Chaplin Collection

[domino harvey]

I picked up the Image A King in New York/ Woman of Paris disc new/sealed for $5 on Amazon Marketplace yesterday when I saw I couldn't pick it up via R2. As for the Chaplin doc, I can always Netflix it.

[perkizitore]

You can buy the R2 complete box (which has better extras than the R1,especially Camille) for 60 pounds from Tesco or Base.I think it's quite a deal,even if you pick up the individual releases for 5 pounds each.Has anyone seen it with a lower price?

[zedz]

You can buy the R2 complete box (which has better extras than the R1,especially Camille) for 60 pounds from Tesco or Base.I think it's quite a deal,even if you pick up the individual releases for 5 pounds each. Has anyone seen it with a lower price?

I got it for (I think) 38 pounds or something similarly ridiculous a couple of years ago from Amazon UK, but that was a very fleeting offer and I haven't noticed it in that ballpark since.

[perkizitore]

All the movies of the set (except for A King in New York/A Woman Of Paris) are now available for 4 pounds each from HMV with free UK delivery.That makes us 32 pounds only!But still you've got to get the missing movies 2-disc set from the US,as well as the documentary.That makes us roughly 40 pounds (if you buy the missing titles used or not),but still the R2s of A Woman Of Paris have more extensive extras than the R1 release.I will propably wait for a bargain,meaning that i expect the box's price to drop from 60 quid to 40,or if i am lucky someone will sell the exclusive titles separately so i can pick them up.

[dx23]

It looks like the Region 1 Chaplin DVDs released by Warner are going OOP, according to this thread.

[Peacock]

same in the UK barely any of the titles can be found anymore (why why why didn't I pick up The Gold Rush sooner!!)

[manicsounds]

I'm glad I got the complete boxset a few months ago for 30 pounds. Very worthwhile.

[Foam]

I've just come into some money and plan to spend it on Chaplin. I was thinking of getting both of the Chaplin Collections but despite trying to do my homework I've heard some confusing and often conflicting things so I'd appreciate it if I can be set straight:
1. Does The Gold Rush DVD (in the collection) include the version without the narration? From what I've gathered the stand-alone release only has the narration but the one in the collection has both, or something.
2. Is the ghosting unspeakable on all of the discs in the collection or just the Chaplin Revue?
I'm not a videophile by any means, and up until now I've happily watched pretty much all of my Chaplin on VHS, but really when I make this upgrade to DVD for Chaplin I want to know the stuff's going to be watchable, and I'll probably be kind of upset if I buy this stuff tomorrow and next month a new and improved Chaplin box is announced, so is anything like that in the works? (I am not in the know).

[Scharphedin2]

Foam, I own the UK box release of the Chaplin films (which does not include the Revue disc -- I had to buy that one separately), which in turn is a port of the French mk2 release. The US release, as far as I understand, is a straight NTSC port of these discs, so some people have complained about artifacts. If you are not region-locked, it may be worth considering the R2 release, however, personally I have always found the concerns of image problems to be somewhat exagerrated. On the other hand, I view films on analog equipment, which possibly make these issues less visible on my system. If you are used to viewing these films on VHS, I cannot imagine that any DVD of these films will disappoint, but again maybe someone with the R1 release can comment.

As to The Gold Rush, both the 1925 and 1942 versions are included on the R2 disc. I would imagine the same is true of the R1 release.

[foggy eyes]

Foam - don't hestitate and pick up the complete UK set while it's going for £40-50. These discs seem to drop in and out of print and availability, so it's best to grab them while you can...

[HypnoHelioStaticStasis]

I have both R1 collections, Foam. To answer your first question, yes, both versions are included. Second, while some of the transfers may suffer slightly through the conversion process (namely The Circus), I truly think you ought to snatch these mothers up. Like Foggy Eyes said, I believe they are going OOP, and the extra material, if that matters to you, is priceless.

To my eyes, these sets are golden, and the definitive versions out there.

[Foam]

After not a little deliberation/impatience I splurged for the R1s. Tested out Modern Times and for whatever reason the ghosting is way more visible when I play it in VLC than when I play it in Windows Media Player, and hardly there with my TV. I'm way satisfied.

[bearcuborg]

Yes, A WOMAN OF PARIS and A KING IN NEW YORK were also exclusive to the box sets (the latter no great loss!)

Actually I've found the later to be a wonderful, if almost great movie. I put off watching both films for a long time, but AKINY holds up much better than the lifeless AWOP.

[Ovader]

It seems a clip from The Circus premiere documentary footage of the supplements DVD has people foolishly speculating (Time Travel!) about a woman holding her hand to the side of her head (is it a cell phone in 1928?) in the brief clip.

[Cinephrenic]

I'd use a bluetooth 1928.

[Roger Ryan]

It seems a clip from The Circus premiere documentary footage of the supplements DVD has people foolishly speculating (Time Travel!) about a woman holding her hand to the side of her head (is it a cell phone in 1928?) in the brief clip.

After seeing the footage, my guess is the woman is holding a make-up compact or small notebook in her hand and is either shielding her eyes from the sun or trying to obscure her face from the camera filming the scene (for fear that she will be recognized as a time traveler!).

[Jonathan S]

The most winning explanation I've read is that she is a future film preservationist who has returned to 1928 to snatch prints of The Patriot and 4 Devils. However, she's a bit early for those, so maybe her target is actually London After Midnight, which opened just a few weeks before the Chaplin film. Who knows, that mobile could be so advanced she can use it to record the whole film in Ultra High Definition...

[manicsounds]

Alright, for anyone who owns any of the PAL Chaplin Warner discs, have you played them on a BD player on a widescreen television? Please try it.

I put in "The Great Dictator" and the menus, the movie, all of it is zoomed in and cropped to fit into the screen at around 1.78:1 instead of its 1.33:1 pillarboxed ratio.

I tried other discs, and the same happening. Cropped menus, cropped film.

Other 1.33:1 discs like say the Ozu BFI discs, etc play normally, but no matter what on my setup menu, plays wrong.

Anyone else see this? It might be an MK2 thing, as I remember the David Lynch DVDs would for some reason automatically zoom in on the 1.33:1 interviews to fill the screen....

[Gregory]

Works fine for me

[Dr Amicus]

Works fine for me

Ditto. My PS3 hasn't had an issue with these that I've come across yet - but I'm only part way through the set so something may yet pop up.

[Feego]

I don't own any of the PAL Chaplins, but I have experienced this problem with other DVDs before. I recently rented Criterion's The Element of Crime, and the menus and special features (all Academy ratio) were zoomed in, and there was nothing I could do to change them (the movie, which is anamorphic, played fine). Same thing happened when I rented MGM's old non-anamorphic edition of Showgirls. The film and menus were all zoomed in, but the special features played normally. I have no idea why. Perhaps it's just a disc-player compatability glitch.

[manicsounds]

I tried with the other discs in the Chaplin set, and the same, the picture is zoomed in. Had to watch it on my good ol' DVD player instead.