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The Essential
Charlie Chaplin Collection
(1914-2003)

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), The Pawnshop (1916), Behind the Screen (1916), The Rink (1916), Easy Street (1917), The Cure (1917), The Immigrant (1917), The Adventurer (1917), Triple Trouble (1918), The Bond (1918), Shoulder Arms (1918), Sunnyside (1919), A Day’s Pleasure (1919) and The Kid (1921) and Charlie Chaplin: His Life & Work (2003).

Virtually identical in content to other multifilm, multidisc Chaplin collections released circa 2003-2005, this twelve-disc set has a familiar line-up of Chaplin films from his Keystone, Essanay and Mutual periods.

Delta Entertainment issued similar collections in 3-disc, 8-disc, 10-disc and 12-disc sets. You are best advised to avoid any of these Chaplin collections from Delta/Cobra Entertainment (successor to Delta) as they contain some of the worst-looking prints available on home video. Absolutely shameful products from a shameless company.

— Carl Bennett

Delta Entertainment
2003 DVD edition

The Essential Charlie Chaplin Collection (1914-2004), black & white, ? minutes total, not rated, including Making a Living (1914), black & white, 9 minutes, not rated, Kid Auto Races at Venice (1914), black & white, 6 minutes, not rated, Mabel’s Strange Predicament (1914), black & white, 10 minutes, not rated, Between Showers (1914), black & white, 11 minutes, not rated, A Film Johnnie (1914), black & white, 7 minutes, not rated, Tango Tangles (1914) [Charlie’s Recreation], black & white, 12 minutes, not rated, His Favorite Pastime (1914), black & white, 13 minutes, not rated, Cruel, Cruel Love (1914), black & white, 9 minutes, not rated, The Star Boarder (1914) [The Landlady’s Pet], black & white, 13 minutes, not rated, Twenty Minutes of Love (1914), black & white, 10 minutes, not rated, Caught in a Caberet (1914), black & white, 16 minutes, not rated, A Busy Day (1914), black & white, 6 minutes, not rated, The Fatal Mallet (1914), black & white, 10 minutes, not rated, The Knockout (1914), black & white, 25 minutes, not rated, Mabel’s Married Life (1914), black & white, 13 minutes, not rated, Laughing Gas (1914) [Laffing Gas], black & white, 14 minutes, not rated, The Face on the Bar Room Floor (1914), black & white, 12 minutes, not rated, Recreation (1914), black & white, 6 minutes, not rated, The Masquerader (1914), black & white, 9 minutes, not rated, His New Profession (1914) [The Good-for-Nothing], black & white, 14 minutes, not rated, The Rounders (1914), black & white, 9 minutes, not rated, The New Janitor (1914), black & white, 11 minutes, not rated, Those Love Pangs (1914) [The Rival Mashers], black & white, 12 minutes, not rated, His Musical Career (1914) [The Musical Tramp], black & white, 12 minutes, not rated, Getting Acquainted (1914) [A Fair Exchange], black & white, 13 minutes, not rated, His New Job (1915), black & white, 21 minutes, not rated, A Night Out (1915), black & white, 25 minutes, not rated, The Champion (1915), black & white, 20 minutes, not rated, Dough and Dynamite (1914), black & white, 28 minutes, not rated, In the Park (1915), black & white, 13 minutes, not rated, The Tramp (1915), black & white, 20 minutes, not rated, By the Sea (1915), black & white, 9 minutes, not rated, Work (1915), black & white, 24 minutes, not rated, A Woman (1915), black & white, 20 minutes, not rated, The Bank (1915), black & white, 15 minutes, not rated, Shanghaied (1915), black & white, 17 minutes, not rated, A Night in the Show (1915), black & white, 18 minutes, not rated, Carmen (1915) [A Burlesque on Carmen], black & white, 44 minutes, not rated, Police! (1916), black & white, 25 minutes, not rated, The Floorwalker (1916), black & white, 20 minutes, not rated, The Fireman (1916), black & white, 20 minutes, not rated, The Vagabond (1916), black & white, 19 minutes, not rated, One A.M. (1916), black & white, 17 minutes, not rated, The Count (1916), black & white, 20 minutes, not rated, The Pawnshop (1916), black & white, 20 minutes, not rated, Behind the Screen (1916), black & white, 20 minutes, not rated, The Rink (1916), black & white, 19 minutes, not rated, Easy Street (1917), black & white, 19 minutes, not rated, The Cure (1917), black & white, 19 minutes, not rated, and The Immigrant (1917), black & white, 24 minutes, not rated, The Adventurer (1917), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Triple Trouble (1918), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, The Bond (1918), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, and Shoulder Arms (1918), black & white, ? minutes, not rated, Sunnyside (1919), black & white, 33 minutes, not rated, A Day’s Pleasure (1919), black & white, 21 minutes, not rated, and The Kid (1921), black & white, 68 minutes, not rated, and Charlie Chaplin: His Life & Work (2003), black & white and color, 90 minutes, not rated.

Delta Entertainment, 89 149, UPC 0-18111-91499-4.
Twelve single-sided, single-layered, Region 0 NTSC DVD discs; 1.33:1 aspect ratio picture in full-frame 4:3 (720 x 480 pixels) interlaced scan image encoded in SDR MPEG-2 format at 6.9 Mbps average video bit rate (capable of progressive scan upscaling to 60 fps); LPCM 2.0 mono sound encoded at 1.5 Mbps audio bit rate; English language intertitles, no subtitles; chapter stops; twelve standard DVD keepcases in cardboard slipcase; $89.99.
Release date: 2003.
Country of origin: USA

Ratings (1-10): video: 3 / audio: 3 / additional content: 3 / overall: 3.

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 poor 16mm and 8mm reduction prints.

The films are presented with soundtracks compiled from preexisting vintage recordings.

As many of the source prints utilized for this collection are truly horrible, don’t consider buying this collection. The Keystone, Essanay, Mutual and First National films have all been released on DVD home video in far superior editions transferred from 35mm prints.

DELTA ENTERTAINMENT has discontinued business and this Region 0 NTSC DVD boxset is . . .