Chaplin Collection

Rating:
Summary: Don't buy it
Review: Don't buy this DVD. Poor image quality and terrible soundtrack. Cheap, but you get what you pay for. For good quality Chaplin silent films on DVD, buy The Chaplin Mutuals, Vol. 1, 2, 3, published by Image.

Rating:
Summary: Wow - what a piece of junk!
Review: First of all, this review is only for the Madacy dvd set "The Chaplin Collection".

Wow, is this bad. You get 18 short films, all in incredibly terrible quality, with music that has nothing to do with the films or the era in which they were made. I cannot overstate how bad the quality of these films is. Recreation is actually unwatchable, it appears that somebody spilled their milkshake on the poor-quality 8mm film dub that they had, then put it on dvd anyways.

All the films are missing portions of their footage, some to the point that they are meaningless.

But it gets worse, because Madacy has given us a biography - two whole paragraphs. The description on the box is longer than the biography on the dvds! (My favorite bit of mis-information is that Chaplin started acting at age 9 with a dog-dancing group. It's called clog-dancing. Why the heck would Chaplin, who was human [although it's hard to tell from some of these prints] be dancing on stage with dogs?)

And there is also a trivia feature! Five whole questions, perfect for those who understand broken english and completely inaccurate trivia. (It states that Chaplin made 27 films - that is true, but he made many more after that!)

But the best part is that Madacy, after having put next to no effort into getting good copies of these films, puts on several chunks of high-tech computer animation beforehand, giving us their logo and presenting them as a worthy group to patronize!

This set may be cheap initially, but the you will end up paying much more in trips to the eye-doctor and therapist. Don't buy it. It's not worth it. Not even if you are desperate.

Rating:
Summary: A great collection of Chaplin's shorts,BEWARE OF QUALITY!
Review: I agree with the last review who liked this set more than the rest of the other reviewers.Yes,we all know that the film quality is poor,but it doesn't mean that people can't turn away from this terrific DVD collection.This collection consists of 18 short films,all of which were made from Keystone and a few from Essanay.The musical scores consists mostly of Ragtime,Dixieland Jazz Band,and Hal Roach-style music which fits the bill perfectly,although picture quality at times is dark and grainy as if they were taken from 16MM film prints and used as their best availible sources,which is usually the case with public domain films.Here are the 18 films in the collection released on
two discs:CHARLOT,GARCON DE THEATRE;THE MUSICAL TRAMP;CHARLOT ET MABEL AUX COURSES;RECREATION;CRUEL,CRUEL LOVE;A FILM BY JOHNNY;TRIPLE TROUBLE;THE GOOD FOR NOTHING;CHARLIE'S RECREATION;WORK;A BUSY DAY;POLICE;THE BOND;KID'S AUTO RACE IN VENICE;THE RIVAL MASHERS;A NIGHT OUT;DOUGH AND DYNAMITE;and A JITNEY ELOPEMENT.There are several low points to this set such as RECREATION which is barely watchable with its imagery blurry and sloppy.On THE RIVAL MASHERS,the audio becomes garbled for the first 7 seconds and on A JITNEY ELOPEMENT,the opening title cards are dark and murky looking.Depite these problems,this 2 disc DVD collection is an absolute must-have for any silent-film fanatic or a defiite Chaplin fan and that these films will bring humor and warmth to audiences everywhere.Enjoy four hours of THE
CHAPLIN COLLECTION whether quality is a problem or not!! Thank Madacy for,at least,putting out this terrific set! Just don't buy Madacy's shoddy and horrible-looking version of METROPOLIS.

Rating:
Summary: Not worth it
Review: I bought this at Future Shop and was debating for about 15 minutes whether to buy it or not when I saw that it was released by Madacy Entertainment. But stupid me, I gave in and bought it. What a waste. Almost half the films are blurry and jumpy. In one film, you could not read the title cards; the wording was faded. Very bad. Luckily, I paid less for this junk at Future Shop so I'm only out 16.99. I'll invest in some better Chaplin collection in the future. Stay away from Madacy Entertainment and Reel Values Triple Feature series (another bad one).

Rating:
Summary: Twelve 1914 Chaplins At Less Than A Dollar Each!
Review: In 1914 Chaplin was involved in 35 films for the Keystone Studio. Restorer David Shepard once said that there were only eight films from Chaplin's Keystone year that were in good enough condition to warrant restoration work, therefore he decided to start his Chaplin project (published by Image Entertainment) at 1915, Chaplin's Essanay period. Four of the good Keystone films are available on a Kino video, but only one of those four is featured in this Madacy collection. That means that eleven of the 1914 Chaplin films in this set cannot be found on any of the high-class Image or Kino releases. The poor quality of the surviving prints has made them unattractive to those high-quality publishers, so the only way you'll see them is if you buy unimproved copies from public-domain publishers like Madacy. In other words, don't complain about the poor quality of the pictures - public-domain publishers make available many early films which would otherwise not be available at all. In fact, there is one which has all 34 surviving films available, in four volumes - and I've heard on the grapevine that he is about to retire, and close his business!

Here is a list of the films contained in the Madacy Chaplin Collection (two discs): Charlot, Garcon de Theatre (a.k.a. The Property Man, released 1st Aug 1914); The Musical Tramp (a.k.a. His Musical Career, 7th Nov 1914); Charlot et Mabel aux Courses (a.k.a. Gentlemen of Nerve, 29th Oct 1914); Recreation (THE example of a print not worth restoring, 13th Aug 1914); Cruel Love (actually Cruel, Cruel Love, a.k.a. Lord Helpus, 26th March 1914); A Film By Johnny (actually A Film Johnny, 2nd March 1914); Triple Trouble (more like Triple Theft! An infamous concoction by Essanay of material from two shorts (Work, and Police) and a feature which Essanay would not allow Chaplin to complete. They shot some linking footage without Chaplin and "found" the "forgotten" film in 1918!); The Good for Nothing (a.k.a. His New Profession, 31st Aug 1914); Charlie's Recreation (a.k.a. Tango Tangle, 9th March 1914 - no moustache here, and Fatty Arbuckle and Ford Sterling fight over Fatty's real-life wife, Minta Durfee); Work (21st June 1915, marred by a talkover); A Busy Day (a.k.a. The Militant Suffragette, 7th June 1914. Lost until 1970, this film has Charlie in drag!); Police (27th March 1916); The Bond (rare - this 1918 "help the war effort" film was not included in Image's First National DVD!); Kid Auto Races at Venice (8th Feb 1914, an unexpected gem - Charlie uses his famous tramp costume for the first time, but not as a tramp. All the usual mannerisms are missing, as he plays a camera hog getting in the way of a newsreel crew! The title cards are later additions, as Charlie was unknown when this film was released, and they spoil the intended effect, that the film should seem like an ordinary newsreel); The Rival Mashers (a.k.a. Those Love Pangs, 10th Oct 1914); The Night Out (actually A Night Out, 15th Feb 1915); Dough and Dynamite (26th Aug 1914); A Jitney Elopement (1st April 1915).

I'm happy with this DVD set because the poor quality prints were what I expected, and I was pleasantly surprised to find so many 1914 films included. I think it is worth buying just for Kid Auto Races at Venice!

Rating:
Summary: Twelve 1914 Chaplins At Less Than A Dollar Each!
Review: In 1914 Chaplin was involved in 35 films for the Keystone Studio. Restorer David Shepard once said that there were only eight films from Chaplin's Keystone year that were in good enough condition to warrant restoration work, therefore he decided to start his Chaplin project (published by Image Entertainment) at 1915, Chaplin's Essanay period. Four of the good Keystone films are available on a Kino video, but only one of those four is featured in this Madacy collection. That means that eleven of the 1914 Chaplin films in this set cannot be found on any of the high-class Image or Kino releases. The poor quality of the surviving prints has made them unattractive to those high-quality publishers, so the only way you'll see them is if you buy unimproved copies from public-domain publishers like Madacy. In other words, don't complain about the poor quality of the pictures - public-domain publishers make available many early films which would otherwise not be available at all. In fact, there is one which has all 34 surviving films available, in four volumes - and I've heard on the grapevine that he is about to retire, and close his business!

Here is a list of the films contained in the Madacy Chaplin Collection (two discs): Charlot, Garcon de Theatre (a.k.a. The Property Man, released 1st Aug 1914); The Musical Tramp (a.k.a. His Musical Career, 7th Nov 1914); Charlot et Mabel aux Courses (a.k.a. Gentlemen of Nerve, 29th Oct 1914); Recreation (THE example of a print not worth restoring, 13th Aug 1914); Cruel Love (actually Cruel, Cruel Love, a.k.a. Lord Helpus, 26th March 1914); A Film By Johnny (actually A Film Johnny, 2nd March 1914); Triple Trouble (more like Triple Theft! An infamous concoction by Essanay of material from two shorts (Work, and Police) and a feature which Essanay would not allow Chaplin to complete. They shot some linking footage without Chaplin and "found" the "forgotten" film in 1918!); The Good for Nothing (a.k.a. His New Profession, 31st Aug 1914); Charlie's Recreation (a.k.a. Tango Tangle, 9th March 1914 - no moustache here, and Fatty Arbuckle and Ford Sterling fight over Fatty's real-life wife, Minta Durfee); Work (21st June 1915, marred by a talkover); A Busy Day (a.k.a. The Militant Suffragette, 7th June 1914. Lost until 1970, this film has Charlie in drag!); Police (27th March 1916); The Bond (rare - this 1918 "help the war effort" film was not included in Image's First National DVD!); Kid Auto Races at Venice (8th Feb 1914, an unexpected gem - Charlie uses his famous tramp costume for the first time, but not as a tramp. All the usual mannerisms are missing, as he plays a camera hog getting in the way of a newsreel crew! The title cards are later additions, as Charlie was unknown when this film was released, and they spoil the intended effect, that the film should seem like an ordinary newsreel); The Rival Mashers (a.k.a. Those Love Pangs, 10th Oct 1914); The Night Out (actually A Night Out, 15th Feb 1915); Dough and Dynamite (26th Aug 1914); A Jitney Elopement (1st April 1915).

I'm happy with this DVD set because the poor quality prints were what I expected, and I was pleasantly surprised to find so many 1914 films included. I think it is worth buying just for Kid Auto Races at Venice!