CHAPLIN KEYSTONES Vol. 1 review

I have just recieved Grapevine's Chaplin Keystones Vol. 1 in the mail
a few days ago. I have been a Chaplin fan for years, but sadly the
only videos I could really afford were the Madacys, and the second box
set I only owned in a five-volume version. I also was able to tape
all his features except A King In New York from TV. But anyway, I
would like to give a review of the video, and there are a few
questions I have too.

MAKING A LIVING
This begins with a 30-second prologue about the history behind the
film. I don't know if Grapevine added this or not. The print quality
is all right, but all of the intertitles are gone. I found the first
few minutes a bit hard to understand. Is the girl Chaplin or
Lehrman's girlfriend? Lehrman shows Chaplin a ring on his finger, so
is that his fiancee?
Also, the girl in the house that Chaplin and Lehrman fight in has been
identified as Minta Durfee for years, but it does not look like her at
all! I think that it is Emma Clifton, it does look like her.

KID'S AUTO RACE
I did not know that this film was actually called Kid's Auto Race! It
has been called Kid Auto Races At Venice, but this is an authentic
Keystone print with original titles. This print is missing some
scenes, running for 5 minutes but the Madacy one runs 6 minutes. It
is a very nice looking picture quality.

MABEL'S STRANGE PREDICAMENT
aka Charlot A L'Hotel. Is this the only copy of this available? It
is a very bad looking print and is the same on Madacy. I know this
film was lost for many years, so was this found in France or
something?

BETWEEN SHOWERS
A W.H. Productions version, except the opening title is not a W.H.
title. I wonder where it came from? Also, who is Sadie Lampe? I
know she plays the policeman's girlfriend, but according to the IMDB
this is her only film. Anyone know anything about her?

A FILM JOHNNY
Another W.H., except this has the titles "Charley Chaplin in HIS
MILLION DOLLAR JOB; Adapted from A FILM JOHNNY". Very odd. Anyway,
this is a good film for this period in Chaplin's career, and is MUCH
better than the Madacy version I have seen before, which is missing
the first few minutes at the theatre. Is that Harry McCoy as the man
next to Charlie at the theatre? The only thing I don't like is the
music they used for this. It sounds very circus like.

TANGO TANGLES
W.H. Productions again, the same as Madacy. Chester Conklin has been
identified as one of the dancers, but I did not see him. There was
one dressed as a clown who kind of looked like him, but he looked more
like Hank Mann to me.

HIS FAVORITE PASTIME
Another W.H., with the Charley mispelling and the "adapted from"
instead of "former title". I was expecting Arbuckle to have a larger
role, but he just played a small role as a hobo-ish drunk. Lots of
racial humor for a Chaplin film, and was that Minta Durfee as the
black maid?

CRUEL CRUEL LOVE
The same as the Madacy print, and I would think this is only one in
exsistence since it was lost until the 70's.

THE STAR BOARDER
The final W.H. Productions print on the video, and it is has a pretty
good picture quality. This is another well made film for this period.

MABEL AT THE WHEEL
This is Hot Finish, except the opening title card is replaced with a
generic "Mabel At The Wheel". On the Madacy version, the film runs
VERY fast and has music and sound effects. The sound effects aren't
that bad, but there are lots of car sound effects that sound like
vacuums. This version runs at the right speed, but has different
music.

Thanks for the helpful review. Sounds like MAKING A LIVING and KIDS AUTO RACE
may have come from Blackhawk prints.
Blackhawk had really great prints of KIDS AUTO RACE and A BUSY DAY.

According to their web site, Grapevine is shutting down in November, so I guess
there's a limited time on when to get this (and their other videos). I wish
it was available from them on DVD.