The Chaplin Collection, Vol. 1 (Modern Times / The Great Dictator / The Gold Rush / Limelight)

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Charles Spencer Chaplin, the London ragamuffin who became the most popular man of his era, gets his proper due with this deluxe package of four classics. Each two-disc set begins with an excellent new digital transfer of the picture and remastered sound. The Gold Rush, Chaplin's 1925 masterpiece, puts the Little Tramp into the snowy Yukon; it includes such celebrated sequences as the "Dance of the Rolls" and Chaplin's uncanny metamorphosis into a large chicken. Both the original silent version and Chaplin's re-edited 1942 release (for which he added his own musical score and narration) are included. A documentary on "Chaplin Today" looks at the film through the eyes of Burkina Faso director Idrissa Ouedraogo. Modern Times (1936) is Chaplin's peerless take on the machine age; his ballet on the assembly line remains one of the great images of modern man driven mad by mechanization. The DVD extras include a couple of (somewhat extraneous) vintage promotional films about the wonderful world of mass production, the famous Chaplin composition "Smile" performed by Liberace (huh?), and penetrating comments on the film by the Belgian filmmakers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne.

The Great Dictator is Chaplin's comic undressing of Hitler, boldly released in 1940. An absorbing documentary, "The Tramp and the Dictator," details production of the film, and color footage shot on the set provides fascinating behind-the-scenes material. Limelight (1952), in which he plays a fading vaudevillian, is Chaplin's magnificent elegy on his own career. Extras include a deleted scene, the entire Oscar-winning score, and Bernardo Bertolucci on the film's emotional impact: "I don't cry often, but here my tears flow." Each film has a loving introduction by Chaplin biographer David Robinson--but newcomers to Chaplin should watch the movies first, as the extras give away endings and the best jokes. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

A GREAT ARTIST BEFORE HIS TIME!.......2007-08-18

Charlie Chaplin was a true Genius of His time. He was superb in all his silent films. They each carried volumes of subliminal meassages of wit and reality. He was excellent in the Great Dictator and Modern Times. Charlie Chaplin was a Leader and he set the stage for all that came after him. He is an Iconic figure of Hollywood. These collections are very well preserved for all time. This is a must for all collectors of pantomine and great classic comedy.

The works of a genius who had life-long creative control.......2007-07-21

Although working conditions and terms don't create genius, it sure can inhibit and even destroy its expression. Buster Keaton and his experience at MGM are Exhibit A of that scenario. Chaplin, however, was in complete creative control of almost his entire career. After his early Keystone shorts, Chaplin never again starred in someone else's film production. In short, nobody could ever say "no" to his creative ideas and make it stick. Thus we can look at the films in this collection and lay any blame or applause entirely at the feet of Charles Chaplin, and that circumstance is as unique as Chaplin the artist himself.

It's very hard to describe this excellent set in the context of Chaplin's genius and his evolution as a film maker, because the films are separated from one another by quite large time intervals and interim films that are in volume two, with the exception of Modern Times and The Great Dictator which were sequential projects. "The Gold Rush" shows Chaplin's talent at comedy and pathos set in the heart of the silent era (1925) after he had already had some success making silent feature films. "Modern Times" is perhaps the best film he ever made, again a silent picture, long after silent films had gone out of vogue in Hollywood (1936). If anything, as time passes, Modern Times just becomes more and more relevant. "The Great Dictator" (1940) is Chaplin's first talking picture, and today, given the benefit of the knowledge of what was really going on in Germany during this time, the film almost seems in bad taste. However, even Chaplin admitted that if he had really known the extent of what was happening in Europe at the time he probably would not have made the film. Still, Chaplin turns in a fine performance in a great film where the best parts still involve Chaplin's gift of pantomime. Finally, there is Limelight (1952), which is a very sentimental film that has Chaplin perhaps looking back on his own career and showing what he was truly afraid of having happen - that he would someday be seen as a relic of the past and that only when people were told "who he used to be" would he be appreciated or for that matter even welcome. Thus it is really necessary to watch the films in volume 2 to fill in the blanks between the four movies in this collection and get a true picture of Chaplin the artist. Highly recommended.

great films and a great collection.......2006-12-30

What can i say, If you are a fan of Chaplin, then you cannot go without this collection. for every film you get a whole second DVD with extras. Every film is remastered, and although some are in black and white, still look amazing.

The chaplin masterpiece collection.......2006-12-15

In my view every chaplin movie is good, and if your a chaplin fan like I am then you will love this lovely collection.

You can't do the impossible..........2006-08-05

Although this set tries to do the impossible, it cannot. But it is a very good collection of Chaplin films.

So, to start with, let me cover what is great in this set.

First, the films are as clearly presented as possible, with great sound, pretty good mastering, and good clarity of image. The speed of projection, a subjective topic at best, is quite carefully handled, and seems to be quite good for the most part. (This only affects the silent Gold Rush, btw.)

The restoration of the original silent Gold Rush is excellent, and a welcome addition to the canon. I don't bother arguing over which version is better, silent or sound, because they both exist in our world and such arguments end up amounting to mere preferences.

Which brings me to the first impossibility. It is IMPOSSIBLE to present a "definitive" version of most any Chaplin film, due to the cuts and changes he made in them over the years, and the variation in the editions originally issued. In addition, there are some bits from the original release which simply don't exist in a quality comparable to the quality of the current versions, and which could not be edited in without comprimising the quality.

The Chaplin family made a decision, and stuck to it. They decided to issue the films in the final approved versions, with cuts intact. They also decided to include all cuts as additional material, so that we don't lose what was taken out. I'm not sure how I feel about this, but sometimes a decision must simply be made and stuck with, and the Chaplin family went with this. Not everybody will be satisfied, but the choice has been made.

The additional materials are often good, but equally often pointless. The good stuff includes the Great Dictator documentary, lots of home movies and still, and various sequences from older films that are relevent to the title. The bad stuff includes the truly boring "Chaplin Today" documentaries, which are a great example of material trying to prove a point but instead shooting itself in the foot. I regard these documentaries as another example of doing the impossible - by trying to argue that Chaplin is relevent today (and I think he is), the directors end up proving otherwise. Some things can't be won through argument, but only through experience.

One troubling aspect of this set is that, instead of tranferring the movies fresh from film to NTSC video, the films were transferred from film to PAL video, and then converted. This changes film speed a bit, and introduces unavoidable artifacts and degrades the video quality. While not as bad as the HORRENDOUS "Phantom of the Opera" fiasco, it's a shame that we cannot see these films in their top quality without getting imported dvds from overseas in the original PAL format.

That all said, we have here four (or five) Chaplin films in possibly the best quality possible in a neat package with lots of goodies. There are plenty of quibbles with this set and it's companion, but the fact is that this is as good as it might ever get, until an even better format comes along. The films are wonderful, and it's nice to have a good edition of them again.

Average customer rating:

Limelight
truth at the heart of humor
The most underrated of Chaplin's work...
as close to a masterpiece as he came in those last years
NOONEMENTIONS THE PERSECUTION AND BLACKLISTING OF CHAPLIN AT THIS TIME

Limelight (2 Disc Special Edition)
Starring: Marjorie Bennett , Barry Bernard , Claire Bloom , Nigel Bruce , and Josephine Chaplin
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000096IBG
Release Date: 2003-07-01

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Certainly, Charlie Chaplin at this point in his career (1952) had earned the right to reflect on his years as an entertainer, and could make his film as overlong and soppy and sentimental as he darn well pleased. But that doesn't mean the rest of us have to abet this kind of melodramatic indulgence. Chaplin stars as Calvero, a fading clown who helps a paralyzed dancer regain the use of her legs and achieve great fame, but of course at grave cost to Calvero. The film is famous for featuring the only onscreen teaming of Chaplin with the other legendary comic of the silent era, Buster Keaton, and is equally infamous for Chaplin having allegedly cut out most of Keaton's best bits in their sequence together. How much Chaplin sabotaged his own movie to keep Keaton from shining has been much debated, but consider: In Keaton's autobiography, he calls Chaplin the greatest screen comic of all time. In Chaplin's autobiography, he never mentions Keaton. --David Kronke

Description

A fading comedian and a suicidally despondent ballet dancer must look to each other to find meaning and hope in their lives.

Customer Reviews:

Limelight.......2007-06-26

Famous for the only on-screen pairing of Chaplin and Keaton, the all-time masters of physical comedy, Chaplin's self-directed, self-scored, and evidently semi-autobiographical "Limelight" is a bittersweet comedy. The ravishing Bloom is spirited playing opposite the maudlin, melancholy Chaplin, and Keaton certainly holds his own with his idol in that memorable final scene. Hilarious at times but also woebegone in its farewell tribute to a music-hall tradition the director no doubt misses, "Limelight" is the furthest thing from a clown show.

truth at the heart of humor.......2007-02-05

Charlie Chaplin's movies from very early on were not only funny, but always seemed to reveal some basic truths about humanity. Unlike most of his works, which were comedies with a little pathos, Limelight is pathos with a little comedy. Yes, Chaplin can still make you laugh, but in Limelight he will make you cry, he will make you think, he will make you understand the truths about life and love. The dialogue in this movie is not only filled with great, insightful lines, but has a distinct and mesmerizing rhythym. And the musical score has one of the most hauntingly beautiful melodies ever written. If you think that Limelight is nothing but sappy, overemotional melodrama, then either you haven't grown up or you're not paying attention to the important things in life.

The most underrated of Chaplin's work..........2007-01-29

This is Chaplin's most underrated film, and one of his most moving and poignant. He plays the once great Calvero, a clown who has seen better days and is now a self pitying alcoholic. But then he meets an actress/dancer down on her luck (Claire Bloom), and his life begins to change around, slowly but surely. It climaxes in a great duet with Buster Keaton on stage. Chaplin only made 5 sound films (four of which he starred in), and I've always felt that ALL of them were vastly underrated (except his last one, A Countess from Hong Kong, which is really awful). The critics and some fans always think of the tramp with him, and dismiss these great works as an afterthought (this film and Msr. Verdoux are my favorites). Chaplin was a great actor, and he had a magnificent speaking voice. Unlike a lot of silent stars who faded into obscurity, Chaplin made a late, but still, smooth transition (unlike his rival, Buster Keaton, who spent years in the wilderness of Hollywood with drug/drinking problems) to sound. This film is almost like a nostalgic walk down memory lane for Chaplin, who started out in the dance halls depicted in this film. Sadly, the film was not very popular in the US, mainly because the public thought Chaplin was a Communist (an idiotic assumption). This is a wonderful, beguiling film, and it should be better known.

as close to a masterpiece as he came in those last years.......2006-10-06

probably the best of chaplins later movies (ive never seen "countess from hong kong" but ive never known of anyone who likes it) this movie tells the tale of who charlie might have become had he NOT become charlot: a washed-up has been trying to refind his glory through mentoring a beautiful young dancer, played rather stiffly by claire bloom. the film is touching, that schmaltzy musical score tuga st the heart, buster keaton offers a brilliant cameo, and the music hall routines are a riot. we still miss the little tramp, but this is a fine film in its own right.

NOONEMENTIONS THE PERSECUTION AND BLACKLISTING OF CHAPLIN AT THIS TIME.......2006-08-20

One driving force behind this film before CHaplin's exile from the USA back to EUrope is his hounding by the congressional Un-American activities witch hunting of the time which branded Chaplin as a leftist because of his sympathies with humanity and the poor and his courageous stand against our then fashionable fascist political persecutions. For a flavor of the times, watch Goodnight and Good Luck, or The Front. This is what drove Chaplin away forever, only later to receive an honorary reward which he had long deserved but only belatedly received when politics in America permited a bit more breathing room and reality and artistic freedom.

THe sniping mentioned here conocerning editting of Buster KEaton overlooks the fact that Keaton's genius had much earlier been destroyed by the iron-clad Hollywood studio system. As a young man grown up in vaudeville he produced incredibly genius works in The General, etc., much of it improvised. Then talkies came in and the studios demanded detailed scripts and killed both his irrepresible ingenious character, and tied him to being Jimmy Durante's straight man, and driving him to drink. This consummate physical acrobat was destroyed long before Chaplin kindly included him in this swan song for the both. While getting Chaplin, also include Keaton in your search, and get his earliest films. Then try to find Samuel Beckett's Film, one of Keaton's final appearances. Read Beckett's biography for a view of how professiional and prepared Keaton really was to the end.

Anyway, please get this film here and now. We do not allow aging clown geniuses onto our cultural scene anymore, not even the wearisome Mel Brooks. This shows these great men in their sunset, and we learn to grow old heroically and with dignity despite all odds and humiliations through them.

Average customer rating:

Limelight
truth at the heart of humor
The most underrated of Chaplin's work...
as close to a masterpiece as he came in those last years
NOONEMENTIONS THE PERSECUTION AND BLACKLISTING OF CHAPLIN AT THIS TIME

Limelight
Starring: Marjorie Bennett , Barry Bernard , Claire Bloom , Nigel Bruce , and Josephine Chaplin
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Classic Comedies | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $9.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B00004S89K
Release Date: 2000-04-11

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Description

Leading lady Claire Bloom called it a "fairy godfather" story. Historians said it was frankly autobiographical. Charlie Chaplin knew it as a love story. Chaplin plays Calvero, a vaudeville clown whom time has passed by in 1914 London. Although under few illusions about his own prospects for the future, he is able to impart his passion for life to Terry (Bloom), a young ballerina who believes she is paralyzed and can no longer dance. Calvero alternately nurses and bullies her to recovery and subsequent success as a prima ballerina. From this position, she is able to help Calvero enjoy one last triumphant moment just as he suffers a fatal heart attack. As his life is ebbing, hers is flowing in a brilliant solo ballet that ends the film.

Customer Reviews:

Limelight.......2007-06-26

truth at the heart of humor.......2007-02-05

The most underrated of Chaplin's work..........2007-01-29

as close to a masterpiece as he came in those last years.......2006-10-06

NOONEMENTIONS THE PERSECUTION AND BLACKLISTING OF CHAPLIN AT THIS TIME.......2006-08-20