Rating: 
Summary: BUSTER MAKES THE CASE
Review: OUR HOSPITALITY, suggested by the famous Hatfield/McCoy fued, is pleasant enough but somehow doesn't really engage. Still, this being a Keaton movie it has some memorable bits. There's a lovely train ride sequence. And when Keaton is in the house of his beloved & discovers that Southern Hospitality doesn't extend beyond the confines of the family manse he manages some very funny moments. There is a joke involving a horse that is so expertly done it is forever fresh & toward the end of the movie there are some exciting stunts along a river. But the thing here is SHERLOCK JR. This is possibly the most astonishing 45 minutes ever put on film & is Keaton at his best. Ostensibly the movie is about Keaton, who is the projectionist at the local movie house & is reading a teach yourself course in private detection, defending himself against accusations of stealing a watch belonging to his sweetheart's father. But when, in one of the most famous moments in cinema, he dreams himself into the movie he is projecting this movie becomes a fine example of native surrealism. Keaton plays with perceptions of time & reality & pulls off one felicitious invention after another. There is the billiard game that every one copied for the next 50 years. And the escape through a window involving a dress that no one copied because no one could figure out how it was done even though it's all there in front of you from set-up to finish. And, finally, a ride with Keaton on the handlebars of an otherwise unoccupied motorcycle that everyone is still copying. But the original here remains supreme. He builds the suspense then teases us with a pseudo resolution. He allows us time to get & appreciate his joke then builds up again. Again he postpones the end. When the actual payoff does come it's such a zinger that in theatres people stand & cheer. Bravo Buster.
Rating:
Summary: The art of Buster Keaton.
Review: Personality diviners: which Beatle is your favorite? did you think *The Big Lebowski* was funny? Coke or Pepsi? Keaton or Chaplin? If you answered John, Yes, Coke, and Keaton, you're my type of person. But to focus on the topic: Keaton's films have unarguably aged better than Chaplin's. Whereas the latter's films have a good-for-you, culturally-enriching aura, Buster's movies happen to still be unpretentiously entertaining. Kino, with this double-feature set, offers a great showcase of Keaton's many talents:*Our Hospitality* (Four Stars): Somewhat primitive but still accomplished comedy about a city boy (Keaton) who embarks on a journey Down South to claim his ancestral inheritance. The joy of the thing is in the journey, which involves an amazing, diminutive, jerry-rigged "train", replete with roof-chairs on which passengers bob and sway like reeds in a high breeze. Once arrived, Keaton discovers that he has also inherited participation of a blood feud, of the Hatfied-McCoy variety, with another family. (Of course, the girl he falls for on the train ride is the daughter of the enemy family.) Much humor (and irony) is derived from Keaton's character taking advantage of the fact that the enemy clan must not, out of Southern Honor, shoot him down like a dog as long as he's a guest in their home. Other points of interest: costumes and architectural details are surprisingly accurate (the movie takes place in the 1830's); and Keaton's stunts in this movie are among his most death-defying. *Sherlock Jr.* (Five Stars): The first movie turns out to be a starter for the main (yet smaller, at 45 min.) course, the masterpiece *Sherlock Jr.*. Falsely accused of stealing a watch, wanna-be detective Keaton returns to his dreary projectionist job at the local movie-house and has a dream that begins with him leaping into the movie screen and becoming master detective "Sherlock Jr.", a hero of his own film. I could put my egghead's cap on and blather about the movie's postmodern immersion in its own medium; how it influenced filmmakers like Woody Allen; how it's arguably the greatest achievement in silent comedy. Or: I can tell you that the scenes involving an explosive billiards-ball and a daffy motor chase through the city are laugh-out-loud hilarious. Many of the special effects (this is 1924, mind you) still defy easy detection . . . which is more than can be said for 2002's *Spider-Man*, to use just one current example. [The DVD is adequate. *Sherlock Jr.*, actually, has somewhat better-than-adequate picture quality. Good job, guys. And I'm rather more glad than not that there are no "special features": the last thing I need is some film scholar stripping away, piece by piece, Keaton's layers of artifice.]
Rating:
Summary: Sherlock Jr./ Our Hospitality
Review: SHERLOCK JR. IS BRILLIANT! There are some very funny scenes like the one where the women have "lost a dollar". But the film within a film concept and plot are the factors that make Sherlock Jr. exceptional. Fantastic stunts by Buster, believable vs. unbelievable depending on if you are viewing the film or the "film within the film". Sherlock Jr. alone should qualify Buster as a genius. In my view, this is without a doubt one of Buster's best and one of the best movies I have ever seen. *Having said that, Sherlock Jr. is the only KINO tape that has a distracting musical score (every other Kino musical score rates from very good to exceptional). OUR HOSPITALITY. This is an excellent movie. Our Hospitality contains some of Buster's greatest stunt work and it has a great plot. The plot , for the second-half of the movie, revolves around Big Joe Roberts and his two sons going after Buster. Natalie Talmadge (Buster's first wife) plays "the girl".
Rating:
Summary: Too awesome
Review: Sherlock Jr. is one of the greatest movies ever made. That, along with The General, represent his best work. The silent comedy reaches its pinnacle here. A must have. (Strange soundtrack though.)
Rating: 
Summary: Two of Keaton's Best!
Review: The thing that sets Buster Keaton's films above most other silent films is that the stories are always easy to follow, inventive and entertaining. Though the second half of the film Sherlock, Jr. - when Buster leaps through the screen and into the movie inside a movie - is more often celebrated, I found the first half to be the more humourous. The bits with the sticky paper and the dollar in the trash are laugh-out-loud funny, as is the scene where he is trailing his adversary.
Our Hospitality is truly delightful film with a simple, yet entertaining, story and a number of very comical scenes. The best of these occur on the train ride at the beginning of the story and during Buster's attempted escape at the end. The former segment is constructed around a fascinating primitive locomotive and the ridiculous placement of the train tracks. The latter contains many great moments, but the climax of Buster swinging from a log and catching his love in mid-air is truly magnificient.
Rating: 
Summary: The Magnificent Buster
Review: There's nothing I can add to what has already been said about these films themselves, and how beautifully they showcase the genius of Buster Keaton--his brilliance with stunt gags in OH and with cinematic tricks in SJ.
I would like to comment on the music. Unlike a previous reviewer, I find the added music score of SJ mostly apt and a credit to the moods and tones of the film, although there are moments when it draws too much attention to itself. The music for OH, though, just doesn't work. A great deal of it is ragtime--for a film set in the 1830s!--and it often doesn't match up at all with what's going on on screen. (An exception is the climactic waterfall sequence, where the music is pretty good.)
I have an old videotape of a "Great Performances" showing of "Our Hospitality" from the late 80s or early 90s, with a magnificent orchestral score by Carl Davis. I wish THAT version was available on DVD, but it doesn't seem to be. But at least these films do have orchestral scores, and not piano or organ accompaniment--which can work well enough in a theatrical showing, if it's done well, but which in general diminishes any film it's attached to.
Rating:
Summary: Buster's all-time best, great score
Review: These are my two absolute favorite Buster Keaton films of all time. What good judgement of Kino to put them together in one VHS! I recommend this for BK beginners, unless you don't want to be spoiled by its pure excellence. Buster is at his most winning and athletic best in both. The digital remastering is top-notch, I could *almost* swear some scenes had been filmed last year. The score on Sherlock Jr. is a riot in itself. It's got everything thrown in: banjoes, violins, trumpets, sax, harmonicas, electric guitars.. Definitely above Kino's standard synthesized junk. My favorite bit is toward the end (SPOILER!) when Buster is in the shiny "new" car with the lovely lady, and the soundtrack switches to a James Bond riff. If you have only one Buster Keaton VHS/DVD in your collection, this is the one to own!
Rating:
Summary: A double feature to treasure
Review: Two of Buster Keaton's best feature films are showcased on this cassette, in beautiful video trasfers. OUR HOSPITALITY is Buster's take on the Hatfield and McCoy feud (the families here are called Canfield and McKay). Perhaps even more impressive than the very impressive comedy are the production itself: the sets, costumes, and props seem more authentic than those for most dramas set in the mid-1800's. This attention to detail truly enhances the comedy. SHERLOCK, JR. gets my vote as Buster's best feature. A wild film that parodies the detective films of the era, SHERLOCK, JR. contains some eye-popping effects that were done live on the set (the JURASSIC PARK age of special effects being some 70 years off). Fortunately for Keaton, he was his own best special effect. The film has been influential to modern film makers: Woody Allen stated that THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO was inspired by SHERLOCK, JR., and Arnold Schwarzenegger's THE LAST ACTION HERO is a reworking of SHERLOCK, JR.'s basic plotline.
Rating:
Summary: EVERYONE WILL LOVE THIS
Review: whether you are young, old, impatient or a film buff, I guarantee you will love Buster Keaton. His silent films are the best of all time and I definetly recommend, even if you don't like to watch movies. If you only watch one movie in your life, make it Sherlock Jr.
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