With much of this edition being mastered from an archival 35mm positive, the visual quality is generally very-good with from a good 35mm positive. The edition benefits greatly from the new video transfer.

The film is presented with an ensemble music score performed on piano, horn and cello as composed by Gabriel Thibaudeau. An optional improvisational piano score performed by Antonio Coppola is also available. It is a bit annoying that the Thibaudeau music is out-of-sync with the film’s action.

The supplemental material includes a 28-page booklet, the documentary The Birth of the Tramp (2013); the documentary Chaplin’ss Goliath (1996) on Chaplin star heavy Eric Campbell.

The collection is issued in limited-edition steelbook packaging, which we feel must be handled gingerly to avoid damaging its discs and the case itself.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region A Blu-ray Disc / Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Support Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region A Blu-ray Disc / Region 1 NTSC DVD from Amazon.ca. Support Silent Era.

Some of the video transfers are the same as for the VHS and 1995 laserdisc editions.

The special features include the documentary The Gentleman Tramp (1975), narrated by Walter Matthau, with excerpts from My Autobiography read by Laurence Olivier; Chaplin family home movies, including scenes of Chaplin at home near Vevey, Switzerland; the documentary Chaplin’s Goliath (1996) on Chaplin star heavy Eric Campbell; “The Mutual-Chaplin Specials,” an appreciation by Jeffrey Vance, author of Chaplin: Genius of the Cinema; “Making The Gentleman Tramp,” a reminisence by Richard Patterson; and a stills gallery containing more than 90 images from the collection of Jeffrey Vance, many never before published.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

That being said, readers have noted that there is surviving footage from these films that does not appear in this home video edition. Our understanding is that most (if not all) of these films have originated from the Van Beuren Company 35mm negatives that were prepared in the 1950s. Those prints featured music by Winston Sharples and synchronized sound effects, and they can be viewed in their 1950s form (transfered at sound speed) on early laserdisc and VHS collections from Image and Republic. While these 35mm negatives feature superior visual quality, portions of the original footage and intertitles were removed in the 1950s. Some early 16mm reduction prints from Blackhawk Films and others, which originated from other surviving positive prints, feature footage that doesn’t appear in this DVD edition. Logic would lead some to assume that this extra footage survives in 35mm prints held by the world’s film archives and by private collectors.

Previously we recommended the now out-of-print The Chaplin Mutuals DVD series with the caveat noted that there was missing footage. David Shepard has now released a new edition of the Chaplin Mutual comedies that are more complete and feature some improvement in visual quality.

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.

Other SHORT COMEDY FILMS of the silent era available on home video.