuts back again to Sherlock, and he is shown from the side getting snatched into the doorway. Once again, the scene is back to the same shot of the room with the men, and Sherlock has been pulled in, searched and they take his gun. To show that he is not someone to be messed with, he takes the man who standing to the left's pocket watch even thought that same man just stole his. This shows Sherlock Jr. is sly, and they trade pocket watches back. Next, a mid shot of the man who took Sherlock's pocket watch is shown and then the scene cuts back to the shot of the room, where the man who stole the pearls points to another room, which when Sherlock looks in, he seems quite frightened. The scene cuts to a full shot of the other room where a man is in a full sized cage. After, the shot goes to a mid shot of Sherlock and the pearl thief, and then a text screen appears saying "That's a detective. When he's dead I'll put you in there," with the indication that the pearl thief said it. After, the shot goes back to Sherlock and the pearl thief. Then the screen shoots to another text post with the pearl thief saying, "And now I'll tell you where our little sweetie is this minute!" After, the shot goes back to Sherlock and the man where the man begins to describe where the woman is.
A fade in establishing shot of a barn and a car is shown and a man is forcibly taking the woman into the building. Next, a mid shot of inside the building is shown, he locks her in and she distressed she jumps up. This cut scene indicates that this is where the woman is being held. The scene cuts back to the same shot Sherlock Jr and the thief, and a text box comes up with the thief saying, "And she's there waiting for me." Back to the shot of Sherlock and the thief, he points to himself, indicating that the woman is there for him, and then gestures back to the man in the cage, meaning that Sherlock Jr will be locked inside while the thief goes to his woman.
This all leads up to the gag or the stunt shot. Next, the shot goes to outside the building where Sherlock is. The shot is somewhat of a long shot, but so that it shoes both the side and the front of the building, where the dress package is still sitting in the window. The side of the building fades away to show what is going on the interior, while still showing the exterior. This is not saying the side physically melted away, but to show what is going on the inside while still showing the outside of the building. Back to the scene of Sherlock and the thief, the thief waves the pearls in Sherlock Jr.'s face to brag, and in that moment, Sherlock snatches the pearls, jumps out the window through the package, and because the dress was inside, Sherlock is now wearing that dress as a disguise. The men in the building run outside, but cannot find Sherlock Jr. because they do not realize that he is now in the woman's clothing.
Each one of theses cuts and scenes all build up to that one shot, where Sherlock Jr. gets away. The way Keaton directs and shoots each shot seems ahead of his time, using techniques that were not the norm for films of the time. His trick shot and gags were innovators for film, and pushed the film industry into a new age.
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