Chaplin's Essanay Comedies Blu-ray

Posted August 12, 2015 01:31 AM by


Flicker Alley and the Blackhawk Films Collection have announced that they will release on Blu-ray Chaplin's Essanay Comedies. The five-disc set will be available for purchase on November 10. In late 1914, Charlie Chaplin was paid the then-unprecedented salary of $1,250 per week (with a bonus of $10,000) in exchange for signing a one-year contract with the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company. The resulting 14 films he created for Essanay find Chaplin further experimenting with new cinematic techniques, while continuing to add complexities and pathos into his celebrated Little Tramp character, soon to become immortalized as the face, hat, and mustache of modern screen comedy. Flicker Alley and The Blackhawk Films Collection are proud to present Chaplin's Essanay Comedies, the third and final installment of the Chaplin Project (lead by Lobster Films and Cineteca di Bologna), a massive, twelve year endeavor to restore all of Chaplin's cinematic output from 1914-1917. This 5-disc box Blu-ray/DVD box set features 15 newly restored films - His New Job, A Night Out, The Champion, In the Park, A Jitney Elopement, The Tramp, By the Sea, His Regeneration, Work, A Woman, The Bank, Shanghaied, A Night in the Show, Charlie Chaplin's Burlesque on Carmen, and Police. All were scanned under the aegis of Association Chaplin at a resolution of 2,000 lines from original 35mm prints gathered from archives all over the world, then digitally assembled and restored, a collaborative effort of Lobster Films and Cineteca di Bologna. These editions feature scores from some of the foremost composers and musicians of silent film accompaniment, including Timothy Brock, Robert Israel, and The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra. Essanay and Mutual were Chaplin's laboratory and he later would borrow heavily from the films he created there to craft the masterworks The Kid (1921), The Gold Rush (1925), City Lights (1931) and Modern Times (1936) for which he is best known and for which he always will be remembered. Special Features: Triple Trouble (1918), an unofficial Chaplin film, edited together from outtakes and footage shot by the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company without Chaplin's approval The Blu-ray/DVD premiere of the newly restored Charlie Butts In, a one-reel film widely distributed in the 1920s assembled from alternate takes of the standard, two-reel version of A Night Out The two-reel edits of A Night Out and Charlie Chaplin's Burlesque on Carmen, restored and conforming as nearly as possible to the Chaplin's original intentions for release A never-before-seen restoration of Police, including a newly improved final shot A 28-page booklet with rare, behind-the-scenes images, and an extensive essay by film historian and author Jeffrey Vance (Chaplin: Genius of the Cinema) Film Contributors Include: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, CNC, BFI National Archive, Blackhawk Films Collection, Dan Bursik, Cinemathèque française, Cinemathèque Royale de Belgique, Danish Film Institute, Library of Congress, and the Museum of Modern Art. About the Blackhawk Films Collection Blackhawk Films was founded in 1927 as a producer of film advertising for merchants and as a distributor of regional newsreels. The company made its mark as a nontheatrical distributor with the advent of 16mm sound film in 1933, establishing several regional offices before WWII. In 1947, Blackhawk expanded into sales of used film and soon thereafter began distributing new 8mm and 16mm prints of Laurel & Hardy comedies from Hal Roach Studios as well as titles from such other suppliers such as Fox Movietone, Killiam Shows, and National Telefilm Associates. David Shepard joined Blackhawk as Vice President (1973-1976) and after founding Film Preservation Associates in 1986, acquired the Blackhawk Films® library which now comprises some 5,000 titles. About Flicker Alley Flicker Alley, LLC was founded in 2002 by Jeff Masino. Each Flicker Alley publication is the culmination of hundreds of hours of research, digital restoration, graphic design, music composition and scoring. Collectively, they reflect the creativity, expertise, and shared passion of many talented collaborators. The Flicker Alley brand has grown to enjoy national and international critical acclaim; its recent release of The House of Mystery won the Peter Von Bagh Award for Best DVD at the 2015 Il Cinema Ritrovato DVD Awards. The company is a four-time recipient of the National Society of Film Critics Film Heritage Award for publishing "rare early U.S. and foreign silent film." The name "Flicker Alley" was the nickname of Cecil Court, London W.C.2., the business center of the British film industry during the silent film era.
Source: Blu-ray.com \| Permalink \|

News comments (9 comments)

HuggyBear73

Aug 12, 2015

I may wait for a BFI release.

Eagles612

Aug 12, 2015

Too bad no steelbook version like the Mutual Comedies.

peterraes

Aug 12, 2015

why does the spanish release only comes with 2 blues and this one 5?
Maybe its 2 blues and 3 dvd's?

Mrdamron

Aug 12, 2015

Can't wait! Best news I have heard/read all week.

Top reviewer

I got the two disc version from the Spanish site of Amazon about a year ago pr so and they appear to be using the same scans for this set. Would love to have the extras but am not gonna double dip.
How about all of Chaplin's Sennet releases in it's own set?

FilmCrewe

Aug 13, 2015

Now if Flicker Alley will just release their Keystone set on Blu Ray, I've been avoiding buy the DVD version in hopes. Also, hoping Criterion releases Chaplin's First National films in a set with THE KID.