Product Details

• Actors: Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Henry Bergman, Claire Bloom, Jack Oakie
• Directors: Charles Chaplin
• Writers: Charles Chaplin
• Producers: Charles Chaplin, Carter DeHaven
• Format: Box set, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Original recording remastered, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Georgian, Thai
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 8
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• DVD Release Date: July 1, 2003
• Run Time: 404 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (161 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000096IBS
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #63,194 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "The Chaplin Collection, Vol. 1 (Modern Times / The Great Dictator / The Gold Rush / Limelight)" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

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Movies contained in this collection are: The Kid, The Count, The Pawn Shop, The Cure, Shanghaied, A Night at the Show, Idle Class, A Woman, The Bank, Pay Day.

Product Description

The Great Dictator Goldrush Limelight Modern TimesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: NR UPC: 085393794224

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

54 of 55 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars SILENCE IS GOLDEN IN THIS STUNNING BOX SET October 5, 2003

By Nix Pix

Format:DVD

Without a doubt, Charlie Chaplin is the reigning king of silent comedy. His impeccibly limber gesturing, sense of timing and evocative facial features have made him a landmark artist, a masterful film maker and one of the greatest talents to ever grace the silver screen. What more can be said; does it get any better than the little tramp?!? And now, Warner Home Video proves that it does, indeed get better; a lot, lot better. Having had to contend with poorly transferred, badly worn VHS and primative bootlegged DVD copies for years, the home video audience at last gets to witness Charlie in his best video incarnation ever! This box set features four classics from the Chaplin legacy; Modern Times, The Gold Rush, The Great Dictator and Limelight. In each case, Chaplin illustrates the art of making movies as no one before or since. Great fun!
THE TRANSFER: No expense has been spared in making each film sparkle as never before. The gray scale is incredibly rich and beautifully balanced. Blacks are deep. Contrast levels show off Charlie's make up. Fine detail is gloriously realized. Minor edge enhancement and some pixelization do occur but nothing to distract or even hint that anything but absolute care has been taken to make these films look as good as they possibly can. Almost all age related artifacts are gone. Truly, I can't say enough to recommend these transfers. The audio is mono and nicely balanced.
EXTRAS: Each disc comes with a brief featurette on Chaplin's legacy and some interesting supplimental extras including outtakes in some cases and interviews in others.
BOTTOM LINE: No more to be said: don't walk - RUN to your nearest video retailer and make the Chaplin Collection a part of your home video library!

88 of 94 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the reasons I love Charlie... January 17, 2004

By C. Johnson

Format:DVD

Say what you like about this film: it's too preachy, it's not focused, it's this, it's that, say whatever you like.

The facts, however, say it all.

This film was made at a time when most of America was anti-semitic, when no one wanted to think of getting involved with Europe's affairs, and when Chaplin's own art of pantomime had been lost in the onslaught of 'talkies'.

And for Chaplin to choose *this* premise for his farewell to the little Tramp-- turning his Tramp into a Jew and turning himself into Adolf Hitler-- well, it's nothing short of daring.

For those that prefer Charlie as just the funny little fellow, and not his serious side, there's enough slapstick in this film to satisfy even them: the comedic highs are the moments when no words are needed-- the misplaced grenade, the dance with the globe, or the shaving scene to Brahm's Hungarian Dance. But the film IS at its best when Chaplin's Adenoid Hynkel is shown as a stark raving madman, and he with Jack Oakie's 'Napaloni' expose the true ridiculousness and lunacy of it all.

Cynics have been known to call this film 'preachy', but as far as I'm concerned, it was awful gutsy of Chaplin to speak out on the issue-- and not just speak out, but to point a finger right in the face of Fascism and to charge it as a 'blunder' of humanity. For him to be *successful* in making us laugh on a subject that, in its essence, is not funny in the least really is a testimony to his abilities as an actor.

His other films may be better than this one, and it's not my personal favorite of his work, BUT: **this** is the film that made Charlie a hero in my eyes. And that sort of passion for speaking out in what you believe deserves Five stars anyday!

46 of 47 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Chaplin's crowning achievement! May 13, 2000

By Joe Comer

Format:DVD

One of the greatest satires ever filmed and Chaplin's most fully realized comedy. A beautiful blend of the usual Chaplin slapstick and pathos along with a very effective social and political commentary. Charlie is Adenoid Hynckle, dictator of an only slightly fictional country of Tomania. He also plays a Jewish ghetto barber. Both are played with such impeccable accuracy that to distinguish between them is extremely easy.Names are changed but this film is still the most effective film of Nazi Germany and Hitler's thankfully aborted attempt to take over the world. Chaplin's script never gets too preachy at least without an equal dose of satire. His approach is to make people laugh while teaching them at the same time. Nowhere is this more apparent than in his final monologue. After a predictable mistaken identity episode, Chaplin as the unnamed Jewish barber speaks of the horrors of Nazism. This climazes what may be the greatest performance in the history of comedy films. The greatest because it does more than simply make us laugh-it makes us think. The film earned Chaplin well deserved Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Screenplay and Actor. This is a film you must see.