Rating: 
Summary: Long Live Pantomime!
Review: One of the early film pioneers, Charlie Chaplin jumped from studio to studio. He made 12 two-reelers (about 25 minutes each) under the MUTUAL studio. Here they are, almost 90 years later in a remastered DVD with a new soundtrack and proper timing. Here are the four offerings on this DVD:THE IMMIGRANT
Chaplin's Tramp is amongst many poor and weary travelers who long for freedom in the United States. Well, in 25 minutes we can't get into that, but we can see some of his pratfalls onboard the boat as well as his first meal in the States. THE ADVENTURER
The Tramp is a convict escaping from the law in this quirky comedy. The film has two major set pieces: the escape on the beach and the chase around his wealthy girlfriends home. Like "The Immigrant", this is a light diversion. THE CURE
Chaplin takes on alcoholism with this film and although it has great comic slapstick (his many run-ins with a revolving door is brilliant), he chose to leave the Tramp off of this film. By the end, mostly everyone is a bit inebriated. EASY STREET
The Tramp returns to take on the gang violence on Easy Street. Once again, Chaplin approaches a serious subject matter with comedy. Yes, we see poverty, spousal abuse and even drug use but it is all presented through a classic comedy filled with bumbling police officers.
Rating: 
Summary: Horribly crude stuff
Review: The Chaplin cult continues to amaze me as it is inexplicable to me that anyone could find anything hinting of greatness in any of these very crude comedy shorts. I agree that Chaplin's feature films were generally very goodbut this stuff is unfunny and uninspired. If I see Chaplin zip around that revolving door one more time, I will go mad! In another short, Chaplin gets everyone at an alcohol rehab center drunk - isn't that hilarious? He plays a cop in another and hits everyone in his path - talk about crude slapstick. I saw some of these played to a contemporary audience in a theatre recently and there wasn't a single laugh. The audience grew impatient and when the film finally ended, people said "was that it?" Until the late 20's, any Keaton, Lloyd, or Langdon film was infinitely better than the stuff that Chaplin turned out at the time. Keaton hasn't aged - Chaplin has.
Rating: 
Summary: The Chaplin Mutuals Vo.1
Review: The Mutuals are wonderful works of art. Chaplin is more than just comical actor, but a true genius. There are so many little things that he has worked into every scene, that one cannot just pick up by watching it once, but need to watch it over and over.
Rating:
Summary: The best of Chaplin's Mutual comedies are on Volume 1
Review: The two-reel comedies that Charlie Chaplin made during his one-year contract with the Mutual Film Corporation are considered his best shorts. Having been offered $500,000 from Essanay to stay, Chaplin signed with Mutual for $10,000 a week for one year and a $150,000 signing bonus. More important, Mutual gave Chaplin virtually complete control over his shorts as writer, director, and star. It was during this period that Chaplin refined his filmmaking techniques and set the stage for moving on to longer and better films, from "A Dog's Life" and "The Kid" to his silent feature films such as "The Gold Rush" and "Modern Times."
Fortunately Kino started restoring Chaplin's work with both Essanay and Mutual, tracking down the best surviving 35mm negatives, digitally mastering the prints to clean them up, and then adding re-orchestrated musical scores. "The Chaplin Mutuals, Volume 1" actually offers the last four of the dozen two-reelers Chaplin did for Mutual, all of which were released in 1917 and all of which co-starred Edna Purviance as the Tramp's leading lady and had Eric Campbell in the role of the heavy:
"The Immigrant" (Released June 17, 1917) is arguably the best of Chaplin's shorts. He filmed 24 hours of footage over two months to produce a 21-minute film when most two-reelers were shot in two days. When Chaplin began, filming the restaurant scene (with Campbell as the head waiter), the film was going to be about the bohemian life, but the scene was too short and he decided to make the Tramp and the young girl immigrants, creating the opening sequence on the boat and the happy ending. Starting with the simple gag of the Tramp leaning over the ship's railing turning out to be something other than what we think, "The Immigrant" is classic Chaplin.
"Easy Street" (January 22, 1917) would be my choice for the second best of the Chaplin Mutuals. Reformed by Edna, the Missionary's daughter, Chaplin plays a cop whose beat is a wretched slum area, hence the irony of the title. There is a short but intricate chase scene before Edna is kidnapped by a dope addict and has to be rescued by Charlie. On the one hand there is lots of slapstick in this one, but you also have a depiction of urban poverty and violence that is a bit unsettling if you can stop laughing long enough to think about what you are seeing.
"The Adventurer" (October 22, 1917), the last of the films Chaplin did for Mutual, has him Chaplin a convict who escapes after a lengthy chase scene and end up rescuing not only the lovely Edna, but her mother and obnoxious fiance. Hailed as a hero, and presumed to be a wealthy yachtsman as is so often the case in these comedies, Charlie is invited to a dinner party at the Judge's mansion where it is just a question of time before his true identity is revealed.
"The Cure" (April 16, 1917) has Chaplin as a wealthy inebriate who is trying to dry out at a sanitarium where once again the lovely Edna catches his eye. If you have ever seen a clip from this one it is probably Chaplin's comic use of the revolving door and the poor guy with the gouty foot. The big joke is that the supply of booze he has brought in a trunk to survive the experience of sobering up ends up being dumped into the mineral spring, which makes for a lot of happy people in the end.
With "The Immigrant" and "Easy Street" this collection offers two of the very best of Charlie Chaplin's two-reelers. If, for some reason you wanted to only pick up one of the three volumes in this set then this would definitely be the one. But I think the whole set is worthwhile, certainly superior to everything Chaplin did with Keystone and Esssanay and clearly setting the stage for what would follow. I had a class once where I showed one work from each of the five periods of Chaplin's career, defined by the studio he worked for, to show how he progressed from simple reelers like "The Fatal Mallet" to my favorite, "City Lights."
Rating:
Summary: Vintage Chaplin
Review: These are the last four of Charles Chaplin's twelve two-reelers for Mutual, and they are all top Chaplin entertainment. Made in 1916-17, they demonstrate Chaplin at his most inventive and funniest. The films are all about 25 mins long. Visually, this DVD is an excellent transfer, and it has newly scored music which fits quite well. Recommended to all fans of silent comedy, or generally all people who could need a good laugh. And besides, noone can impersonate a floor lamp like Chaplin could...
Rating:
Summary: A Stunning Success!
Review: With Chaplin, it is so important to be able to follow his facial expressions, and this series allows you to see these masterpieces like never before. Every moment of the restorations show love and care-you'll want all three volumes! Pair these with "The Unknown Chaplin" documentary, and experience genius at work.
Rating:
Summary: A Stunning Success!
Review: With Chaplin, it is so important to be able to follow his facial expressions, and this series allows you to see these masterpieces like never before. Every moment of the restorations show love and care-you'll want all three volumes! Pair these with "The Unknown Chaplin" documentary, and experience genius at work.
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