This new BFI set is the result of
a 12-year project, led by Lobster Films and the Cineteca di Bologna, and
features all of Chaplin’s Essanay output on two disc Blu-ray and DVD. The films
are fully restored and presented alongside exclusive special features – all released
for the first time in the UK.
This was a
transitional period for the pop-cultural superstar as he cemented his fame and
developed his style. Keystone had been punk cinema, instant scenarios developed
through improvisation and riffing off the talents all around, Mack, Mabel et
al. But at Essanay with more control and bigger budgets, Charlie was able to
produce more measured comedies albeit still at some rate of production – with 15
films released between February ’15 and March ’16 and his departure.
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| Edna and Charlie |
Included
were some average fare but also what Glenn Mitchell, in his accompanying essay,
considers Chaplin’s first true classic, The
Tramp (11th April 1915) and The
Bank (9th August 1915) described as an “undisputed classic” by
Frank Scheide in his piece.
After his barnstorming
year at Keystone Charlie knew his earning potential was far greater elsewhere
and he negotiated a huge deal with Essanay, a company famous for the Bronco
Billy westerns - drama as well as comedy. You can take the boy out of Walworth
but this 25-year old still knew his way round the block and, reputedly, Charlie
had himself paged when meeting Essanay exec GM Anderson – Bronco Billy himself
- at the Alexandra Hotel in Chicago thereby drawing a large crowd – instant proof
of popularity.
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| Ben Turpin was just a little too funny for Charlie's tastes! |
Relations
with Anderson and his Essanay co-owner, George K Spoor, were not always to be
smooth – particularly the latter. The company was to not only frustrate his
ambition for longer form features nixing the idea for a feature called Life – but also re-cut some of these two
reelers such as the Burlesque on Carmen
(April 1916) and Police (27th
March 1916) by including outtakes and, for the former, shooting additional footage
with Ben Turpin.
There is a
freshness here and an inevitable clash between the creativity of the star and
the moneymen: Charlie’s velocity was simply too great.
His New Job, released on 1st February,
was appropriately Chaplin’s first Essanay film (featuring a then unknown Gloria
Swanson as a typist!) and A Night Out
followed just two weeks later, released on 15th.
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| That's Gloria in the corner! |
The latter
featured Charlie’s new leading lady, the Edna Purviance, who was all but one of
his films for the next eight years. He cast her after they had met socially and
she more than justified his faith by providing a deeper emotional foil for him
to interact with – Edna would muck in with the best of them but she could also
act.
Chaplinitis had already begun but reached its
full flowering in 1915 with merchandise, comics, books etc… There were Chaplin
look-a-likes… and the kind of multi-media explosion you might think started
with those mop-tops fifty years later.
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| Lloyd Bacon, Charlie Chaplin and Edna Purviance in The Tramp |
None of
this promotional excess would have worked had the product itself not been so
good and by the time of The Tramp (11th
April 1915) you can see the brand equity reaching its initial peak. This film shows
Chapin’s increasing emotional content with our hero tramping off alone in the
hope of better romantic fortunes at the film’s conclusion. In his earlier
films, Chaplin had not always been sympathetic and indeed he had been an
irritant; drunk and malicious but here he was beginning as a romantic hero and
an everyman not guaranteed to win in love or war… someone 1915 could really
identify with.
Interestingly
Chaplin would still dip into earlier characters and in A Night in the Show (20th November) he played a drunken
dandy and an unruly reprobate: Mr Pest and Mr Rowdy. This was an adaptation of
the old Fred Karno sketch Mumming Birds
and is a hoot; a precious example of his origins in live performance.
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| Mr Pest and Mr Rowdy |
Work (21st June) was also descended
from the stage sketch from his time with Fred Khano and filmed at the imposing Bradbury
Mansion – the only thing missing is Shaggy and Scooby Doo! Slapstick with
irony…
A Woman (12th July) featured
some old school British drag, which for some providing further evidence for that
minority who found Charlie a little crude. It wasn’t just in the US though as
the film was seemingly banned in Sweden until 1931.
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| Charlie gets the wrong end of the stick... |
The Bank (9th August) is indeed just
about the pick of the bunch from the opening gag about Charlie storing his mop
in the safe to the endless battles with Bristolian Billy Armstrong. The
slapstick is balanced perfectly with romance and action as Charlie mistakes
Edna’s intentions and falls hard for a woman out of his class. There’s a
genuinely dramatic closing sequence but never a guarantee that Charlie’s heart
will triumph.
Police (27th March 1916) was
Charlie’s last Essanay film to be made and ends the run on a similar note:
Chaplin is trying to go straight and it all boils down to whether his
co-burglar (Wesley Ruggles) will persuade him to make his crime worse or
whether Edna’s goodness will turn his fortunes. He does better here but, as he
walks off into the sunset, arms aloft as in celebration of his new
possibilities, a stray copper pops into view to chase him back from the sunset.
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| Charlie defends Edna |
That’s
just a small sample of the delights in the set. Sold?
Charlie Chaplin: The Essanay
Comedies is
released on 23rd January and you can pre-order your copy from theBFI Shop. The films have never looked so good in digital form and come with
fresh music from silent-scoring experts the Mont Alto Orchestra and Robert Israel.
It is a sumptuous celebration that no fan of silent comedy will want to be
without, Chaplinitis may have peaked
in 1915-18 but it’s never really gone away.
And, in the end, the love you take
is equal to the love you make…
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