Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9181 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-11-17
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, PAL, Silent
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 141 minutes

Synopsis
The Mutual Films contract was perhaps Charlie Chaplin's happiest period of film making. This release features custard pie fights in BEHIND THE SCREEN, roller-skating in THE RINK and Chaplin takes the role of policeman in EASY STREET. On a sensitive note, in THE IMMIGRANT he plays a poor and hungry young man in New York. Also includes THE CURE, based on a music hall sketch set in a health spa and Chaplin appears as a tramp in THE ADVENTURER. Featuring a new score by Carl Davis these are all classics of silent film and classic Chaplin.

Customer Reviews

Master comedian meets master composer
This the first volume of Chaplin Mutuals to be released by BFI actually contains the last six films Chaplin made for Mutual, they are:

Behind the screen
The Rink
Easy Street
The Cure
The Immigrant
The Adventurer

Everybody knows how brilliant and inventive these shorts are so I will devote the rest of this review to the actual DVD.

Picture quality is superb, the prints coming as they do from David Sheppards collection. The music is out of this world being scored by the best composer in silent films Carl Davis. I have tried comparing the scores on each film with the classic Michael Mortilla scores (currently available on the Stonevision label Volumes 8,9 and 10)and must say that I actually prefer these.

As well as the actual six shorts there is an interesting interview with Carl Davis about his scores and how he got involved with scoring Chaplin films. He has apparently written music for each Chaplin Mutual at the rate of two a year for the last few years. There is also a news reel footage showing Chaplins tour of Britain in the 1920's

If you only buy one Chaplin DVD this is the one to buy, you can watch the films again and again and never get bored. This is the DVD every Chaplin fan must own.

I can not wait until the release of the second volume in 2004.

Superb
At last decent remastering of Chaplin! These are the best versions I've seen yet. If you're reading this you're already a fan so there's no need to convince you on the content.

Now if only somebody would do the same to the Harold Lloyd films. Imagine "Safety Last" remastered and released! You know the TV show on BBC2 (mangled as it was with the inane narrator) in the 80's was popular with my friends and I at school. There is a market out there if someone just releases the films!!

Great DVD
Bareing in mind these films are close to 100 years old there still funny to this day .I myself am i new comer to Chaplin i thought i would check out this BFI DVD seen as alot of the other non BFI Charlie Chaplin DVDS have terrible picture quality.These movies have been cleanded up and been mixed with a 5.1 surround sound which sound superb.