Charlie Chaplin DVD's which are the best [Archive]

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floyd

11-20-2004, 09:20 AM

floyd

11-20-2004, 01:06 PM

well I did a little research before I ordered these and they seem to be the ones to get, as far as quality goes.

Steve Hoffman

11-20-2004, 01:18 PM

I have the LD versions which are great. I don't recognize this new packaging but check carefully; the LD's used Chaplin's negatives.

Jamie Tate

11-20-2004, 01:47 PM

There's a series of Chaplin DVD's that use Charlie's own prints. They look very nice. I think they're from Kino. Maybe not. Anyway, they're everywhere. Best Buy, Tower, Media Play, etc... Go for those. These might be crappy PD prints.

floyd

11-20-2004, 02:08 PM

I found these reviews
http://www.dvdfile.com/software/review/dvd-video_6/chaplincollection.html
and
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=7482

for the set I linked to above. They sound like they should be the right ones ...ya?

Evan L

11-20-2004, 02:22 PM

All legitimate(i.e. non-public-domain)Chaplin videos that I know of were mastered directly from Chaplin negatives. Even the old VHS issues were of high quality. Chaplin obviously was ahead of his time with film preservation.

Evan

b&w

11-20-2004, 03:58 PM

there seem to be a lot of sets out there I'm considering these two http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/dvd.cfm?itemid=IMA000457
http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/dvd.cfm?itemid=WBD037942

I was just wondering if anyone knows how these are as far as quality of the transfers etc... the materiel I know is great.
thanks

The second one you list is part of WB Chaplin Collection of which there are 2 volumes at this time. These are sourced from the Chaplin estate, cleaned up, etc. Evidently there were issues with the transfers in regards to 'shimmering', however that said they are evidently the best available for those specific titles out currently.

b&w

11-20-2004, 04:04 PM

Here is a link to reviews and comments, not all of them useful about those WB sets.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htforum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=147759&highlight=chaplin

floyd

11-21-2004, 10:13 AM

thanks for the comments and links guys! I read through the information and it seems like the two I chose are possibly as good as your going to get out there although the link b&w posted above does have some screen shots that show the differences. In the newer WB sets they clean things up so that the blacks are darker and there is greater contrast but all the greys are not as varried, seems almost like in the mastering of music where all the mids get wiped out. Anyway all that said it is clear one should not waste time with the PD copies so these are the best bet. There is also one other WB set Vol. 2 that I didn't come upon before that has City Lights, The Kid, Monsieur
Verdoux and others I'll probably be getting that one too.

Ken_McAlinden

11-23-2004, 06:31 AM

For the Mutual and Essanay shorts, the collections releases by Image are far and away the best, so you have chosen wisely.

For the features, the earlier releases from Image were direct ports of the laserdiscs and are also well done. The recent releases distributed by Warner Brothers are pretty decent, but don't make all of the Image laserdisc and/or DVD releases obsolete for a couple of reasons. One applies if you watch on NTSC displays. The NTSC Warner releases are PAL conversions and have ghosting artifacts and pitch issues as a result. They otherwise look and sound pretty good. The other difference is that the WB distributed releases generally reflect the revisions and cuts to the films that Chaplin made later in life, so if you are not a fan of revisionism, you will still need the Image DVD or Laserdisc releases of certain films like "A King in New York", "The Kid", or "A Woman of Paris". They do include the deleted scenes as extras on the WB sets, though.

If you are a Costco member, they have been stocking the Warner distributed Chaplin Collection Volume 1 box set for a ridiculously low price, lately.

Regards,