including a park, a lake, and a desert, through a series of cuts. This was unique at the time because there was a continuity to the scenes and this strategy had rarely been used by filmmakers before. Keaton and his cameraman were able to do this by using surveyor's instruments to position Keaton and the camera at exactly the right distances and positions to support the illusion of continuity. Reception Release and critical response Keaton first previewed the film in Long Beach, California. Although audience members gasped at some of the special effects, there were very few laughs, and Keaton began re-editing the film to make it funnier. However, the second preview screening was more disappointing than the first, and Keaton continued cutting the film down to a very short 5-reel film. Producer Joseph Schenck wanted Keaton to add another 1,000 feet of film (approximately 11 minutes), but Keaton refused. The film was retitled Sherlock Jr. and released on April 21, 1924. It made $448,337, slightly less than Three Ages. Keaton considered the film "alright [but] not one of the big ones", possibly due to the fact that it was his first real failure after a then 25-year career on stage and screen. Adding to the film's mediocre box office, Sherlock Jr. received mixed critical reviews. It received good reviews from The New York Times, which called it "one of the best screen tricks ever incorporated in a comedy", and Photoplay, which called it "rare and refreshing." Other positive notices came from The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and The Atlanta Constitution. Negative reviews included Picture Play, which wrote that it was devoid of "ingenuity and originality." Variety wrote it was as funny as "a hospital operating room." Edmund Wilson of The New Republic criticized Keaton's performance for not having enough character development and the film for having too much "machinery and stunts." Legacy In 2005, Time named Sherlock Jr. as one of the All-Time 100 Movies. The magazine stated "The impeccable comedian directs himself in an impeccable silent comedy... Is this, as some critics have argued, an example of primitive American surrealism? Sure. But let's not get fancy about it. It is more significantly, a great example of American minimalism—simple objects and movement manipulated in casually complex ways to generate a steadily rising gale of laughter. The whole thing is only 45 minutes long, not a second of