Outfitted with a new score and title sequence, reedited sans several scenes involving the woman, and rereleased in 1972, Charlie Chaplin’s first feature length film The Kid has finally made its way to home video in HD thanks to the Cineteca di Bologna’s gloriously meticulous restoration and 4k digital transfer. Originally released back in 1921 after about a half decade of acting and eventually directing wildly popular shorts for Keystone Studios, the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company and finally the Mutual Film Corporation, the film endured a year long production amidst personal and professional crisis. It was thought that Chaplin’s signature brand of comedic slapstick, which typically ran just two reels of film, could not support the length of a six reel feature, but as is evidenced within, the film perfectly fuses Chaplin’s penchant for melodrama with his masterful vaudevillian humor to create an astonishingly emotional comedy that plumbs...
- 2/16/2016
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
By Mireille Latil-Le-Dantec. Originally published in Cinématographe, no. 35, February 1978 in an issue with a Chaplin dossier.
Translation by Ted Fendt. Thanks to Marie-Pierre Duhamel.
The Chaplinesque Quest
The overbearing weight of interpretative studies devoted to Chaplin makes any pretension to some "fresh look" at a universe already studied from every angle seem absurd from the outset. At least, on the occasion of the homages currently being made in theaters to the little man who would become so big, a few fragmentary re-viewings more modestly allow for the rediscovery of the thematic unity of this body of work and the inanity of any artificial divide between the "excellent" Charlie films and the "mediocre" Chaplin films – a divide corresponding, of course, to the event which his art was not supposed to have survived: the appearance of those talkies that – in the excellent company of Eisenstein, Pudovkin, René Clair and many others – he...
Translation by Ted Fendt. Thanks to Marie-Pierre Duhamel.
The Chaplinesque Quest
The overbearing weight of interpretative studies devoted to Chaplin makes any pretension to some "fresh look" at a universe already studied from every angle seem absurd from the outset. At least, on the occasion of the homages currently being made in theaters to the little man who would become so big, a few fragmentary re-viewings more modestly allow for the rediscovery of the thematic unity of this body of work and the inanity of any artificial divide between the "excellent" Charlie films and the "mediocre" Chaplin films – a divide corresponding, of course, to the event which his art was not supposed to have survived: the appearance of those talkies that – in the excellent company of Eisenstein, Pudovkin, René Clair and many others – he...
- 7/22/2014
- by Ted Fendt
- MUBI
With Charlie Chaplin’s first step into the Criterion Collection looming on the horizon, it looks like the legendary silent film star is having a sort of renaissance with the public.
After his filmography was picked up by the geniuses over at Janus Films, the company have been on a tear bringing their traveling series of films throughout the country. Next on their trip, the Castro Theater.
Saturday, Sept.18, 2010 – The Circus (1928, 72 min.), The Idle Class (1921, 32 min.), and A Day’s Pleasure (1919, 19 min.), with an introduction by Glen David Gold, author of the bestselling Chaplin inspired novel Sunnyside.
Sunday, Sept.19, 2010 – City Lights (1931, 87 min.), A Dog’s Life (1918, 33 min.), and Sunnyside (1919, 30 min.)
Monday, Sept.20, 2010 – Modern Times (1936, 87 min.) and Pay Day ( 1922, 22 min.)
Tuesday, Sept.21, 2010 – The Great Dictator (1940, 124 min.) and The Kid (1921, 54 min.)
Wednesday, Sept.22, 2010 – Limelight (1952, 137 min.) and Shoulder Arms (1918, 37 min.)
The theater will play home to the greatest hits collection this September, and...
After his filmography was picked up by the geniuses over at Janus Films, the company have been on a tear bringing their traveling series of films throughout the country. Next on their trip, the Castro Theater.
Saturday, Sept.18, 2010 – The Circus (1928, 72 min.), The Idle Class (1921, 32 min.), and A Day’s Pleasure (1919, 19 min.), with an introduction by Glen David Gold, author of the bestselling Chaplin inspired novel Sunnyside.
Sunday, Sept.19, 2010 – City Lights (1931, 87 min.), A Dog’s Life (1918, 33 min.), and Sunnyside (1919, 30 min.)
Monday, Sept.20, 2010 – Modern Times (1936, 87 min.) and Pay Day ( 1922, 22 min.)
Tuesday, Sept.21, 2010 – The Great Dictator (1940, 124 min.) and The Kid (1921, 54 min.)
Wednesday, Sept.22, 2010 – Limelight (1952, 137 min.) and Shoulder Arms (1918, 37 min.)
The theater will play home to the greatest hits collection this September, and...
- 8/23/2010
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
This past May, the Criterion Collection e-mail newsletter announced that Janus Films had acquired the rights to distribute the works of Charlie Chaplin theatrically. We all celebrated in the notion that we would be able to hopefully see new clean prints of his incredible body of work, as well as the idea that these titles would inevitably make their way into the Criterion Collection.
Whether these titles would be available individually, in box sets (either in Criterion proper, or in the Eclipse Series), or some combination of the two, we still have not heard a definitive statement from Criterion. It is highly likely that we’ll get an announcement for either November or December, as many would love a complete Charlie Chaplin box set to find it’s way onto their holiday wish list.
Last month, Janus unveiled a poster image, as a placeholder on their website for an upcoming Charlie Chaplin sub-site,...
Whether these titles would be available individually, in box sets (either in Criterion proper, or in the Eclipse Series), or some combination of the two, we still have not heard a definitive statement from Criterion. It is highly likely that we’ll get an announcement for either November or December, as many would love a complete Charlie Chaplin box set to find it’s way onto their holiday wish list.
Last month, Janus unveiled a poster image, as a placeholder on their website for an upcoming Charlie Chaplin sub-site,...
- 7/16/2010
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
In the May e-mail newsletter from Criterion, they announced that Janus had acquired the rights to the entire Charlie Chaplin catalog, causing cinephiles everywhere to collectively hold their breath at the prospect of adding the film legend into the Collection.
On June 19th, the American Cinematheque will be screening The Gold Rush along with several other Chaplin short films, courtesy of Janus Films. This past week, we saw another piece of Chaplin news, in that the film A Thief Catcher was discovered in an Antique Sale. The film features an extended cameo from Chaplin. It is unknown at this point where the rights to this film lie, and it is doubtful that it is part of the licensing deal that Janus has with the Chaplin catalog. A Thief Catcher represents the 82 film in his official filmography, which spanned from 1914 through 1967.
To celebrate Janus’ upcoming screening run, and eventual release in the Criterion Collection,...
On June 19th, the American Cinematheque will be screening The Gold Rush along with several other Chaplin short films, courtesy of Janus Films. This past week, we saw another piece of Chaplin news, in that the film A Thief Catcher was discovered in an Antique Sale. The film features an extended cameo from Chaplin. It is unknown at this point where the rights to this film lie, and it is doubtful that it is part of the licensing deal that Janus has with the Chaplin catalog. A Thief Catcher represents the 82 film in his official filmography, which spanned from 1914 through 1967.
To celebrate Janus’ upcoming screening run, and eventual release in the Criterion Collection,...
- 6/12/2010
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
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