For Immediate Release

Warner Home Video Announces

The Chaplin Collection

Collection’s First Four Titles Debut July 1
With All-New Digitally Mastered Picture & Audio
from Restored Chaplin Estate Vault Elements

Burbank, Calif., April 9, 2003 -- Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush, The Great Dictator, Limelight and Modern Times - four timeless examples of cinema’s first and favorite comedy genius - are being released on DVD July 1 from Warner Home Video (WHV) and MK2. As the first in a series of ten titles included in The Chaplin Collection, all the films have been digitally re-mastered from restored vault elements under the supervision of the Chaplin family estate. The new releases will feature never-before-seen footage, behind-the-scenes glimpses and exclusive family home movie footage. Each deluxe Two-Disc set will be priced at $29.95 SRP. All will also be available in The Chaplin Collection giftset for $89.92 SRP.

Additionally, a second wave of The Chaplin Collection will be released in fall of 2003 and will include four more DVDs of Chaplin’s greatest films to be announced later this year.

More About WHV’s The Chaplin Collection DVDs

Modern Times - The last of Chaplin's silent films was chosen by the AFI for both their 100 Years/100 Movies and 100 Years/100 Laughs lists and described by film critic Pauline Kael as "one of the happiest and most lighthearted of the Chaplin pictures." Chaplin made this funny and poignant masterpiece in which he portrays a factory worker who is frustrated with his job and tired of his tyrannical boss when other filmmakers had virtually abandoned silent films in place of talkies. Highlights include the Tramp ensnared in the factory gearwork, the mechanized lunch break and roller-skating on a ledge.

With an hour of viewing extras, the DVD special features include:

• Chaplin Today - Modern Times: Insightful documentary directed by Philippe Truffault
  
• An introduction to the film by Chaplin biographer David Robinson, illustrated by stills
  
• Alternate scene: The complete version of the nonsense song Chaplin sings in the cafe scene
  
• Soundtrack remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1
  
• Original story notes, shooting log and production reports for the "feeding machine" sequence
  
• A witty video reminiscence by Modern Times musical arranger, composer David Raksin (Laura, The Bad and the Beautiful)
  
• Modern Times trailers from around the world
  
• Galleries of film posters and photos
  
• Extensive production notes

The Gold Rush - In 1942, Chaplin cut more than 20 minutes from the original 1925 silent version and re-released the film with sound narration. The Two-Disc DVD includes both the 1942 re-release and the original silent version, with the cut footage reinstated and Chaplin’s original score, newly reorchestrated by Neil Brand. Widely hailed as his greatest film, this Chaplin classic finds the little Tramp in the Klondike searching for gold and falling in love. The film, which maintains a careful balance of masterful slapstick, romantic tenderness and wry social satire, features the celebrated "dancing dinner rolls" and hard-luck shoe dinner.

With nearly two hours of special features, the Two-Disc DVD includes:

• Original Chaplin music score remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1
  
• Chaplin Today - The Gold Rush: MK2TV retrospective documentary directed by Serge le Peron with Idrissa Ouedraogo
  
• Introduction by Chaplin biographer David Robinson, illustrated with stills
  
• The Gold Rush trailers from around the world
  
• Galleries of film posters and photos
  
• Interview with Lita Grey Chaplin, his wife at the time of the film
  
• Original scenario written by Chaplin prior to filming, entitled The Lucky Strike - A Play in Two Scenes

The Great Dictator - In his first film with dialogue, Chaplin plays the dual roles of a sweet-natured Jewish barber and a murderous Hitler-type dictator. Written and directed by Chaplin before the U.S. entered World War II, The Great Dictator was nominated for five Academy Awards®, including Best Picture and Actor. Immortal comedy bits from this film include the dictator’s besotted dance with a globe, the upside-down flying sequence and the dictator and a Mussolini-like Jack Oakie madly cranking their barber chairs higher and higher.

With nearly two hours of special features, the Two-Disc DVD includes:

• The Tramp and the Dictator: Acclaimed Turner Classic Movies documentary co-directed by film historian Kevin Brownlow and Michael Kloft
  
• Rare color home movies shot on the set by Chaplin’s half brother Sydney
  
• Deleted scene from Chaplin’s short film Sunnyside, (1918) which inspired his creation of the Jewish barber character
  
• Hitler/Mussolini excerpt from Chaplin’s scathing black comedy Monsieur Verdoux
  
• Chaplin’s original story notes, drafts of scripts and production records documenting his creation of the film’s impassioned final sequence
  
• Soundtrack remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1
  
• Poster gallery

Limelight - The 1972 Oscar® winner for Best Music, Original Dramatic Score tells the story of a down-and-out music-hall performer (Chaplin) who rescues a young ballerina from committing suicide and, in the process, gets one last chance to step into the limelight again. This film includes Chaplin’s delightful taming of a flea sequence, his instructions in "laughter therapy" and a landmark routine in which comedic rivals Chaplin and Buster Keaton appear together for the first time on screen in a duet that is the highlight of Chaplin’s final American film.

With nearly two hours of special features, the Two-Disc DVD includes:

• Chaplin Today - Limelight: MK2TV retrospective documentary directed by Edgardo Cozarinsky and Bernardo Bertolucci
  
• Featurette on the seven other Chaplin family members in Limelight
  
• 1952 and 1959 home movies of Chaplin’s children and Chaplin in London
  
• Deleted scenes cut after the premiere, including "One-armed Man" scene
  
• An introduction to the film by Chaplin biographer David Robinson, illustrated by stills
  
• Limelight trailers from around the world
  
• Galleries of posters and photos
  
• Soundtrack remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1
  
• Audio-only track of the film’s Academy-Award® winning score
  
• Sections of Chaplin’s working text for the novel on which the film is based
  
• A six-minute excerpt of the unfinished 1919 film, The Professor, which mirrors the Limelight fleas and flophouse scenes
  
• Production summary

In addition, all four Two-Disc DVDs will be offered in full-frame format [1.37:1]. They will also include English and French languages (dubbed in Québécois) and subtitles in English, French and Spanish.

WHV is the worldwide distributor (excluding Japan) of these definitive new Chaplin releases, which were created and produced by Paris-based MK2 in conjunction with Association Chaplin (the Chaplin Family estate).

With operations in 78 international territories - more than the video division of any other studio - Warner Home Video commands the largest distribution infrastructure in the global video marketplace. Warner Home Video's film library is the largest of any studio, offering top quality new and vintage titles from the repertoires of Warner Bros. Pictures, Turner Entertainment Co., Castle Rock Entertainment, HBO Home Video and New Line Home Entertainment.

End Of Release