CHAPLIN KEYSTONES Vol. 1 review

I have just recieved Grapevine's Chaplin Keystones Vol. 1 in the mail a few days ago. I have been a Chaplin fan for years, but sadly the only videos I could really afford were the Madacys, and the second box set I only owned in a five-volume version. I also was able to tape all his features except A King In New York from TV. But anyway, I would like to give a review of the video, and there are a few questions I have too.

MAKING A LIVING This begins with a 30-second prologue about the history behind the film. I don't know if Grapevine added this or not. The print quality is all right, but all of the intertitles are gone. I found the first few minutes a bit hard to understand. Is the girl Chaplin or Lehrman's girlfriend? Lehrman shows Chaplin a ring on his finger, so is that his fiancee? Also, the girl in the house that Chaplin and Lehrman fight in has been identified as Minta Durfee for years, but it does not look like her at all! I think that it is Emma Clifton, it does look like her.

KID'S AUTO RACE I did not know that this film was actually called Kid's Auto Race! It has been called Kid Auto Races At Venice, but this is an authentic Keystone print with original titles. This print is missing some scenes, running for 5 minutes but the Madacy one runs 6 minutes. It is a very nice looking picture quality.

MABEL'S STRANGE PREDICAMENT aka Charlot A L'Hotel. Is this the only copy of this available? It is a very bad looking print and is the same on Madacy. I know this film was lost for many years, so was this found in France or something?

BETWEEN SHOWERS A W.H. Productions version, except the opening title is not a W.H. title. I wonder where it came from? Also, who is Sadie Lampe? I know she plays the policeman's girlfriend, but according to the IMDB this is her only film. Anyone know anything about her?

A FILM JOHNNY Another W.H., except this has the titles 'Charley Chaplin in HIS MILLION DOLLAR JOB; Adapted from A FILM JOHNNY'. Very odd. Anyway, this is a good film for this period in Chaplin's career, and is MUCH better than the Madacy version I have seen before, which is missing the first few minutes at the theatre. Is that Harry McCoy as the man next to Charlie at the theatre? The only thing I don't like is the music they used for this. It sounds very circus like.

TANGO TANGLES W.H. Productions again, the same as Madacy. Chester Conklin has been identified as one of the dancers, but I did not see him. There was one dressed as a clown who kind of looked like him, but he looked more like Hank Mann to me.

HIS FAVORITE PASTIME Another W.H., with the Charley mispelling and the 'adapted from' instead of 'former title'. I was expecting Arbuckle to have a larger role, but he just played a small role as a hobo-ish drunk. Lots of racial humor for a Chaplin film, and was that Minta Durfee as the black maid?

CRUEL CRUEL LOVE The same as the Madacy print, and I would think this is only one in exsistence since it was lost until the 70's.

THE STAR BOARDER The final W.H. Productions print on the video, and it is has a pretty good picture quality. This is another well made film for this period.

MABEL AT THE WHEEL This is Hot Finish, except the opening title card is replaced with a generic 'Mabel At The Wheel'. On the Madacy version, the film runs VERY fast and has music and sound effects. The sound effects aren't that bad, but there are lots of car sound effects that sound like vacuums. This version runs at the right speed, but has different

Thanks for the helpful review. Sounds like MAKING A LIVING and KIDS AUTO RACE may have come from Blackhawk prints. Blackhawk had really great prints of KIDS AUTO RACE and A BUSY DAY.

According to their web site, Grapevine is shutting down in November, so I guess there's a limited time on when to get this (and their other videos). I wish it was available from them on DVD.

If I remember right, it's a Blackhawk print, so they're Blackhawk's titles.

Right. They're on the W.H. Productions version, though.

I'm confused as well. I do know Charlie shows up, gives the girl a

both Charlie and Lehrman are supposed to be suitors for the girl.

It's NOT, dammit. That's Blackhawk's doing. It's called 'Kid Auto Races At Venice, Cal.'. Blackhawk used an incomplete 35mm print of W.H. Productions' 'The Pest' and recreated the style of the original Keystone titles.

See above... they're recreations.

The Madacy print, though, has the last shot (the close-up!) that is missing from the W.H. Productions print, so you need to join the two together to have the complete film.

Yes... to my knowledge at least, this is the only source print of this I've ever seen.

Without going to the video... I think this might be the British version of the W.H. title card, which does not look the same as the U.S. reissue, and does not say W.H. Productions, I think.

I think there are two prints of this, and Arbuckle's scene is much longer in one of them... but I think what you have on the tape is the longer of the two, so I guess it's more of a cameo than anything else.

Yes.

Right. Virtually ALL prints are derived from 'Hot Finish' (ALL of which seem to have slightly different edits, by the way!). ...

I've always thought she was Lehrman's girlfriend. Charlie's only there to borrow money from him.

I was fooled by that too, when the title cards were reproduced in Robinsons little book. But I was told that those titles were recreations by Blackhawk.

Sadie Lampe was identified in this by Robinson from Jean Mitry's French book. If this ID is correct than a number of other Keystone roles can be attrivuted to her, most notably the Hat Check Girl in Tango tangles.

Conklin is the guest dressed as a cop. Mann is the guest in overalls. The guy in the cone hat is Glen Cavender (also playing the drummer in the band).

I'll have to check that one.