The Chaplin Collection on DVD

Isn't it nice to see a "little tramp" on the video screen who isn't just a garden variety slut?

Anyway, finally on DVD we have a collection of four Charles Chaplin Classics, restored and remastered and looking as wonderful as movies this old can.

We get “The Gold Rush,” “Modern Times,” “The Great Dictator,” and “Limelight,” films spanning the decades from the 1920’s to the 1950’s. All are legitimate classics, though arguably of varying quality, and all have received a deluxe treatment in this eight disc set.

Chaplin was the giant of his era, a true auteur who not only starred in but also wrote and directed (and in some cases scored) his features. The four movies in this collection will certainly whet the appetite of people who’ve never seen Chaplin before and hopefully create new generations of fans.

But let’s get down to the boxed set.

Each movie is packaged separately, in a two disc set that begins with a great new digital video transfer and remastered sound. That would be enough to sell this set, we think, but Warner has sweetened the deal substantially by adding enough extra material to keep you in front of the boob tube for hours and hours. Three of the films feature introductions by Chaplin biographer David Robinson, who sets the scene and the tone for the film, historically and cinematically.

Now, to the movies themselves.

The Gold Rush is supposedly the movie by which Chaplin wanted most to be remembered. The 1925 comic masterpiece sees Chaplin’s Little Tramp in the Klondike and features such classic Chaplin sequences as him cooking up and eating his boot, “The Dance of the Rolls" as well as his metamorphosis into a large chicken in much the way you'd see later in Loony Tunes cartoons when one character envisions another as a potential meal.

And get this: you get both the original 1925 silent version (accompanied by a terrific piano score that must be heard to be appreciated) and Chaplin's re-edited and shortened (to 69 minutes from 96) 1942 re-release that includes his own musical score and narration. Both are good, but we preferred the longer, more “fleshed out” original with the piano accompaniment.

For extras, you get a documentary ("Chaplin Today"), which looks at the film through the eyes of director Idrissa Ouedraogo. There’s also a photo gallery, a poster gallery, theatrical trailers, and a selection of scenes from “The Chaplin Collection,” the latter of which is almost a glorified set of trailers but which is actually a pretty good way to get a quick feel for the man’s films.

If you only see one Chaplin film, see “The Gold Rush.”

But don't only see one Chaplin film - especially if you've shelled out for the boxed set!

Our second favorite, at least from this collection, is “Modern Times,” Chaplin’s 1936 take on the machine age, the depression, organized labor, and such.

Near the beginning, the Little Tramp is working at a mind-numbing task on a factory’s assembly line and these scenes alone are worth the price of admission. If you like the classic “I Love Lucy” show where she's working in a chocolate factory, you'll find out here from whence it undoubtedly came.

The Tramp just can't get a break, and goes from employment to unemployment to jail and back again in a gigantic circle. He's accompanied through much of the film by a young orphan (Paulette Goddard), who faces similar obstacles.

And watch for Chaplin’s blindfolded roller skating beside an abyss. It'll blow you away.

The extras include a couple of deleted scenes, a karaoke version of his “nonsense song” a performance of Chaplin’s song “Smile” (which is featured quite heavily in “Modern Times”) by Liberace, a couple of promotional films about the machine age (one’s a Government film the other a promotion from Ford). There’s also a photo gallery, poster gallery, theatrical trailers, and that selection of scenes from “The Chaplin Collection.”

1940’s “The Great Dictator” is Chaplin's comic take on Hitler, which must have been really something considering what was going on in the world at the time. Here, Chaplin takes dual roles, the “Hitlerish” Adenoid Hynkel and a Jewish barber who’s also Hynkel’s doppelganger.

The movie is full of puns and typically Chaplin slapstick and sight gags and also features the decorative and talented Paulette Goddard (Chaplin’s wife at the time), as the barber's wife. Jack Oakie plays bellowing fellow dictator Benzino Napaloni (a caricature of Mussolini), Dictator of Bacteria.

One of the great sequences in The Great Dictator sees Chaplin performing a love dance with a large inflated world globe. The humor is wonderful, but Chaplin ends the film with the barber making a long speech advocating peace and prophesying a hopeful future. The monologue seems very out of place in an entertainment, especially since peace only works when both sides desire it, but it's a nice bit of wishful thinking anyway.

Incidentally, this was apparently the last time Chaplin's Little Tramp character appeared on screen. It was also Chaplin’s first all-talking picture.

And of course there a plenty of extras, including the documentary "The Tramp and the Dictator," which highlights the film’s production. There’s also some color footage shot on the set, which gives some fascinating behind the scenes background. You also get a deleted scene from “Charlie the Barber,” a 1919 Chaplin short, as well as the usual scenes from The Chaplin Collection, gallery, etc.

“Limelight” is the most recent - and weakest - of the films. Released in 1952, Chaplin plays Calvero, a fading vaudevillian in what really amounts to a paean to his own career. Calvero helps a paralyzed dancer (Claire Bloom) regain the use of her legs and become famous, but at grave cost to himself.

The film is justifiably famous for featuring the only onscreen teaming of Chaplin with the other "most legendary" comic of Hollywood’s silent era, Buster Keaton. Keaton, in fact, steals the show; he apparently stole the show even more in the original cut; it's alleged that Chaplin cut most of Keaton's best bits. Aren't egos wonderful?

But the film is also famous for being too long and with Chaplin beating the audience over his head with his philosophizing. These do drag the film down, but to be fair there’s also some terrific pantomime and comedy - and the Keaton scene alone is worth the price of admission.

Extras include a deleted scene, the entire score (which won an Oscar), as well as director Bernardo Bertolucci opining on the film's emotional impact. You also get reminiscences from Claire Bloom, Chaplin home movies, and the usual photo and poster galleries. And there are some seven minutes of an uncompleted 1919 short, The Professor, which gives an early look at Chaplin's flea-trainer character.

Charles “Charlie” Chaplin was truly a giant and this collection of four movies shows him at his best and, in some ways (Particularly with Limelight) his worst. It's a snapshot of him and of the movie industry that’s well worth preserving, and we're thrilled that Warners has unleashed this set on the world.

Audio and video quality are excellent, considering the movies’ ages, and most of the extras are well worth while. Video is, of course, in black and white and full frame, so the films aren't 16x9 TV compatible and that means owners of 16x9 widescreen TV’s will have to stretch and/or zoom them to fit the screen. This is a shame, but what can you do?

We say, “Way to go, Warners!”

The Chaplin Collection, from Warner Home Video

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