Released to commemorate their 100th anniversary, this new Flicker Alley Blu-Ray/DVD set of Chaplin’s ESSANAY COMEDIES will be the last word on the subject (that is until the next upgrade in video technology comes along). The visual quality of these two reel comedies is hard to believe for anyone who remembers seeing them in previous incarnations (I first encountered them in well worn 8mm copies shown at a Shakey’s Pizza Parlor back in the 1960s) including the 1999 Image Entertainment DVD releases although those were the best available at the time.
Once again the driving force behind this set, as was the case with the Flicker Alley KEYSTONE & MUTUAL sets is David Shepard of Film Preservation Associates and Blackhawk Films (who were responsible for the 8mm prints I saw all those years ago). As is documented in the booklet that accompanies these discs, it has taken a dozen years, and the combined efforts of Blackhawk, Lobster Films, and Cineteca Bologna to reassemble these pre-feature Chaplin shorts from various prints as no single Chaplin Essanay negative still exists. The combining of several prints to make one looks better than ever thanks to digital restoration technology which allows for a uniform look. In other words, they have never looked this good.
The photographic detail revealed from HIS NEW JOB through POLICE makes these films look close to what they must have 100 years ago. The interiors may look cheap and two dimensional (which they were) but not the cinematography. Chaplin even utilizes a moving camera on a couple of occasions which was virtually unheard of in a silent comedy. Of the 12 two reelers and 3 one reelers that Chaplin made for Essanay I have always loved THE TRAMP for its sentimentality and A NIGHT IN THE SHOW for preserving Chaplin’s English Music Hall background.
The BURLESQUE ON CARMEN is another favorite and is doubly hilarious if you have seen the Cecil B. DeMille original. My one minor complaint is that I wish they had used the tinted print of BURLESQUE that was used on the old Image CARMEN DVD (which is no longer available). The musical contributions by Robert Israel, Timothy Brock, and Rodney Sauer & the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra add immensely to the enjoyment of these “works in progress”. The ESSANAYS combine the crude kinetic energy of the KEYSTONES with the polished artistry of the MUTUALS making them an ideal place to start for those who want to study Chaplin. They may be 100 years old but they still have much to offer.
The Capsule Critic 