Her Friend the Bandit; Still Missing?

Beyond the question of the subject line, I've often wondered how ANY Chaplin films, particualrly the Keystones, could have gone missing in the first place. It seems that they were in constant reissue through the 1920s.

Just a guess, and an uneducated one, so take it for what it's worth...

While films that have never been reissued probably stand the greatest chance of disappearing (through neglect), films in constant reissue may be subject to becoming lost through excessive wear and tear of the original camera negatives, master prints, dupes, etc. In the case of the Keystones specifically, I'd hazard a guess that their constantly changing ownership throughout the twenties and onward helped worsen the odds of their survival.

It's still missing. Rumors that Enrique J. Bouchard of Argentina found a copy proved false. It may not have even been a Chaplin film. Chaplin's presence was only listed in one contemporary trade review. Having read hundreds of these things, I can attest that errors are not unusual and one often wonders if the reviewer even saw the damned thing or wrote his plot description while firmly ensconced on a barstool.

Rob Farr

Hi, Rob The question I have is how many contemporary trade reviews exist that DON'T mention Chaplin - if the one that mentions him is, for example, the only one out of ten, that would add more credence to the theory that he's not in the film.

I also seem to recall that he doesn't list it in the filmography he sent in that contemporary letter to Sydney. If he WAS in the film, it would certainly have been a major part - since he's the title character, so one would think he would have remembered to list it.

As for the film disappearing - I think that even at the time of the first Keystone reissues (by W.H. Productions) there were problems cobbling together usable Keystone prints. A Film Johnnie and Tango Tangles are very short for one-reelers, for example - and in the case of the former it seems to have been put together from several different prints (although it's hard to tell at what stage this took place). All in all though, I wouldn't be surprised if not print of 'Her Friend The Bandit' survived even as far back as the first W.H. reissues.

This business of the condition of the film elements available to W.H. Productions really interests me. Has anyone done any research/writing on the subject of W.H. and the Chaplin Keystones?