David Totheroh
2009-11-06 14:54:32 UTC
Collector finds unseen Charlie Chaplin film in tin sold for £3.20 on
eBay
• Collector turns detective in search of movie's secret
• Lost war propaganda reel could be worth £40,000
Charlotte Higgins, chief arts writer
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 5 November 2009 23.17 GMT
Morace Park was footling around on eBay looking for antiques when he
stumbled on an item that was listed casually as an "old film" – and
even then he was really more interested in the tin it was in.
"It had a lovely look to it," said Park. But the contents of the
battered container, which he bought for the princely sum of £3.20,
have turned out to be a previously unknown film by Charlie Chaplin.
Park – who, when he is not buying and selling antiques as a hobby,
runs a company that develops products with inventors – bought the film
"from someone else who deals in bits and bobs". When his parcel
arrived, he didn't even bother to open it for a while. But when he
did, he unfurled a little of the film and saw the title: Charlie
Chaplin in Zepped. "I Googled it," he said, "and then my interest was
pricked. I couldn't find any sign of it on the internet."
Park, from Essex, enlisted the help of a neighbour, John Dyer, the
former head of education for the British Board of Film Classification.
Dyer's excitement on seeing the film was "the catalyst for a wild
journey" as the pair turned detective to try to unravel the mystery of
what Zepped was – and why it was completely unknown to film historians
and Chaplin experts.
The film, just under seven minutes long, is a mixture of footage of
Chaplin and exuberant animation that reminded Park of Monty Python
sequences. "It starts with live shots of Chaplin. It then turns into a
dreamscape. We see a Zeppelin bombing attack. And then we see Chaplin
taking the mickey out of the Zeppelin, at the time a powerful
instrument of terror," he said.
They concluded that the movie, shot on 35mm nitrate film, had been put
together as a first world war propaganda piece aimed at defusing fear
of airship bombing raids, which had been launched on Britain by
Germany from the beginning of 1915.
Another clue to the film's date and origins was provided by a
reference in early frames to the Essanay film company. The 25-year-old
Chaplin was contracted to the California-based company in December
1914, making such early masterpieces as The Bank, Work, and The Tramp,
which established his "little tramp" character. But a year later,
disputes over his contracts and salary led to a severance of relations
between the star and his employers.
Park and Dyer are currently in Los Angeles to find out more,
accompanied by the film-maker Hammad Khan, who is making a documentary
about their quest.
On Monday, they showed the film to Michael Pogorzelski, a film-history
expert and director of the archive of the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences, the body responsible for the Oscars. "It is an
extremely interesting find," he said. "An unknown and uncatalogued
Charlie Chaplin film."
Pogorzelski believes the film consists of outtakes and footage from
previous films re-edited by Essanay, and spliced together with fresh
shots of Zeppelins and animated material, to create a "new" film. It
was, he said, "definitely important and definitely interesting". It
was an example of what he called "either piracy or entrepreneurship –
depending on which side of the fence you're on."
According to David Robinson, the author of Chaplin: His Life and Art,
when Chaplin left Essanay, the company tried to exploit the footage it
had, adding two further reels to Burlesque on Carmen, a film Chaplin
had completed as two reels, to create a film of feature length. This
resulted in a volley of litigation and counter-litigation.
Robinson – who has not yet seen Zepped – believes the film may fall
into this context, with Essanay attempting to get maximum mileage out
of its lost star. The legal controversy may account for the fact that
Zepped never saw wide circulation.
The print acquired by Park seems to have been classified for
exhibition in Egypt, which was then a British protectorate. But how
the fragile, precious and highly flammable film survived and ended up
on eBay is a mystery.
Because Chaplin "tended not to waste material" Robinson believes
Zepped may consist of known footage – but he said: "There's always the
chance that there will be a brand-new Chaplin gag in the film."
He believes the real value of Park's eBay find could be anything from
£3,000 to £40,000.
According to Pogorzelski, it is essential that the desperately fragile
nitrate print is transferred to film. "We at the academy have
volunteered to take it on," he said. "But this film was uncovered in
the UK and it should probably remain there."
eBay
• Collector turns detective in search of movie's secret
• Lost war propaganda reel could be worth £40,000
Charlotte Higgins, chief arts writer
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 5 November 2009 23.17 GMT
Morace Park was footling around on eBay looking for antiques when he
stumbled on an item that was listed casually as an "old film" – and
even then he was really more interested in the tin it was in.
"It had a lovely look to it," said Park. But the contents of the
battered container, which he bought for the princely sum of £3.20,
have turned out to be a previously unknown film by Charlie Chaplin.
Park – who, when he is not buying and selling antiques as a hobby,
runs a company that develops products with inventors – bought the film
"from someone else who deals in bits and bobs". When his parcel
arrived, he didn't even bother to open it for a while. But when he
did, he unfurled a little of the film and saw the title: Charlie
Chaplin in Zepped. "I Googled it," he said, "and then my interest was
pricked. I couldn't find any sign of it on the internet."
Park, from Essex, enlisted the help of a neighbour, John Dyer, the
former head of education for the British Board of Film Classification.
Dyer's excitement on seeing the film was "the catalyst for a wild
journey" as the pair turned detective to try to unravel the mystery of
what Zepped was – and why it was completely unknown to film historians
and Chaplin experts.
The film, just under seven minutes long, is a mixture of footage of
Chaplin and exuberant animation that reminded Park of Monty Python
sequences. "It starts with live shots of Chaplin. It then turns into a
dreamscape. We see a Zeppelin bombing attack. And then we see Chaplin
taking the mickey out of the Zeppelin, at the time a powerful
instrument of terror," he said.
They concluded that the movie, shot on 35mm nitrate film, had been put
together as a first world war propaganda piece aimed at defusing fear
of airship bombing raids, which had been launched on Britain by
Germany from the beginning of 1915.
Another clue to the film's date and origins was provided by a
reference in early frames to the Essanay film company. The 25-year-old
Chaplin was contracted to the California-based company in December
1914, making such early masterpieces as The Bank, Work, and The Tramp,
which established his "little tramp" character. But a year later,
disputes over his contracts and salary led to a severance of relations
between the star and his employers.
Park and Dyer are currently in Los Angeles to find out more,
accompanied by the film-maker Hammad Khan, who is making a documentary
about their quest.
On Monday, they showed the film to Michael Pogorzelski, a film-history
expert and director of the archive of the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences, the body responsible for the Oscars. "It is an
extremely interesting find," he said. "An unknown and uncatalogued
Charlie Chaplin film."
Pogorzelski believes the film consists of outtakes and footage from
previous films re-edited by Essanay, and spliced together with fresh
shots of Zeppelins and animated material, to create a "new" film. It
was, he said, "definitely important and definitely interesting". It
was an example of what he called "either piracy or entrepreneurship –
depending on which side of the fence you're on."
According to David Robinson, the author of Chaplin: His Life and Art,
when Chaplin left Essanay, the company tried to exploit the footage it
had, adding two further reels to Burlesque on Carmen, a film Chaplin
had completed as two reels, to create a film of feature length. This
resulted in a volley of litigation and counter-litigation.
Robinson – who has not yet seen Zepped – believes the film may fall
into this context, with Essanay attempting to get maximum mileage out
of its lost star. The legal controversy may account for the fact that
Zepped never saw wide circulation.
The print acquired by Park seems to have been classified for
exhibition in Egypt, which was then a British protectorate. But how
the fragile, precious and highly flammable film survived and ended up
on eBay is a mystery.
Because Chaplin "tended not to waste material" Robinson believes
Zepped may consist of known footage – but he said: "There's always the
chance that there will be a brand-new Chaplin gag in the film."
He believes the real value of Park's eBay find could be anything from
£3,000 to £40,000.
According to Pogorzelski, it is essential that the desperately fragile
nitrate print is transferred to film. "We at the academy have
volunteered to take it on," he said. "But this film was uncovered in
the UK and it should probably remain there."