Flicker Alley, in association with the Blackhawk Films® Collection, presents Chaplin's Essanay Comedies, a newly restored collection of 15 classic films.
Release Date: November 10, 2015
(Los Angeles, CA - August 11, 2015) - Flicker Alley and the Blackhawk Films® Collection invite you to experience the evolving genius of Charlie Chaplin in Chaplin's Essanay Comedies, the Blu-ray/DVD premiere of 15 cinematic treasures as you've never them before.
Chaplin's Essanay Comedies (1915)
5-Disc BD/DVD Box Set
M.S.R.P. $59.95
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.
Bonus Materials Include:
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.
Pro-B
Last edited by pro-bassoonist; 08-12-2015 at 05:38 AM.
I already got the Spanish release of the Cineteca Bologna restorations this set is using. From the shorts I've watched so far, it's excellent. It's a LOT less expensive than the US, but you need a region free player.
With the Mutuals, I bought the Flicker Alley, thinking it would be the best, but it ended up I couldn't bring myself to watch them because the sound was so far out of sync to the picture. So I bought the Spanish disk, which was fine. Then the BFI came out with the Carl Davis scores, and I had to triple dip.
I don't think Carl Davis did scores for the Essanays, so I think I'm safe going with the Spanish set on those. (Famous last words!)
I already got the Spanish release of the Cineteca Bologna restorations this set is using. From the shorts I've watched so far, it's excellent. It's a LOT less expensive than the US, but you need a region free player.
With the Mutuals, I bought the Flicker Alley, thinking it would be the best, but it ended up I couldn't bring myself to watch them because the sound was so far out of sync to the picture. So I bought the Spanish disk, which was fine. Then the BFI came out with the Carl Davis scores, and I had to triple dip.
I don't think Carl Davis did scores for the Essanays, so I think I'm safe going with the Spanish set on those. (Famous last words!)
A little tardy with this response to your post, but can you tell me what the scores are like on the Spanish Chaplin sets? I'm all for saving money on these if the PQ is great, but I would really like to avoid synthesizer scores. Thanks, BigShot!
The score on this set are from Robert Israel, Rodney Sauer (and possible others, I haven't check all shorts)... There are of the "orchestral" type (at least the 5 I listened to).
After I emailed, I got a stamps.com shipping confirmation yesterday. It finally updated this morning simply saying that electronic info was received... so taking longer than I woulda hoped, especially considering when I preordered the Mutuals it was shipped before release day and I got it about 2 days after release with the standard shipping
After I emailed, I got a stamps.com shipping confirmation yesterday. It finally updated this morning simply saying that electronic info was received... so taking longer than I woulda hoped, especially considering when I preordered the Mutuals it was shipped before release day and I got it about 2 days after release with the standard shipping
I got one of those too. Didn't realize it was from Flicker Alley. I guess they changed their shipping. I know when I preordered the 3D Rarities I didn't receive it 'til a week after release day. They used to ship early.
A little tardy with this response to your post, but can you tell me what the scores are like on the Spanish Chaplin sets? I'm all for saving money on these if the PQ is great, but I would really like to avoid synthesizer scores. Thanks, BigShot!
They are small orchestra scores. Probably the same as on Flicker Alley, but I haven't checked, because I don't have the FA one. Definitely no synth. It has the same Cineteca Bologna / Lobster Films / Film Preservation Associates credit on the back cover. My guess is that the Spanish one is the same as the Flicker Alley, just without any supplements to speak of.
It's impossible that these are the same as the Spanish release. Since David Shepard had not finished the restorations for this release until the Summer. Flicker Alley was suppose to release this in Sept but it got pushed back waiting for the restoration work to be finished.
The actual restorations of the Chaplin shorts were done by Cineteca Bologna and the Chaplin estate. They released it in Spain as soon as the films themselves were complete and transferred. But that was a bare bones release... no commentaries or supplements. The Flicker Alley release has considerable supplements, so it took them a little longer to prepare their version.
It was the same with the Mutuals. Cineteca Bologna did the restorations of those films too. There is no real difference in image or sound quality of the films themselves between the Flicker Alley, Spanish or UK releases (except that somehow Flicker Alley mastered several of them out of sync to their soundtracks). The primary differences relate to supplements and music scores.
By the way, Cineteca Bologna's work isn't limited to just the films... They have created a digital archive of documents too... http://www.charliechaplinarchive.org
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Chaplin's Essanay Comedies (1915-1916)
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