Chaplin Mutual Comedies: Restored 90th Anniversary Edition (1915)

You are here: Reviews > Charlie Chaplin reviews >Chaplin Mutual Comedies: Restored 90th Anniversary Edition (1915)

The Chaplin Mutual Comedies - 90th Anniversary Edition - The Floorwalker - The Fireman - The Vagabond - One A.M. - The Count - The Pawn Shop - Behind the Screen - The Rink - Easy Street - The Cure - The Immigrant - The Adventurer - The Gentleman Tramp

Some of Charlie Chaplin‘s funniest comedies were the short films that he made for the Mutual Film Corporation. This collection of short films include some of his best, most with his frequent co-stars Edna Purviance and Eric Campbell.
The DVD includes twelve short films directed and written by Charlie Chaplin, restored from premier quality original 35mm film, with additions and improvements from new film materials which have surfaced. Extras include The Gentleman Tramp, the 1975 feature-length film. Also included is Chaplin’s Goliath, the 1996 documentary of Eric Campbell, the huge Scottish actor who achieved screen immortality as the “heavy” in the Chaplin Mutual comedies, as well as The Mutual-Chaplin Specials,Making The Gentleman Tramp, Stills Gallery containing more than ninety rare images, many of them behind-the-scenes shots never before published.

The 12 short films included on the DVD are:

The Floorwalker

Charlie Chaplin’s first Mutual Film Company film was The Floorwalker, made in 1916. It was also Charlie Chaplin’s first turn as a movie producer. It starred the Tramp as a customer in a department store who finds out the manager is stealing money from the store. It is probably most famous for Chaplin’s attempt to use an escalator, to hilarious results
The Fireman

In The Fireman, Charlie Chaplin is an inept fireman, bullied and eventually fired by his chief, Eric Campbell. Later, when Eric has been bribed to let a house burn down in an insurance scheme, with Eric’s girlfriend (Edna Purviance) trapped in the building, it’s Charlie to the rescue!
The Vagaband

A plotline very similar to Chaplin’s feature-length film, The Circus. Charlie the tramp hides out in the country, only to rescue a girl (Edna Purviance) from a band of gypsies (led by Eric Campbell). The girl later has her picture painted by an artist, which a rich woman recognizes as her long-lost granddaughter. The women are reunited, but Charlie mistakenly thinks that the girl and the artist have fallen in love, and he leaves, forsaking his own feelings for the girl for her happiness.
One A.M.

Charlie Chaplin does not play the Tramp in this movie, but rather his older character of the Inebriate, trying to get into bed, and fighting with every imaginable inanimate object trying to prevent it.
The Count

Charlie Chaplin’s Tramp is working as a tailor, who burns the pants of the rich Count whom he works for—Charlie is summarily fired. Finding a party invitation in the Count’s pants, Charlie crashes the party disguised as the Count, vieing for Edna Purviance’s affections against Eric Campbell - and all is ruined when the real Count arrives
The Pawn Shop

Charlie the Tramp is working in a pawnshop, and when Charlie is not taking apart an alarm clock to determine whether it works (ruining it in the process - this is a classic Charlie Chaplin moment) or coming up with comic bits, he’s getting in trouble with his boss, the pawnbroker (Henry Bergman), whose daughter (Edna Purviance) he is in love with. The inept Charlie is fired, but redeems himself by capturing a burgler (Eric Campbell)
Behind the Screen

An early satire on the film industry, where Charlie is an overworked stagehand, abused by Eric Campbell, who falls in love with Edna Purviance who has disguised herself as a man in order to get a job. The other workers eventually revolt, and destroy the movie studio
The Rink

A hilarious short that has Charlie Chaplin puts him on roller skates for a ballet on wheels—and Eric Campbell is wonderful as the “heavy”
Easy Street

As a rookie cop in the city’s toughest neighborhood, a slum overrun with bullies, drug addicts, and gangsters, the good hearted Chaplin isn’t above a little unconventional policing—when his billy club proves ineffective on gargantuan Eric Campbell’s thick skull, he resorts to gassing him with a compliant street lamp.
The Cure

When The Tramp goes to a sanatorium in order to give up drinking, he comes prepared with a trunk full of alcohol. The revolving door becomes a comic centerpiece (like the escalator in The Floorwalker), which befuddles the inebriated Chaplin and infuriates gout-stricken nemesis Eric Campbell.
The Immigrant

Charlie Chaplin’s Tramp comes to America, on a rolling boat, having to contend with poverty and a head waiter, only to get the girl and live happily ever after
The Adventurer

This film finds Charlie as an escaped convict who hides out in a high society party crawling with cops.

Product Description of Chaplin Mutual Comedies: Restored 90th Anniversary Edition (1915)

Twelve films directed and written by Charlie Chaplin, with new orchestral scores composed and conducted by Carl Davis! Restored from premier quality original 35mm film! This edition of The Chaplin Mutual Comedies has been restored from the finest surviving 35mm film elements, with additions and improvements from new film materials which have surfaced since Image’s previous edition. FEATURED FILMS: THE FLOORWALKER - THE FIREMAN - THE VAGABOND - ONE A.M. - THE COUNT - THE PAWN SHOP - BEHIND THE SCREEN - THE RINK - EASY STREET - THE CURE - THE IMMIGRANT - THE ADVENTURER SPECIAL FEATURES: The Gentleman Tramp: This 1975 feature-length film made from the life and work of Charlie Chaplin is narrated by Walter Matthau, with excerpts from My Autobiography read by Laurence Olivier, excerpts from the great Chaplin features, Chaplin family home movies, and scenes of Chaplin at home near Vevey, Switzerland. “This delightful film has captured the quintessence of the artist and his art and has done so in terms accessible to everyone.” (The New York Times). Chaplin’s Goliath: 1996 Oscar-winnning documentarian Kevin MacDonald reveals the story of Eric Campbell, the huge Scottish actor who achieved screen immortality as the “heavy” in the Chaplin Mutual comedies. “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 Stills Gallery: This amazing DVD-ROM gallery contains more than ninety superb, rare images from the collection of Jeffrey Vance, many of them behind-the-scenes shots never before published!