Editorial Review of Unknown Chaplin: The Master at Work, courtesy of Amazon.com
 Indispensable for any Chaplin fan and important and highly intriguing for anyone who cares about film history, this three-volume series offers the outtakes and unreleased tracks of the Little Tramp‘s storied career. Archivist Kevin Brownlow and David Gill meticulously and ingeniously piece together previously unseen footage from Chaplin’s private collection, demonstrating in part 1 how painstakingly the director developed gags in such short films as The Cure and The Immigrant.
Part 2 is less essential, but offers the famous behind-the-camera intrigue of the making of his classic City Lights, a film in which pokey perfectionist Chaplin makes Stanley Kubrick look like a caffeinated, indie tyro rushing through production. Part 3 demonstrates how Chaplin recycled ideas he discarded early in his career for use in later film. It includes a historic first–one of the first extended sequences Chaplin shot trying to break out of the Little Tramp mold. Doubly amazing is how fresh and funny and effective Chaplin’s filmmaking remains today, nearly a century later. —David Kronke
Product Description of Unknown Chaplin: The Master at Work
With bowler hat, mustache and cane, Charlie Chaplin became one of the twentieth century’s most recognized and beloved icons. But for decades, the secrets to his timeless film magic were presumed lost forever to the cutting-room floors of a bygone era. Now, available on DVD for the first time, UNKNOWN CHAPLIN captures the cinematic genius as he was never meant to be seen. Using countless reels of footage and outtakes Chaplin had wanted destroyed, film archivists Kevin Brownlow and David Gill have meticulously crafted an essential and fascinating documentary homage to the Little Tramp who will no doubt keep us laughing until the last flickering frame. Featuring the following programs:
- MY HAPPIEST YEARS: Early shorts reveal how constant re-working of sight gags led to Chaplin’s first triumph.
- THE GREAT DIRECTOR: The Kid, The Gold Rush, and City Lights–by 1918, Chaplin is the movie industry’s top director.
- HIDDEN TREASURES: See the original opening sequence to Chaplin’s City Lights with a new musical score.
DVD Features:
- How UNKNOWN CHAPLIN Was Made;
- Two Bonus Shorts:
- The Making of The Count
- Chaplin Meets Harry Lauder
- Chaplin Biography;
- Interactive Menus;
- Scene Selection