Since I did this for my review of the essential Harold Lloyd boxed set from New Line, I’ll do it here. Out of sheer laziness and because they can do it better than I can, I’ve lifted this bio of Charlie Chaplin from the good folks at wikipedia.com.

Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin, Jr, KBE, (April 16, 1889 – December 25, 1977), better known as Charlie Chaplin, was an English comedy actor, becoming the most famous actor in the early to mid Hollywood cinema era, and also a notable director.
Chaplin was one of the most creative and influential personalities in the silent film era: he acted in, directed, scripted, produced, and eventually even scored his own films. His working life in entertainment spanned over 70 years, from the British Victorian stage and music hall in England as a child performer, almost until his death at the age of 88. He led one of the most remarkable and colorful lives of the 20th century, from a Dickens-like London childhood to the pinnacle of world fame in the film industry and as a cultural icon.

His principal character was "The Tramp": a vagrant with the refined manners and dignity of a gentleman who wears a tight coat, oversized trousers and shoes, a bowler hat, a bamboo cane, and his signature toothbrush moustache. Chaplin's high-profile public and private life encompassed highs and lows of both adulation and controversy.

Chaplin's early film career (1914-1917) began at Keystone Studios, where he developed his Tramp character and very quickly learned the art and craft of filmmaking. By the end of his year at Keystone, he was directing and editing his own short films, which were a runaway success with the public. In 1915 he began a year's contract with Essanay film studios, and further developed his film skills, adding new levels of depth and pathos to the Keystone-style slapstick. In 1916, he signed a lucrative deal with the Mutual Film Corporation to produce a dozen two-reel comedies. He was given near complete artistic control, and produced twelve films over an eighteen-month period that rank among the most influential comedy films in cinema. Chaplin later said the Mutual period was the happiest of his career.

At the conclusion of the Mutual contract in 1918, Chaplin built his own Hollywood studio and production company, and assumed an unparalleled degree of artistic and financial control over his productions. Using this independence, over the next 35 years he created a remarkable, timeless body of work that remains entertaining and influential. These include the comedy shorts: A Dog's Life (1918), and Pay Day (1922); longer films, such as: Shoulder Arms (1918) and The Pilgrim (1923); and his great silent feature-length films, among them: The Kid (1921), A Woman of Paris (1923), The Gold Rush (1925), and The Circus (1928).

After the arrival of sound films, he made what is considered to be his greatest film, City Lights (1931), as well as Modern Times (1936) before he committed to sound. These were essentially silent films scored with his own music and sound effects. City Lights contained arguably his most perfect balance of comedy and sentimentality, and, though many would make believe otherwise, the laughs heavily outweigh the tears. Of the final scene, critic James Agee wrote in Life magazine in 1949 that it was the "greatest single piece of acting ever committed to celluloid".

Gotta love wikipedia. Anyway, the 5-disc set from Passport covers Chaplin’s output at Keystone, Essanay, Mutual, and First National Studios. This is great stuff, mainly because I’m an absolute sucker for old footage of anything. If it’s some museum footage of a train going around a track in 1913 Chicago, I’ll watch it for hours. I’ll look at the hats. And the long dresses. And I’ll think, “people really used to live like that.” If you haven’t already, buy the Harold Lloyd Collection. That has an amazing feature length film that includes a lengthy interlude at Coney Island. Awesome.

For those who want to dip into Chaplin and not dive in, you may want to stick with his classic full-length features, like City Lights and Modern Times.  Otherwise, this collection is essential for Chaplin lovers.

Video: How Does the Disc Look? 

Try not to act too surprised, but the video quality on this 5-DVD set varies wildly. Most of the shorts are swimming in scratches and there’s about one instance of print damage every 30 seconds. That being said, if you can wade through the imperfections, what’s left is actually very good. The title cards are bright and clean, but that’s because they’ve been reproduced using modern technology. The grayscale is quite pleasing for the age, and detail is slightly above average. I was straining my eyes to see what constituted original print issues and what constituted a bad transfer. Alas, I did see some macroblocking against walls, which was disappointing. Also ridiculous is the inclusion of a “Charlie Chaplin Collection” bug in the bottom, right corner of the screen. As the shorts advanced in age, they began to look a little better, with smoothness being the main added attribute.

Audio: How Does the Disc Sound? 

This will be the shortest audio critique ever, because 95% of this set consists of Dolby mono piano music or Dolby mono orchestral music. It’s really overkill to go on and on about some nice sounding, tinkly piano tunes. Suffice it to say, these silent films include clean music with no frills.

There are no subtitles or separate audio tracks, since, you know, there’s no dialogue.

Supplements: What Goodies are There? 

Passport unearthed a couple of nice extras. But those with a real interest in Chaplin’s history are better served renting a straightforward documentary. These supplements are merely interesting curiosities.

The first is Seeing Stars, a rare 1922 promotional short “presented to the patrons of this theatre by special arrangement with the Independent Screen Artists’ Guild and Associated First National Pictures, Inc.” About 7 minutes in length, it introduces the First National Pictures cast, including Chaplin, Norma Talmadge, Jackie Coogan, Mack Sennett, and Chaplin’s rival, Buster Keaton. The main attraction begins with title cards that read, “Dear Friends: As patrons of this theatre, you are cordially invited to have dinner with the stars and producers of your favorite motion picture. Yes—right away! Are you ready? They’re waiting for us. Let’s go! — The Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles, is the next stop.” From there, we see the stars and producers seated around a table eating and drinking. It’s quite a spectacle. And one that silent film fans will definitely want to see.

Hollywood Rivals: Charlie Chaplin vs. Buster Keaton feels a little on the cheap. It’s definitely not a PBS special, but it provides a decent overview of the comedy stylings of these two comedy giants. There are lots of great vintage photos of Chaplin and Keaton as children. The documentary charts their careers, getting into how Keaton left home at 17, when Chaplin was already a big star. Their stories eventually diverge when Chaplin became a very rich man over the course of his career, while Keaton’s career slipped into nothing. As mentioned before, a good overview.

Finally, we have Chaplin Cartoons. What’s presented are faded fragments from all that remain of these cartoons, which were produced in 1915 by Otto Messmer, creator of Felix the Cat. The two cartoons are Charlie on the Windmill and Charlie and the Indians. For fragments, they’re pretty long, clocking in at about 8 minutes total. The animation is pretty rudimentary, just line drawings on white paper. But I guarantee you’ve never seen The Tramp quite like this.
 
Parting Thoughts

I’m starting to think that The Little Tramp has evolved into MTV’s Jackass, where people fall of over themselves to get a laugh. Of course Jackass has none of the class, pathos, or physical grace of The Little Tramp, but this is not a classy or graceful age we live in. For a look back at Chaplin’s prodigious and amazing silent film output, buy this DVD set. It’s less than twenty bucks and there are dozens of great shorts to make you forget the so-so extras.