Customer Reviews

Chaplin At Keystone: An International Collaboration of 34 Original Films

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David Shepard gave a sneak preview of these new DVDs at the Niles-Essanay Film Museum's Edison Theater on Friday September 24th 2010. He called it the "World Wide Premier" of these restorations. Eight years in the making, and it is finally here! RESTORED KEYSTONE COMEDIES with Charlie Chaplin.

Imagine seeing the Keystone Chaplins projected on a theater screen, most looking as good as the Chaplin Mutual restorations! Seven films from this set were shown to an amazed audience. All were accustomed to the washed out, fuzzy, jumpy videos that have been on the market for ages, making it hard to enjoy the films. Now they are razor sharp, with perfect contrast & stabilized images. The projection speed has been slowed down, now you have time to see Charlie's facial reactions & body mannerisms. At this corrected speed these comedies feel more mature, Chaplin's genius is more apparent.

David explained that all of these comedies on the DVD set were sourced from multiple archival prints (30 different prints were used to make the most complete version of TILLIE'S PUNCTURED ROMANCE). Most of the time it is not apparent when the source material changes. ALL films are mastered from 35mm archive sources except "RECREATION" which had to use 16mm prints for several sequences missing from the existing 35mm sources.

Here are the seven 1914 comedies from this set that were shown in the theater, six of which looked perfect.

The first one shown, MABEL'S STRANGE PREDICAMENT (with & directed by Mabel Normand, w/ Chester Conklin, Alice Davenport & Billy Gilbert), was the weakest restoration as negative spots appeared through out the short. I thought it was odd to start the show with this comedy as it kind of set the tone that these will be sharp & clear, but with defects. The short was fun and watchable, David did explain that some master material was beyond full restoration. I wonder what Industrial Light & Magic could have done to clean it up. Each frame would have to be re-toned to take out the spots. But the good news is that the film quality got better after this.

CAUGHT IN THE RAIN (Chaplin's first solo directed film, w/ Mack Swain & Alice Davenport) was a big improvement and this quality was retained for the rest of the show. The bulk of the film is from a clean & clear 35mm Nitrate master. A few sequences had to be taken from a 35mm Nitrate source that was deteriorating, but these are brief. I am glad they were included to complete the film, and remind us of how fragile these original source films are.

MASQUERADER (with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Chester Conklin, Mabel Normand, Charles Parrot "aka Charlie Chase", & Billy Gilbert) looks like it was filmed yesterday. It is hard to believe that these films were cranked out in days, this and the next two were all filmed in the same month.

THE ROUNDERS (co-staring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, w/ Al St. John, Charles Parrott "aka Charlie Chase", & Billy Gilbert) keeps the picture-perfect restoration. Here Fatty & Charlie are much like a comedy team, leading to questions about this from the audience during intermission. I imagine Charlie would have tired of sharing the screen time and any comedy team would not have lasted long. I didn't realize that "Rounders" was a then popular phrase for "Bar Hoppers".

THE NEW JANITOR (w/ Al St. John) is also pristine. It was mentioned that Chaplin recalled using this short to broaden his acting to include Pathos, however a scene he describes where his character talks about his family after being fired from his job is not in any existing prints. It is possible that Charlie miss-remembered this as a similar scene exists in the short "His New Profession" that was filmed that same month.

HIS MUSICAL CAREER (w/ Mack Swain, Charles Parrot "aka Charlie Chase", & Billy Gilbert), another pristine presentation, will interest Laurel & Hardy Fans as Charlie & Mack attempt to deliver a large piano up a flight of stairs. These are steep wooden stairs going up to the second floor of a house, as opposed to the long concrete staircase going up a hillside for Stan & Ollie, but the similarity makes one wonder.

DOUGH AND DYNAMITE (w/ Chester Conklin, Slim Somerville, & Charles Parrot "aka Charlie Chase"is a two-reeler mastered solely from a 35mm paper negative stored at the Copyright Office. It is one of only two Keystone Chaplin comedies that were copyrighted. Since this paper negative was never used to make release prints (its sole purpose was to enforce a copyright), it gives a rare opportunity to see a Chaplin film just the way someone would have seen it the very day it got released to the theaters. This is complete, including the mid-reel notice "Part Two of this comedy will be seen in a minute" followed by the part 2 title card. In the old Nickelodeon days, there would have been only one film projector (most of the films were just 1 reel then). When the 10 minute reel of film would end, the projectionist would have to take time to thread up the next film to show. In the case of a two-reel or longer film, this meant brief 1 minute intermissions every 10 minutes! David explained that running two projectors in one theater did not become commonplace until the 1920's when longer films became more common.

While it was not shown, we were informed that TILLIE'S PUNCTURED ROMANCE contains every reel change notice through out the film, so that we can experience it the very way the original theater goers experienced it in 1914. 30 film sources were used to make this complete print. This one has looked good on previous videos, now it will be complete.

I can not comment on any other shorts in this set as they were not shown & David did not comment specifically on any of them, outside of RECREATION being a mix of 35mm & 16mm sources.
MAKING A LIVING
KID AUTO RACES IN VENICE
BETWEEN SHOWERS
A FILM JOHNNIE
TANGO TANGLES
HIS FAVORITE PASTIME
CRUEL, CRUEL LOVE
THE STAR BOARDER
MABEL AT THE WHEEL (2 reels)
TWENTY MINUTES OF LOVE
CAUGHT IN THE CABARET (2 reels)
A BUSY DAY (split reel released with non Chaplin THE MORNING PAPER)
THE FATAL MALLET
THE KNOCKOUT (2 reels)
MABEL'S BUSY DAY
MABEL'S MARRIED LIFE
LAUGHING GAS
THE PROPERTY MAN (2 REELS)
THE FACE ON THE BAR ROOM FLOOR
RECREATION (split reel released with non Chaplin THE YOSEMITE)
THE NEW PROFESSION
THOSE LOVE PANGS
TILLIE'S PUNCTURED ROMANCE (6 reels)
GENTLEMEN OF NERVE
HIS TRYSTING PLACE (2 reels)
GETTING AQUAINTED
HIS PREHISTORIC PAST (2 reels)

It should be noted that one comedy is missing from this set: HER FRIEND THE BANDIT is considered a LOST FILM and no print was located.

Oh and you CHARLIE CHASE fans, watch for him making cameo appearances in several of these films!

It's always been my belief that Charlie Chaplin's Keystone comedies rank alongside his best work as clever and funny films in their own right, and now with this fabulously restored boxed set from Flicker Alley, that belief has been amply confirmed.

For decades these films have had significance in the minds of historians only because Chaplin created his tramp character at Keystone, this despite the fact that he made 36 movies while at the studio in 1914 - a considerable output. For the most part though, the Keystones have been unfairly dismissed as unimportant and primitive in their knockabout comedic style. This opinion has been fostered largely because the films, which were hugely popular in their day, have been available in very poor quality prints with improperly sped up projection and inappropriate musical accompaniment. This kind of careless presentation through the years gave a wrong impression and hid the true merits that the Keystone films contain. Roughly 95% of the material in this new collection has been pieced together from 35mm nitrate sources so that we can now better appreciate the importance of the films and view them as they were intended to be seen.

Chaplin's tramp is already the familiar "little fellow" in these films, and he displays a knack for mischief - like the early Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny - which he gradually discarded in his later work but in retrospect is very refreshing to see. The pathos Chaplin became so famous for may not be as evident in the Keystones, but everything else - the costume and make-up, the body language, the facial expressions, the waddling walk - is all there right from the start. This period laid the groundwork for what followed, and we can see many of the comedy situations in the Keystones that figured into Chaplin's later films for Essanay and Mutual. On the other hand, some of the things Chaplin does in the Keystones are sans the tramp character, being carry overs from his days in the London music halls which makes these films special in that sense alone. The fact that they were largely shot outdoors in local streets and parks also makes them a fascinating historical record of the Los Angeles area in the early 20th century.

Finally the time has arrived for us to re-assess the value of Charlie Chaplin's formative first year in films and this superlative DVD set from Flicker Alley has thankfully made this possible.

Exactly what was it that made Charlie Chaplin so popular in the very beginning of his film career? The question has puzzled many, even well-known authorities on the subject. Playwright and critic Walter Kerr came up with the (in my opinion somewhat far-fetched) theory that Chaplin with his Keystone-films made his audience a "promise," whereas poet Lars Forssell in his analysis on Chaplin remains bewildered as to why the comedian at all was considered so extraordinary more or less from the start.

What Kerr and Forssell did not acknowledge was that Chaplin's Keystone-films, being so immensely popular in their day, underwent treatment which did not do their creator any justice. His films were being re-cut and re-edited over and over again by insensitive hands, taking full advantage of the fact that Chaplin did not legally own his films at that point. Add this with how poorly celluloid tends to age, and you're left with a rusty if not downright disturbing experience.

Until BFI's restorations on the Chaplin-Keystones were finally released a few weeks back, no soul could imagine just to what degree the original pleasure of his first films had been obliterated. I had personally been waiting six years for this set to become true, and am happy to tell that it was worth every hour. Now, we are finally able to study Chaplin's evolvement both as an actor, director and story constructor during his first year in the medium of celluloid, and what's more, we're forced to recognize that the reason why Chaplin made it big so quickly was because he made damn funny films from the very beginning.

First of all, I want to tip my hat in gratitude to everyone involved in this project. Several of the films are crystal sharp, as though they've been led to the spring of youth, and even when that's not quite the case, it's still a hundred times better than what has been available in the past. Original nitrate-prints have been used whenever accessible, making a section of the previously unwatchable one-reeler RECREATION in perfect shape. A number of talents have been involved in the musical arrangements, some well known (Robert Israel) and some more obscure, but it is evident that everyone has been equally anxious to do the films justice.

As for the films themselves, I'm thrilled (though not really surprised) to confirm that the more than thirty films which Chaplin made at Keystone during the single year of 1914 all in all stand as much, much better than we've been tricked to beleive previously. A film like A FILM JOHNNIE has all of a sudden been transformed into something more than a vaguely amusing parody on early film-making; restored and played at the proper speed, it is actually a very funny little film, with several sure-fire gags which previously went over my head. Even at this early point, Chaplin's pantomime is often remarkably subtle; in THOSE LOVE PANGS, he picks up a fork in order to cause his rival Chester Conklin severe pain in the latter's rear end...a vulgar bit of business in itself, but what makes Chaplin different from his Keystone-contemporaries is his way of building up our expectations with the gag. He isn't just a mere slave to his own twisted ideas; on the contrary, he examines the fork thoroughly, glances at us, making sure that we're in on the joke, and...OUCH!! This sort of performing was more advanced for film comedy of 1914 than anybody alive today can fully grasp.

Other than his inevitable pantomimic skills, Chaplin's abilities as a story constructor are also hastily maturing throughout the four discs, making films like THE NEW JANITOR and DOUGH AND DYNAMITE quite complex. Indeed, some films are better than others (in MABEL'S BUSY DAY, for instance, Chaplin appears to be somewhat bewildered as to in what direction the film is going), but it is invariably a pleasure to see every one of them restored, making it possible to judge them fairly. We won't ever see them in their proper context (unless a time-machine is invented and takes us back to the turbulent year of 1914), but thanks to the restorations of BFI, we're at least given access to the second best thing: to see these films as sharp and well-trimmed as they once were, and finally get to understand just why producer Mack Sennett was told to do more Chaplin-films as quickly as possible only a few weeks after the latter's debut, on a day when Sennett in fact had considered firing the comedian.

I couldn't have realized it at the time but I have waited 46 years for this set to be released. I first encountered Charlie Chaplin at a Shakey's Pizza Parlor in Greenville, South Carolina back in 1964. These were 8mm home movie copies and the picture quality was dreadful although I didn't think that then. All I knew was that the fellow in the derby hat made me laugh and I was strangely attracted to his occasional leading lady Mabel Normand. Fast forward a quarter of a century. Chaplin's feature films began to appear on home video but not his early comedies and certainly not his earliest efforts at Keystone before he became a star. By the start of the 21st century his first starring comedies for Essanay and Mutual had been restored and were made available but the Keystones still languished because no one thought they were of any real value. That's because no one had seen them the way they were first shown. Until now. This latest release from Flicker Alley rectifies that oversight and proves to be a revelation.

After an unprecedented 8 year effort of combing the world's archives for every available print, silent film specialist David Shepard of Blackhawk Films and Film Preservation Associates along with the British Film Institute, Lobster Films of Paris and Italy's Cineteca Bologna have found and restored 34 of Chaplin's first 35 short films allowing us to watch him develop as a movie performer and see the birth of a cinematic icon as he creates and refines his famous Tramp character. No versions of these early Chaplin efforts survived in original form having been re-edited many times and virtually re-printed out of existence due to their initial popularity. By restoring them as close as possible to their original look with original intertitles and by scoring them properly and projecting them at the right speed, CHAPLIN AT KEYSTONE has given us an unprecedented glimpse back into cinematic time. We can literally watch the beginning of the movie industry in California and see pictures of a long vanished world and the people who inhabited it. One of the comedies, A FILM JOHNNIE, actually takes us behind the scenes at how a Keystone movie was made circa 1914. The set also makes available the few directorial efforts of one of the movies' first female pioneers, comedienne Mabel Normand.

In addition to all but one of Chaplin's short films, this set contains the UCLA restoration of the first feature length comedy TILLIE'S PUNCTURED ROMANCE with Chaplin, Normand, and Marie Dressler which can be heavy going today to the uninitiated. I had never seen this movie in its original form complete with opening and closing curtain appearances and title cards for reel changes and projected at the right speed. It makes a big difference. While never a big fan of TILLIE, I can now see why it was once so popular. Selling for $80 retail, this set will only appeal to those who are interested in Chaplin or in silent comedy. However for your money, in addition to the films, you get a whole host of extras including a 40 page booklet with rare photographs and background on the titles included and two special features. One is on the film restoration that took place and on the other is on the original filming locations as they appear today. An absolutely invaluable and indispensible set. Now if only some of the other non-Chaplin Keystones could receive the same treatment. They are the equivalent to silent comedy what D. W. Griffith's Biograph shorts are to silent drama and deserve to be rediscovered.

This is it folks. 34 painstakingly restored Keystone films showcasing the evolution of Charlie Chaplins early film career. Featuring the films he made at Mack Sennets Keystone studios in 1914. Including 16 films directed by Charlie Chaplin himself. The films have all new musical scores from Eric Beheim, Neil Brand, Antonio Coppola, Frederick Hodges, Stephen Horne, Robert Israel, Rodney Sauer, The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, Ethan Uslan, and Ken Winokur. All films fully restored from the best 35mm elements gathered from around the world and painstakingly pieced together and restored by the British Film Institute National Archive, the Cineteca Bologna and its laboratory L'Immagine Ritrovata in Italy, and Lobster Films in Paris. A process which has taken 8 years to complete. This set is a must for all Chaplin fans and those interested in silent cinema. Many other stars feature alongside Chaplin such as Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle, Mabel Normand, Mack Swain, Ford Sterling, Chester Conklin, Edgar Kennedy, Billy Gilbert, Charley Chase and Marie Dressler.

The Films -

MAKING A LIVING
KID AUTO RACES AT VENICE, CAL
MABEL'S STRANGE PREDICAMENT
BETWEEN SHOWERS
A FILM JOHNNIE
TANGO TANGLES
HIS FAVORITE PASTIME
CRUEL, CRUEL LOVE
THE STAR BOARDER
MABEL AT THE WHEEL
TWENTY MINUTES OF LOVE
CAUGHT IN A CABARET
CAUGHT IN THE RAIN
A BUSY DAY
THE FATAL MALLET
THE KNOCKOUT
MABEL'S BUSY DAY
MABEL'S MARRIED LIFE
LAUGHING GAS
THE PROPERTY MAN
THE FACE ON THE BAR ROOM FLOOR
RECREATION
THE MASQUERADER
HIS NEW PROFESSION
THE ROUNDERS
THE NEW JANITOR
THOSE LOVE PANGS
DOUGH AND DYNAMITE
GENTLEMAN OF NERVE
HIS MUSICAL CAREER
HIS TRYSTING PLACES
GETTING ACQUAINTED
HIS PREHISTORIC PAST
TILLIE'S PUNCTURED ROMANCE (Feature Length)

The Extras -

* Charlie's White Elephant (1916, 6 minutes): an animation by John Colman Terry and Hugh Shields featuring Chaplin.
* Inside the Keystone Project (2010, 10 minutes): a short documentary about international restoration efforts behind the films in this collection
* Silent Traces (2010, 12 minutes): historian John Bengston on several of the Keystone locations
* Extracts from A Thief Catcher (1914,7 minutes): a film recently rediscovered by Paul E Gierucki, with a cameo of Chaplin as a Keystone Cop
* Stills Gallery
* Illustrated booklet written by Jeffrey Vance

This set of discs is everything it claims and everything mentioned in the glowing reviews above, but with one very important caveat: the much-touted restoration of these films, while very much in evidence, is sadly lacking much of the time. The producers of the set, several of the world's best known film archives, go to great pains to explain how shoddy, unreliable and inconsistent their source materials were, and it should be said that these discs certainly surpass any previous video release of Chaplin's work at Keystone. Yet many of these shorts still contain high levels of scratches, spotting and evidence of deterioration, of the sort which can and should have been eliminated manually. It is a tedious, time-consuming and labour intensive process, but it can be and has been done with many other silent films. Sadly, this is likely to be the definitive release of the Keystone shorts for many years to come: one expects more from the likes of the BFI, Cineteca di Bologna, Paris-based Lobster films and especially Association Chaplin.

To see how good restoration can really be, try to get your hands on Blackhawk's release of Charlie Chaplin, the Early Years.

I really wanted to be a Chaplin-completist. I did it. All 81 films. But, I was always bummed, by the terrible video-quality, of the Keystones. Well Brother!, no more!

These Prints look amazing!

I had seen previous Prints where heads' of actors were cropped-off!, and entire scenes were almost completely washed-out. I suffered through it, figuring that I'd just never see them in better quality. But, witnessing these high-quality Prints has given me soo much more respect, for why Chaplin become so popular, so quickly. He out-shines all the other actors (although, *tip-of-the-hat* to Roscoe Fatty Arbukle...serious, he's really good, and crazy-athletic! And, Fatty's wife, Minta Durfee, is really cute...she's in some of the Films as well).

I haven't watched all these yet. BUT, OH I WILL!

I've watched "Making a Living" through "Cruel, Cruel, Love". And, I've watched the special-features (amazing photo-gallery by-the-way!), but all the films I've seen so far, are GREAT quality!

I can't say enough good things. If you love Chaplin, just buy it already.

I'll start out by saying that I consider Chaplin to be the greatest silent comedian and that I own all of his movies. This doesn't necessarily create a bias towards his movies however. In fact, I don't really feel that Chaplin really took off as an artist until his Mutual period (1916-1917) when he softened the tramp character. Prior to 1916, we seem glimpses of what he was to become, but at this point the tramp is a pretty rough and tumble slap stick character. The Keystone films, which represent his first year in movies up until now have been virtually unwatchable. With washed out, contrasty scenes, to missing footage and incorrect projection speed, these films that have been beaten down by time have been passed off as mere curiosities in my collection. These restorations have changed my attitude towards these movies. These pictures are now watchable. And now that they are clear, the stories make more sense. Subtle nuances and gestures which were a Chaplin hallmark can now be seen the way they were intended. The eye stain inducing speed and picture quality (or lack thereof)are now a thing of the past. I am actually WATCHING these movies for the first time. Bravo to everyone involved in these restorations. If you are a Chaplin fan, these are the Keystones you have been waiting for. It is doubtful they will get any better than this. While the tramp I love is still missing, these clever comedies chart the evolution of a cinematic master who changed the way that movies are made and characters developed. If you have only a mere, passing interest in Chaplin, then watching his classics like The Kid, The Gold Rush, The Circus, or City Lights might be a better place to start.

I can't say enough good things about this set. All 34 surviving films Chaplin made at Keystone in one 4 disc set...it's a collector's dream come true! The restoration on these films is amazing considering what they had to work with in some cases. For years we couldn't properly appraise the Chaplin Keystone films, washed out and incomplete prints, often re-edited and running at a faster speed, were all that were available to the public...until now!

However, this set is not only a celebration of Charlie Chaplin and the birth of "The Little Fellow", but also the other Keystone legends. Mabel Normand, Roscoe Arbuckle, Ford Sterling, Chester Conklin, Charley Chase, Al St. John, Edgar Kennedy (with hair!!!) and even the boss, Mack Sennett, join in on the fun!

My only complaint with the set is there could have been commentary tracks on some key shorts by Chaplin and Keystone experts. Other than that, this set is perfect. Enjoy!

Appreciation and assessment of Chaplin's Keystone period has long been hampered by the fragmentary and overall poor condition of the surviving Keystone prints. The material that had survived was frequently reissued as-is or cut or rehashed further, and sometimes paired with whatever public domain music was at hand. Even the best distributors, like Blackhawk Films, first had to make do with cut-down prints, some of which were expanded on video, but still not complete.

"Chaplin at Keystone," from Flicker Alley, should probably be considered restoration in progress rather than the last word. Some of these shorts may be as complete as we will ever have them. The print of "Tillie's Punctured Romance" in this set is probably definitive, a big step up from the old Blackhawk Films/Image release (which was a phenomenal step up from Blackhawk's old film release). Others are patchwork restoration from multiple sources, the number of which suggests that nitrate's day may not be done just yet, and that other prints could be out there. It is a little jarring to have a scene in first-generation quality suddenly fade into third or fourth-generation haziness, but at least we can now see the entire scene without the sudden jumps and cuts that have made the Keystone comedies seem like more of a hash than they really were.

While movies like "Making a Living," "Mabel's Busy Day," and even "Tillie's Punctured Romance" don't become better comedies via restoration, we can at least come closer to seeing what audiences saw in 1914 as Chaplin developed from an uneasy film performer to a full-fledged comedy presence (independent of his stage success). The music, everything from piano to Cremona to orchestra, is fully appropriate, underscoring the action without overpowering or undercutting it. The accompanying booklet with an essay by Jeffery Vance and restoration notes is excellent.

There may be a few better individual restorations out there, but for the Chaplin Keystones as a whole, this collection is the best presentation of the group, and a good starting point for anyone studying Chaplin's movie career and its beginnings.