Customer Reviews

Chaplin's Essanay Comedies, Vol. 02

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First of all, I am reviewing the Image dvd of Chaplin's Essanay Comedies, Vol. 02. The Madacy product that this review might appear on is grossly inferior to this edition, and is to be shunned with all your might.

We have here five Chaplin films and a guest appearance. The guest appearance is forgettable, as is the rest of the movie that the appearance is in. Two of these films are Chaplin treading water, "By the Sea" and "A Woman". "A Woman" is only important for trivial reasons, because Chaplin makes his last appearance in drag, with astonishing results.

The other films, though, are key to the Chaplin legacy. "Work" is his most political statement yet, with it's condemnation of bosses and managers via Charlie's boss, who sits in the back of a cart while Charlie draws it forwardthrough streets and up impossible hills. This film is so ridiculous that you wonder how on earth it came together to fit so well.

"The Bank" is important in that we have a truly sad ending, with Charlie's unrequited love rejected twice, and reasons for his hopes to get up twice too.

"The Tramp" is Charlie's most important Essanay film, the one that establishes his tramp as a character with depth. This film is more than a collection of gags, it's a story, and the ending is a shock. Chaplin would later learn how to engender his audience's sympathies before the end of the film, but in this film, we cannot help but feel sorry for the tramp, as he walks out of the picture in one of his most famous scenes ever.

These films were painstakingly restored by David Sheperd's "Film Preservation Associates" after a ten-year search for footage. What we have is the most complete versions of the Chaplin Essanay films possible, something that hasn't been seen in almost 80 years. This means, however, that sometimes the scene in a film will change dramatically, from a clear, good print to a worse, grainy, and scratchy print, and back again. But we must put up with such defects if we expect to enjoy these films at all, for the alternative is to see prints which, while consistent, are missing somtimes 20% of the footage originally in the film

The scores are well done, and the video compression is excellent.

And now for the rant, hinted at above...

It is possible to see these same films in a much cheaper edition from Madacy or Koch video, or numerous other companies. Don't do it. These companies have taken poor quality sources, sometimes cutting out a fifth of the frame, added lousy soundtracks, and thrown their product out in nice looking packaging for low prices. This product is unsatisfactory, though, as it is difficult to watch, and really doesn't show Chaplin in a good light. Do search out dvds made by the Image company, or tapes made by Kino, becuase these companies have the restorations that are worth watching. You will be glad you did!

This is the long awaited "restored" version of Charlie Chaplin's Essanay comedies. Unfortunately when I say "restored," I mean to the best quality possible; Chaplin himself had the original negatives incinerated when he moved from California to Europe in the early 1950's. He was unable to have all of his work shipped over seas. This was the case for both the Essanay films and the Mutual Films. The First National films as well as his feature films were the ones that he kept. When they restored the Essanay and the Mutual films, they tried to find the earliest prints in the best condition that were still available. This means that some films or parts of films will be in better condition than others. In the case of the Mutual films alternate takes were used in the film restoration process (a Chaplin employee had kept footage that was supposed to be thrown away). Even though extra footage doesn't exist for the Essanay comedies, the "Chaplin's Essanay Comedies Vol. 1, 2, and 3" on DVD (manufactured through Image Entertainment) are probably the highest quality that you will ever see for these films. They were restored through David Shepard's company "Film Preservation Associates," who restored the Chaplin Mutual films (available on DVD from Image Entertainment in three volumes) several years ago. Also, they created new musical scores by Robert Israel and Eric James which fit the tone of each of the films in the collection. It's amazing that these films still survive in as good a condition as they are in.

For the films themselves, this is classic comedy at its finest. Both "The Tramp" and "A Burlesque on `Carmen' " are among my favorite Chaplin films. But, all of these films still maintain their entertainment value even after 86 years. You won't be able to sit through one without laughing at the predicaments that Charlie gets himself into and then gets himself out of.

I am only a teenager and like most boys my age I love toilet humor.
So when my Social Studies teacher said we will be watching some Charlie Chaplin videos I was a little closed minded like everyone else.
The video we watched was Work, and just after about 5 minites of watching I was a Chaplin fan. The gags in the short little flim are ever bit as fun and funny as the day they were released. Some of my classmates just fell asleep, because they're too closed minded, but I would still recomened this stuff to any person young and old. He will give an ear to ear grin on the front of your melon. Chaplin rules.

This review is also of the Image DVD of Chaplin's Essanay Comedies, Vol. 02.

Sometimes I just despair about modern composers trying to write background music for silent movies. Why is this so much harder than writing for sound films--and we certainly have plenty of movies around these days with perfectly fitting music, don't we? What about Randy Newman's delightful music in "Monsters, Inc."? Why can't good composers like this catch the bug to write for great comedies of the past?

Robert Israel is a great organist, and when I lived is So Cal I heard him accompany many silent films at UCLA. Maybe he just needs a live audience to encourage him to emphasize comic moments onscreen, but whatever it was that inspired him, his music accompanying Harold Lloyd films really made them come ALIVE. Unfortunately, I have always been disappointed by his pre-composed music he did for DVDs; compared to his live performances, they always seem lacking in the necessary whimsy for the comedic action, and sometimes even perfunctory. For these Chaplin films, his music is better than most, but for many of the films he does not change style or tempo to fit the action as well as he might. For instance, in the movie "Work", Israel composes perfectly acceptable music; the trouble is that without sound effects, the rhythms of the film do not always come across and the music mostly just keeps grinding pleasantly away without helping the comedy very much. In the last half of this film, a stove keeps blowing up, while the music remains a sweet little waltz; this is perfectly cute and would work fine if we could hear the explosions, but we cannot, so much of the effect is lost--the surprises seem too small and are lost in the bulk of the frantic acting. Then suddenly, at 15:28, the music matches a spectacular fall. This is very effective, and it seems incomprehensible that the music refuses to continue corresponding to the picture.

The big happy exception is "The Bank", which I consider the best film of this bunch, and Israel outdoes himself with the music to this. He still misses some specific moments, but every scene has its mood-music fit-to-a-T, and the effect is delightful. It's a great little film with excellent accompaniment. Of itself this film is worth the price of the DVD. Israel seems also particularly at home with the "Fotoplayer", an antique musical instrument he plays in this compilation's final, rather grotesque, movie: "His Regeneration". Too bad it's not a comedy.

Eric James' piano work is similarly fine, and similarly misses much of the point in a lot of the comedy. But for the most part he's pretty good, and he does change mood to fit the action. Probably with a large crowd of people making clucking noises, the music would seem even more benevolent; these are not the world's funniest movies anyway, so there may be only so much anyone can do to help them along.

They are not great soundtracks, but they don't hurt anything, either. They just make me shake my head and wonder why...

I miss the type of organist who punctuates the action all along with not only widely varied music, but glissandos, chord clusters, ominous low tones, musical question marks and emphatic periods;

I miss the type of 1910s and 1920s and 1930s soundtracks set exactly to fit the moods and tempos of the crazy action without any apologies: fast and mechanical music one moment, slow and satirically syrupy the next, or generically jazzy while the characters diddle around and sound effects bring the action to life.

...Why can't anyone DO this anymore??

The "restoration" of these films is honorable, and some of the images are surprisingly clear. But here and there something or another important has been omitted: in the scene where Chaplin slips donuts around a long knife, there is MISSING a title card that reads: "I do this trick in my bath - when I have one." There is originally another title card that explains why the father suddenly throws Charlie out of the house at the end, but this card is missing, too.

Now I'm not one to enjoy intertitles very much, and mostly I wish they were deleted, as they are often unnecessary, too long, and interfere with the tempo of the movies. But in this case we're being deprived of critical information... I also wish that the original title cards were used, not newly-printed ones that do not match the charming antique quality of the film.

The DVD menu is graciously simple and clear, and has no repetitive moving images or loud obnoxious stupid music. Thank you!

I love Charles S. Chaplin. In the sixties, TV sets were not so common as they are today and the only way for me to see films then was to be invited to go to the movies or to attend the weekly movie of the school's cine-club. Fortunately, our teacher had a good taste and I had the luck to discover Buster Keaton, Harry Langdon, Charles Chaplin and many others during this period. OK ! It was Nostalgy time and it's over.

The overall quality of Madacy's CHAPLIN #2 shows a little improvement in comparison with the #1 that was one of the worst DVDs I have seen in the streets. Not that Madacy has suddenly decided to clean the copies but because I suppose that the available copies were simply in a better shape. It's always under-average quality but let's rejoice anyway ! Furthermore, the music is rather agreeable this time. At last, the program presented here is very interesting and cannot be compared with the three shorts presented in the first volume.

CHARLIE'S RECREATION (1914) allows us to see Chaplin before the tramp disguise and creation that will make a star from him. But it's WORK (1915) that, alone, justifies the US$ 7 you will have to pay for the DVD. One of the first masterpieces of the genius.

A DVD for the archeologists ones.