Keaton’s tribute to detective fiction also pioneered taking films about movie love to a higher plane. Mild-mannered film projectionist Keaton shakes off mix-ups with girlfriend Kathryn McGuire and her father Joe Keaton (Buster’s own dad) by dreaming himself into onscreen action as the titular suave sleuth, with those in his orbit also transferred into the narrative. The ingenuity of the gags beautifully enhances the reliability of the “what if I could” fantasy motif.

4K DCP restoration done in conjunction with Cineteca di Bologna with Tim Brock orchestral score

Followed by:

Steamboat, Jr. (Buster Keaton, 1928, U.S., 71m, 4K DCP)

Mississippi riverboat captain Ernest Torrence contends with rival Tom McGuire, whose daughter Marion Byron is sweet on the former’s scarcely ship-shape son Keaton, who has to step up once a cyclone descends. Keaton refines themes including generational pride, and also finesses escalating jeopardy, including the iconic ne plus ultra of his still-astonishing collapsing-structure tableaux, achieved within a mere three-inch margin of error.

4K DCP restoration done in conjunction with Cineteca di Bologna with Carl Davis orchestral score