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Chaplin’s
Mutual Comedies
1916-1917
(1916-2013)

Contents: 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), Chaplin’s Goliath (1996) and The Birth of the Tramp (2013).

Charles Chaplin was delighted when he began fulfilling his 1916 contract with the Mutual Film Company, a distribution outfit that handled the films of many of the top film producers of the time. The contract was the first made with Chaplin’s own production company, which meant that he could produce his comedies with total creative control.

The Mutual comedies show signs of Chaplin maturing as a cinema artist. His Mutual stories became more carefully constructed and less reliant on senseless bash-and-bop slapstick. The gags show flashes of comic brilliance.

— Carl Bennett

Flicker Alley
2014 Blu-ray Disc / DVD edition

Chaplin’s Mutual Comedies 1916-1917 (1916-2013), black & white, 400 minutes total, not rated, including The Floorwalker (1916), black & white, 29 minutes, not rated, The Fireman (1916), black & white, 26 minutes, not rated, The Vagabond (1916), black & white, 27 minutes, not rated, One A.M. (1916), color-tinted and color-toned black & white, 27 minutes, not rated, The Count (1916), black & white, 25 minutes, not rated, The Pawnshop (1916), black & white, 27 minutes, not rated, Behind the Screen (1916), black & white, 25 minutes, not rated, The Rink (1916), black & white, 26 minutes, not rated, Easy Street (1917), black & white, 27 minutes, not rated, The Cure (1917), black & white, 26 minutes, not rated, The Immigrant (1917), black & white, 25 minutes, not rated, The Adventurer (1917), black & white, 27 minutes, not rated, Chaplin’s Goliath (1996), color and black & white, 52 minutes, not rated, and The Birth of the Tramp (2013), color and black & white, 63 minutes, not rated.

Flicker Alley, FA0034, UPC 0-17311-67859-2, ISBN 1-893967-859.
Two single-sided, dual-layered, Region A Blu-ray Discs, 1.33:1 aspect ratio image in pillarboxed 16:9 (1920 x 1080 pixels) progressive? scan MPEG-4 format, SDR (standard dynamic range), ? Mbps average video bit rate, ? Kbps audio bit rate, Dolby Digital 48 kHz 2.0 stereo sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; chapter stops; and three single-sided, dual-layered, Region 1 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 stereo sound, English language intertitles, no foreign language subtitles; chapter stops; five-disc BD steelbook; $59.99.
Release date: 19 August 2014.
Country of origin: USA

This dual-format Blu-ray Disc / DVD collection of the twelve Chaplin Mutual contract films features new high-definition pillarboxed video transfers from 35mm archival material, including additional footage and quality improvements from film materials which have surfaced since David Shepard’s earlier home video editions. The edition has been a cooperative project of Cineteca de Bologna, Film Preservation Associates and Lobster Films in cooperation with Association Chaplin.

The running times are slightly longer here than in previous home video editions. We hope that apart from a different video transfer frame rate this also means that additional footage will be seen that has not been part of previous editions.

The films are presented with optional music scores composed and performed by Neil Brand, Timothy Brock, Antonio Coppola, Carl Davis, Stephen Horne, Robert Israel, Maud Nelissen, Donald Sosin and Gabriel Thibaudeau.

For our impressions of the films themselves, see our The Floorwalker on Home Video page, The Fireman on Home Video page, The Vagabond on Home Video page, One A.M. on Home Video page, The Count on Home Video page, The Pawnshop on Home Video page, Behind the Screen on Home Video page, The Rink on Home Video page, Easy Street on Home Video page, The Cure on Home Video page, The Immigrant on Home Video page, The Adventurer on Home Video page.

The supplemental material includes a 28-page booklet, the documentary The Birth of the Tramp (2013); the documentary Chaplin’s 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 logo to purchase this Region A Blu-ray Disc / Region 1 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Support Silent Era.