Buster Keaton THE BALLOONATIC and SHERLOCK HOLMES the DYING DETECTIVE

Event information

A double bill this time. The Balloonatic is a joyous 'short' written by and starring Buster Keaton.

A young man (Keaton) has a series of encounters in an amusement area, much like Coney Island, until happening upon a group of men preparing a gas balloon for launch. The young man assists the group by climbing atop the balloon to affix a pennant, when the balloon mistakenly takes flight with no one aboard but the young man. The young man finally downs the balloon in a wilderness area, where he encounters a young outdoorswoman and proceeds to have a series of misadventures.

The Dying Detective is a 1921 British short film directed by Maurice Elvey. The film is the first in the Stoll Pictures' short film series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Mike Hatchard has a passion to restore the art of movie accompaniment, a profession that was lost almost entirely with the advent of the 'talkies'. A fascinating art that requires improvisatory skills and razor sharp reaction and which, in the hands of the right practitioner, always evokes a rapturous reception. Mike is not a purist - his music draws on more contemporary sources to produce scores that modern audiences can relate to easily rather than relying on twenties pastiche.