Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

Chaplin’s Art of Comedy (1966)

This compilation documentary, produced and directed by Samuel M. Sherman, features extended clips from a number of Chaplin films. Popular in the 1950s and 1960s, this type of documentary served as a nostalgic retrospective and to provide access to footage commonly available only on the home collector market. Nearly worthless today as there are theatrical and home editions of these films that easily surpass the visual quality seen in this compilation.

— Carl Bennett

This early DVD edition has been mastered from a 16mm reduction print. The picture is tightly cropped and mainly copied from subpar prints with the resulting soft image that was common in 1960s reduction prints. Some important visual information is lost to the tight cropping.

The film is accompanied by an enthusiastic music score composed by Elias Breeskin and performed by a small emsemble, with occasional narration by Dave Anderson. Before the end of the film you’ll be exhausted by the repetition of the same manic recordings.

If you should be interested, this is our recommended home video edition of the film — the only edition we are aware of.

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This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued and is . . .