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The Essential
Charlie Chaplin Collection
(1914-1916)

Contents: Making a Living (1914), Kid’s Auto Race (1914), Mabel’s Strange Predicament (1914), Between Showers (1914), A Film Johnnie (1914), Tango Tangles (1914) [Charlie’s Recreation], His Favorite Pastime (1914), Cruel, Cruel Love (1914), The Star Boarder (1914) [The Landlady’s Pet], Twenty Minutes of Love (1914), Caught in a Caberet (1914), A Busy Day (1914), The Fatal Mallet (1914), The Knockout (1914), Mabel’s Married Life (1914), Laughing Gas (1914) [Laffing Gas], The Face on the Bar Room Floor (1914), Recreation (1914), The Masquerader (1914), His New Profession (1914) [The Good-for-Nothing], The Rounders (1914), The New Janitor (1914), Those Love Pangs (1914) [The Rival Mashers], His Musical Career (1914) [The Musical Tramp], Getting Acquainted (1914) [A Fair Exchange], His New Job (1915), A Night Out (1915), The Champion (1915), Dough and Dynamite (1914), In the Park (1915), The Tramp (1915), By the Sea (1915), Work (1915), A Woman (1915), The Bank (1915), Shanghaied (1915), A Night in the Show (1915), Carmen (1915) [A Burlesque on Carmen], Police! (1916), The Floorwalker (1916), The Fireman (1916), The Vagabond (1916), One A.M. (1916), The Count (1916) and The Pawnshop (1916).

Virtually identical in content to other multifilm, multidisc Chaplin collections released circa 2004-2005, this eight-disc set has a familiar line-up of Chaplin films from his Keystone, Essanay and Mutual periods.

Delta Entertainment
2005 DVD edition

The Essential Charlie Chaplin Collection (1914-1916), black & white, 700 minutes total, not rated,
including Making a Living (1914), black & white, 9 minutes, not rated, Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Mabel’s Strange Predicament (1914), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Between Showers (1914), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, A Film Johnnie (1914), black & white, 7 minutes, not rated, Tango Tangles (1914) [Charlie’s Recreation], black & white, ? minutes, not rated, His Favorite Pastime (1914), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Cruel, Cruel Love (1914), black & white, 9 minutes, not rated, The Star Boarder (1914) [The Landlady’s Pet], black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Twenty Minutes of Love (1914), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Caught in a Caberet (1914), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, A Busy Day (1914), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, The Fatal Mallet (1914), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, The Knockout (1914), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Mabel’s Married Life (1914), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Laughing Gas (1914) [Laffing Gas], black & white, ? minutes, not rated, The Face on the Bar Room Floor (1914), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Recreation (1914), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, The Masquerader (1914), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, His New Profession (1914) [The Good-for-Nothing], black & white, ? minutes, not rated, The Rounders (1914), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, The New Janitor (1914), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Those Love Pangs (1914) [The Rival Mashers], black & white, ? minutes, not rated, His Musical Career (1914) [The Musical Tramp], black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Getting Acquainted (1914) [A Fair Exchange], black & white, ? minutes, not rated, His New Job (1915), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, A Night Out (1915), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, The Champion (1915), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Dough and Dynamite (1914), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, In the Park (1915), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, The Tramp (1915), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, By the Sea (1915), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Work (1915), black & white, 24 minutes, not rated, A Woman (1915), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, The Bank (1915), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Shanghaied (1915), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, A Night in the Show (1915), black & white, 18 minutes, not rated, Carmen (1915) [A Burlesque on Carmen], black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Police! (1916), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, The Floorwalker (1916), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, The Fireman (1916), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, The Vagabond (1916), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, One A.M. (1916), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, The Count (1916), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, and The Pawnshop (1916), black & white, ? minutes, not rated.

Delta Entertainment, 89 246, UPC 0-18111-92269-6.
Eight single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD discs, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan MPEG-2 format, SDR (standard dynamic range), ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 2.0 mono? sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles, chapter stops; eight plastic DVD trays in bookwrap; unknown suggested retail price.
Release date: 7 June 2005.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 4 / audio: 5 / additional content: 4 / overall: 4.

This budget DVD collection follows the suit of other big box releases: put as few films onto as many discs as possible, irregardless of print quality and sell them as cheap as possible. With so many quality versions of the later Chaplin films available, the chief attraction of this collection will be the presence of the 1914 Keystone films. But don’t expect them to be mastered from anything but 16mm reduction prints.

Don’t consider buying this collection for the later Chaplin films. The Essanay, Mutual and First National films have all been released on DVD home video in far superior editions transferred from 35mm prints (see below). The main attraction of this set is the fairly complete collection of the Keystone films (nine of the 35 films are not in the collection — one, Her Friend the Bandit [1914], is presumed lost).