What It's About:

In Our Hospitality, a New Yorker (Keaton) travels South with a new gal pal (Talmadge) only to wind up in the middle of a Southern-style family feud. And in Sherlock Jr., a heartbroken film projectionist (Keaton again) who fantasizes about being a savvy sleuth like Sherlock Holmes finds himself stuck inside the film he's showing one afternoon after dozing off. Resolving an affair that has made him miserable in real life, his Holmesian double pursues an oily rival (Ward Crane) whos stolen an expensive watch from his own sweetheart (Kathryn McGuire).

Why I Love It:

Keaton pioneered the frenetic, fast-paced brand of physical comedy that Woody Allen, among others, later improvised upon, and turned it into a crazed art form. "Hospitality," for instance, is an inspired goof on genteel Southern honor. But "Sherlock Jr." goes one step further, utilizing a vast array of witty, brilliant visual tricks-including a dream image of Keaton leaving his body, a torrent of abrupt scene changes, and a railroad-track gag that literally broke the actor-director's neck. Keaton is at his most imaginative in "Our Hospitality" and "Sherlock Jr.," hilarious adventures that will leave you, like the nutty star himself, in stitches.