Amazon.com
The second magnificent collection of Charlie Chaplin's work is even more stuffed with goodies than the first: six feature films, a round-up of two-reelers, and a new documentary, plus a cornucopia of deleted scenes and context. Each feature is accompanied by a half-hour "Chaplin Today" featurette, in which a filmmaker comments from a 21st-century perspective. Claude Chabrol extols the wicked virtues of Monsieur Verdoux and calls Chaplin "a thoroughly modern director," while Jim Jarmusch speaks gallantly on the political satire of the problematic A King in New York.
The Kid (1921), Chaplin's first feature, relates directly to Chaplin's own hard upbringing. The Tramp adopts a street kid (Jackie Coogan), in a seamless blend of slapstick and sentiment. For A Woman of Paris (1923), Chaplin experimented: straight, adult melodrama, with no Charlie onscreen (save for a brief cameo). 1927's The Circus is prized by many Chaplin critics as pure sublime comedy, less burdened by sentiment or politics than subsequent films. City Lights (1931) is an undisputed masterpiece; the Tramp befriends a blind girl, leading to one of the great bittersweet endings in film history. (Among the extras: a priceless seven-minute deleted scene involving little more than Chaplin and a piece of wood stuck in a grate.) With Monsieur Verdoux (1947), Chaplin turned his back on the Tramp and invented an elegant lady killer (literally); audiences disapproved, but the film stands as a fascinating essay on himself. Finally, after his exile from the United States, Chaplin made A King in New York (1957), which is mostly flat, except as autobiography.
The Chaplin Revue gathers six essential short works, from the superb A Dog's Life (1918) to his last two-reeler, The Pilgrim. A separate disc contains film critic Richard Schickel's comprehensive documentary Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin, which does nicely by Chaplin's life and his working process, with keen comments from admirers such as Woody Allen and Johnny Depp. This box set is more than film history; it's a living treasure. --Robert Horton
Description
The wonder. The magic. The genius. Now for an encore presentation with stunning new restorations, all-new special features and more. The Richard Schickel documentary, "Charlie" available exclusively in this Chaplin Giftset. THE CIRCUS The Little Tramp accidentally becomes a big-top star in the comedy that earned Chaplin a special Academy Award?. CITY LIGHTS A forever classic - and an American Film Institute Top-100 Movie. The Tramp becomes a working man, saving money for an operation that will restore a blind flower girl's sight. THE KID The Tramp and his ragamuffin sidekick (6-year-old Jackie Coogan) triumph over life's hard knocks in the landmark film that changed the notion of what a screen comedy could be. A KING IN NEW YORK/A WOMAN OF PARIS Chaplin jabs at social conventions! U.S. pop culture is the target of his satiric A King in New York. And the whirl of French high society frames director Chaplin's tragic love story A Woman of Paris.
MONSIEUR VERDOUX Killer comedy! Chaplin turns his sunny nature inside out to play a roving gent who wins the love and bank accounts of spinsters, then murders the hapless biddies.
Customer Reviews:
Happy!.......2007-08-27
Nicely remastered. Great selection for both a steadfast fan and someone new to Charlie Chaplin.
Don't expect the box to last..........2007-04-03
When my copy of this set arrived, I found that the set's box (with Chaplin on the cover) was just a little too big for the set itself - maybe an eighth of an inch extra space, so when the whole package got tightly shrinkwrapped, the excess space and the tip of one corner were crushed to fit around the DVDs. Not a huge deal, but it means that the box, already somewhat flimsy for the number of DVDs it houses, lost some of its structual integrity, and now doesn't support itself so well; once you take a couple of the DVDs out, it quickly loses its right angles -- the ramshackle rhombus effect. So I sent it back, and the replacement has just arrived...with the exact same problem. Of course, while Amazon makes it ever so easy to "Leave Seller Feedback" for any of its thousands of Amazon Marketplace affiliates, there is one seller for which they do not allow this option: Amazon itself. Anyway, I'm sure it's a great set, and the defect in question is minor, but it's always a little disappointing when you look forward to a new purchase, then find that it is just a tiny bit damaged before you even unwrap it. I have had this experience twice now, and I guess I'll just give up, and try not to look at what could have been a fairly handsome box. But when you get yours, set the box on a table with the DVD spines lined up in front of you, and have a look at the lower right-hand corner of the box. Hopefully, you *won't* see what I mean. But if you do, you'll find that this box would have been just perfect if the set had included one more, thin DVD.
Superb and very entertaining.......2007-01-19
Excellent variety of Chaplin movies that are worth many viewings and well-worth the price of the collection. Good quality DVD's of very old films. Monsieur Verdoux, a rare Chaplin "talkie", is dated in plot structure and appeal and includes several scenes of stilted acting (Chaplin is actually a better actor than the others in the cast). Although not of the caliber of the silent films, it makes an interesting addition to the masterpieces, if you are studying Chaplin's works and it is fascinating to hear Chaplin's voice. His physical comedy is artful, masterful, highly acrobatic, perfectly timed, surprising, and hilarious; it has not been surpassed in 80-plus years.
The true comedy collection.......2006-12-15
This wonderful boxed set completes the chaplin collection, this in my view is the better chaplin collection it includes such classics as city lights, modern times, the great dictator, and many more classics.my advice to the other chaplin fans is go out and buy the chaplin collection 1&2 before there all sold out.
Films to Enjoy.......2006-08-15
The fine Humor and art creativity found in this treasure films are incomparable. It's worth the price.
Amazon.com essential video
City Lights is a film to pick for the time capsule, a film that best represents the many aspects of director-writer-star Charlie Chaplin at the peak of his powers: Chaplin the actor, the sentimentalist, the knockabout clown, the ballet dancer, the athlete, the lover, the tragedian, the fool. It's all contained in Chaplin's simple story of a tramp who falls in love with a blind flower girl (Virginia Cherrill). Chaplin elevates the Victorian contrivances of the plot to something glorious with his inventive use of pantomime and his sure grasp of how the Tramp relates to the audience. In 1931, it was a gamble for Chaplin to stick with silence after talking pictures had killed off the art form that had made him famous, but audiences flocked to City Lights anyway. (Chaplin would not make his first full talking picture until 1940's The Great Dictator.) After all the superb comic sequences, the film culminates with one of the most moving scenes in the history of cinema, a luminous and heartbreaking fade-out that lifts the picture onto another plane. (Woody Allen paid homage to the scene at the end of Manhattan.) This is why the term "Chaplinesque" became a part of the language. --Robert Horton
Customer Reviews:
One Of Chaplin''s Best & Most Endearing Films.......2007-09-06
I always thought this was one of Charlie Chaplin's nicest, most under-appreciated silent movie gems, and I am glad to see other Amazon reviewers agreeing.
Part of the reason I think so highly of this is simply that I'm a sentimentalist and story in this film is a very touching one. It's a romance between Charlie's tramp character (no name) and a blind girl, who also had no name in this film. Virginia Cherill, who played the blind woman and had a wholesome, pretty face which I found very attractive.
I'm not always a huge fan of pantomime except for some great comedians of the era like Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton, but Chaplin was so good at it and this is one of the last of dying breed as "talkies" were out in full force by 1931. Chaplin was at his best in silent movies, anyway, and his comedy routines are legendary. He gave me a lot of laughs in this film, as always, and I particularly laughed (I love slapstick) at the boxing scene. Kudos, too, to Harry Myers as the "eccentric millionaire."
There's a lot of drama as well as humor in this 86-minute gem as the Tramp tries to aid a blind girl, raising money so she can get an operation to restore her sight.
Comedy, romance, drama (with suffering) all combine to make this an extraordinary piece of entertainment. It's hard to believe this movie was not up for one, single Academy Award.
touching and poignant film..............2007-08-31
CITY LIGHTS is one of Charlie Chaplin's most well-known and well-loved films, along with GOLD RUSH, MODERN TIMES and THE GREAT DICTATOR. CITY LIGHTS is a heartbreaking film about The Little Tramp (Charlie Chaplin) and his quest to help a poor, blind flower girl (Virginia Cherril) regain her eyesight. The Tramp will stop at nothing to find odd jobs to make more money on the side for the girl, who is under the (false) impression that he is a millionaire. This film has moments of warmth, joy and true heartbreak. Chaplin was truly a seamless showman and perfectionist and it shows. Even though this is a silent film, it never feels overtly melodramatic or unbelievable. The mood of the film is quite the contrary. It is understated and profound. Just beautiful......
Corny Screwball Humor Lifted by Ending.......2007-08-14
Don't get me wrong. I love, absolutely love this movie. I think the jokes are cornier and more scripted than in some other of his comedies, most notably the Circus and The Gold Rush. However, the movie also contains one of the funniest sequences ever filmed, the boxing scene. But it is the ending that really makes this Chaplin film stand out. I have seen the movie several times, and I have come to the conclusion that it is just not possible for a person to conceive so beautiful and moving a scene. I think it was James Agee who called it the pinnacle of all film history. I have never been so moved by a scene in any movie. It is absolutely amazing.
One of the greatest films ever made........2007-08-05
City Lights is one of the greatest films ever made. Chaplin was at his creative peak when he made this picture. He put a lot of time, effort and money into this project that he called "A film in pantomime". Chaplin stars as The Tramp, a down-on-his-luck fellow who crosses pathes one day with a beautifl flower girl, He's immediately smitten with her, The things he puts himself through to try and win her affections is something else. Truly a film classic and a must see. City Lights still has the best ending ever made.
What a classic movie.......2007-07-23
I introduced my twelve-year-old daughter and nine-year-old son to Chaplin with this movie and was waiting for them to complain about the black and white or silent aspect, but they loved and asked for more. I cry at the end of this movie every time I watch it. It is THE quintessential Chaplin movie: Comedy; Romance; Pathos; the Tramp. They CANNOT make them like this anymore.
DVD:
- The Creature Wasn't Nice [Region 2]
- The Hills - The Complete Second Season
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Widescreen Edition)
- The Last Starfighter
- The Mirror Has Two Faces
- The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Vol. 2 (Angels' Revenge / Cave Dwellers / Pod People / Shorts, Vol. 1)
- The Outer Limits - The Original Series, Season 1
- The Prisoner - Complete Series Megaset (40th Anniversary Edition)
- The Shaggy Dog (Wild & Woolly Edition)
- The Thing from Another World
DVD
DVD
General
| Classics
| Genres
| DVD
| Video
The Chaplin Collection, Vol. 1 (Modern Times / The Great Dictator / The Gold Rush / Limelight)
The Art of Buster Keaton (The General / Sherlock, Jr. / Our Hospitality / The Navigator / Steamboat Bill Jr. / College / Three Ages / Battling Butler / Go West / The Saphead / Seven Chances / 21 Short Films)
Chaplin Mutual Comedies - Restored Edition
Unknown Chaplin: The Master at Work
Charlie Chaplin Short Comedy Classics - The Complete Restored Essanay & Mutual Collection
