Product Details

• Actors: Charlie Chaplin, 1914
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Kino International
• VHS Release Date: February 8, 1993
• Run Time: 56 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302686474
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #380,029 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Little Tramp's Evolution, July 21, 2010

By 

Scott T. Rivers (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Charlie Chaplin at Keystone Studios [VHS] (VHS Tape)

As silent-film buffs eagerly await Flicker Alley's "Chaplin at Keystone" DVD set, this out-of-print Kino video provides the best showcase of the Little Tramp's yearlong tenure with Mack Sennett's Fun Factory. Running nearly an hour, "Charlie Chaplin at Keystone Studios" features good transfers of five embryonic shorts from 1914: "Making a Living" (the comedian's villainous film debut), "Caught in a Cabaret," "Mabel's Busy Day," "The Masquerader" and "The Rounders" (a memorable teaming with Fatty Arbuckle). The knockabout slapstick and hints of pathos in these rough-edged Keystone exercises would lead to greater artistic glories at Essanay and Mutual. Recommended viewing for any admirer of early cinema.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Five Keystones of his career, February 20, 2009

By 

Annie Van Auken (Planet Earth) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Charlie Chaplin at Keystone Studios [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Mack Sennett's KEYSTONE studios were Charlie Chaplin's first cinematic home. He began to define the famous "Little Tramp" character with his second Sennett short. Although the Keystone brand of rapid fire slapstick and tight shooting schedules were points of contention for Charlie (as was being subordinate to Mabel Normand), he still managed to appear in 35 movies in 1914 (including the first feature-length comedy), making artistic progress with each and every one. Chaplin also wrote and directed many of these.

KINO's "Charlie Chaplin at Keystone Studios" consists of five short films.
Tape is recorded in SP mode and transfers are quite good. (Not available on DVD.)

CONTENTS--
MAKING A LIVING-- His screen debut as a trickful "dandy" beggar. After taking a newspaper job, the Swindler sees a car go over a cliff. He grabs a rival's camera and presents the photo in it as his own. He's then pursued by the angry fotog.

CAUGHT IN A CABARET-- Charlie the waiter rescues Mabel from a thug and is invited to dinner at her parents' home. The card he presents misidentifies Charlie as a Greek Ambassador. Mabel's jealous boyfriend follows him back to the restaurant, learns the truth and plans to expose her hero as a fraud.

MABEL'S BUSY DAY-- Chaplin as one of his music hall characters, the Tipsy Nuisance. Brief comedy showcases many early Keystone heavyweights, including Sennett himself.

THE MASQUERADER-- After getting kicked off a movie set for his bad acting, Charlie returns in full drag. Although the director likes "her," Chaplin still doesn't end up in the film.

THE ROUNDERS-- Two drunken sophisticates go off on a toot together. They disrupt a dinner crowd and end up passed out in a slowly sinking rowboat.


Parenthetical number preceding titles are 1 to 10 viewer poll ratings found at a film research website.

(5.3) Making a Living (1914) - CC/Virginia Kirtley/Alice Davenport/Henry Lehrman/Minta Durfee/Chester Conklin
(5.6) Caught in a Cabaret (1914) - CC/Mabel Normand/Harry McCoy/Chester Conklin/Edgar Kennedy/Minta Durfee/Alice Davenport (uncredited: Glen Cavender/Billy Gilbert/Mack Swain)
(5.4) Mabel's Busy Day (1914) - CC/Mabel Normand/Chester Conklin/Slim Summerville/Harry McCoy/Edgar Kennedy/Al St. John/Charley Chase/Mack Sennett
(5.8) The Masquerader (1914) - CC/Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle/Chester Conklin/Charles Murray/Minta Durfee/Cecile Arnold/Vivian Edwards/Harry McCoy/Charley Chase (uncredited: Mabel Normand/Billy Gilbert/Glen Cavender)
(6.3) The Rounders (1914) - CC/Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle/Phyllis Allen/Minta Durfee/Al St. John/Jess Dandy/Charley Chase (uncredited: Edgar Kennedy/Cecile Arnold/Edward F. Cline/Billy Gilbert)


Also from KINO:
SLAPSTICK ENCYCLOPEDIA, VOLUME 5 - CHAPLIN & CO. contains over two hours of shorts by Charlie, Stan Laurel and Chaplin "clones" Billy West and Billy Ritchie, plus the chameleonlike Lupino Lane. (VHS)