The Charlie Chaplin UK DVD and Video Guide - films, movies, documentaries information and to buy

Welcome to the Chaplin UK guide to Charlie Chaplin films available on DVD and video in the United Kingdom. When this page was first published in 1997, it was harder to find Chaplin films in the UK, and many releases were of low quality. More recently several higher quality editions have become available, and they are easier to find thanks to a resurgeance of interest in one of the world's most famous and talented film makers, as well as the huge growth in the DVD market.

Update 2015

This website has been woefully out of date for a few years now - the task of updating and staying aware of new discs and their quality was too big.

There are now much better and up-to-date Chaplin disc guides:

Brenton Film: CHARLIE CHAPLIN: THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTORS’ GUIDE

EdnaPurviance.org: CHARLIE CHAPLIN'S DVD AND VHS GUIDE (USA)

In the meantime, I will keep this page here for now, just as an historical document!

Please note that the sendit.com purchase links no longer work.

How to use this page
As VHS video is a diminishing format, precedence on this page is now given to DVD. Titles featured here are available to buy from sendit.com, one of the UK's most reliable and largest stockists of home entertainment (with free UK delivery). Chaplin UK has been a long-time associate of sendit.com (formerly Blackstar).

You can view and buy the title you're interested in by clicking on the sendit icon:

The page is laid out by distributor, and it starts with the most recommended versions of Chaplin films for the collector. You will find that some titles have been deleted, and where possible I have noted this. Sendit.com provide an excellent and often successful video hunt service.

Please note that this is a UK site and so most DVDs will be region 2. Check the region at sendit.com before making a purchase if you are unsure. To learn more about region codes, click here. A US DVD guide can be found here.

Recommended titles for your collection
These provide the best Chaplin available

| Warner | BFI | Network |

More Chaplin distributors and titles

Deleted titles
(some of these can still be bought and there is a video hunt service too)

| Laserlight | Fox | Polygram | Sovereign | Limelight | VTS | NTV | MIA | Academy |

About Chaplin UK
including notes on Chaplin rights and the Chaplin Society

A Woman of Paris

The US video
& DVD Guide

The Rainbow Orchid webcomic

The Sea Gull

Warner Home Video (MK2) back to index
Released in September 2003, these editions are what all Chaplin enthusiasts have been waiting for and constitute what has become the definitive Chaplin collection on DVD and video. The film rights were licensed to Martin Karmitz (MK2) by the Chaplin estate, and replace the previous blue-coloured Fox CBS videos as the primary source for Chaplin's classic full-length films in the UK. The quality is the best available and the extras are excellent and numerous. Click here to see the mind-boggling extras on the DVDs (not available on the video cassettes). Perhaps the only niggle I have is that the boxes are rather fiddly to open, and you have to be careful to keep them pristine.
Cat No.	Title	DVD	VHS
	Boxed set collections
DVD D034172 VHS S034202	The Charlie Chaplin Collection Box Set This is the boxed set to own if you want as much Chaplin as you can get in one go. As well as all the major films it includes A Woman of Paris and A King In New York, and the Richard Schickel documentary. Includes: The Kid, A Woman Of Paris, The Gold Rush, The Circus, City Lights, Modern Times, The Great Dictator, Monsieur Verdoux, Limelight, A King In New York. Click to see the extras (DVD only).
D034244	The Charlie Chaplin Collection Volume 1 The boxed set is also available split into two separate volumes. Includes: The Gold Rush, Modern Times, The Great Dictator, Limelight, as well as the Richard Schickel documentary.		-
D037975	The Charlie Chaplin Collection Volume 2 Includes: The Kid, A Woman Of Paris, The Circus, City Lights, Monsieur Verdoux, A King In New York.		-
D037654	New The Chaplin Revue Includes: Shoulder Arms, The Idle Class, The Pilgrim, A Dog's Life, A Day's Pleasure, Sunnyside, Pay Day. Click to see the extras (DVD only).
	Individual films	DVD	VHS
D037645	The Kid - click to see extras		-
D037643	The Gold Rush - click to see extras		-
D037644	The Circus - click to see extras		-
D037648 S037648	City Lights - click to see extras (DVD only)
D037651	Modern Times - click to see extras		-
D037650 S037650	The Great Dictator - click to see extras (DVD only)
D037652	Monsieur Verdoux - click to see extras		-
D037649	Limelight - click to see extras		-

BFI Video Publishing back to index
The British Film Institute have released Charlie Chaplin's excellent Essanay and Mutual short films in a very nice package that includes a new musical score specially composed by Carl Davis. The prints have been restored and are very good quality. Perhaps the only minor disappointment (common to many BFI DVDs) is the repetition of extras on different discs, but this remains a must for your collection and sees Chaplin at his most creative. These replace and supercede the deleted Polygram video series.
Cat No.	Title	DVD
BFIVD558	The Essanay Films Volume 1 2 discs: His New Job, A Night Out, The Champion, In the Park, A Jitney Elopement, The Tramp, By the Sea, Work. Extras: Photo gallery, text essay on Chaplin at Essanay.
BFIVD559	The Essanay Films Volume 2 2 discs: A Woman, The bank, Shanghaied, His Regeneration, A Night in the Show, Burlesque on Carmen, Police, Triple Trouble. Same extras as Volume 1.
BFIVD605	The Mutual Films Volume 1 1 disc: Behind the Screen, The Rink, Easy Street, The Cure, The Immigrant, The Adventurer. Extras: newsreel footage of Chaplin's 1921 voyage to the UK, a filmed interview with Carl Davis, text biographies of Edna Purviance and Eric Campbell.
BFIVD606	New The Mutual Films Volume 2 1 disc: One A.M., The Floorwalker, The Vagabond, The Fireman, The Count and The Pawnshop. Extras include an introduction by Paul Merton. New scores by Carl Davis.

Network back to index
Before the Warner/MK2 DVDs came along, this acted as the Chaplin fans' 'extras'. It contains the three Thames Television documentaries broadcast in January 1983 by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill that featured never-before-seen footage of Chaplin at work behind the scenes, out-takes and home movie footage. An indespensible and unique volume. Narrated by James Mason, with music by Carl Davis.
Cat No.	Title	DVD
CAV004	New Unknown Chaplin

Stonevision Entertainment back to index
Stonevision were the first company to bring Chaplin to DVD in this country and they remain the main provider of Chaplin films from the Keystone era (see also Orbit and Limelight). Sadly the quality is not the best and the musical accompaniment is merely a record of old-time jazz played along, complete with gaps between the tunes, that really doesn't do any silent film justice. 'Extras' consist of a very brief text biography of Chaplin and a very complete filmography that needed an editor (The Migrant (The Immigrant), The Freeman (The Fireman) and The Idle Glass, (The Idle Class) etc.). Some of the shorts appear under alternative titles, which I have noted below. These are (mostly) watchable, but lazily produced.
Cat No.	Title	DVD
SVD5021	Charlie Chaplin Collection Volume 1 Kid Auto Races at Venice, The Rival Mashers (more commonly known as Those Love Pangs), A Night Out, Cruel Cruel Love, A Film Johnny, Triple Trouble.
SVD5022	Charlie Chaplin Collection Volume 2 Knock Out, Between Showers, A Day's Pleasure, Sunnyside, Hot Finish (more commonly known as Mabel at the Wheel). Note: Some sources say Volume 2 was never released due to a rights issue. Actually it was, but was withdrawn. So it is no longer available. I presume the rights issue was over Sunnyside and A Day's Pleasure, though the disc is actually on the Stonevision 'Super Box Set' (see below).
SVD5023	Charlie Chaplin Collection Volume 3 The Good For Nothing (more commonly known as His New Profession), Charlie's Recreation (more commonly known as Tango Tangles), Work, The Tramp, By the Sea.
SVD5024	Charlie Chaplin Collection Volume 4 A Woman, The Bank, His Regeneration, Shanghaied.
SVD5025	Charlie Chaplin Collection Volume 5 Police, A Burlesque on Carmen, A Night in the Show, His New Job.
SVD5026	Charlie Chaplin Collection Volume 6 The Champion, In the Park, A Jitney Elopement, Triple Trouble (again).
	Charlie Chaplin Collection Volume 7 I have not been able to find volumes 7 and 8 of this series, though I did discover vol. 7 was supposed to have A Night Out, Shoulder Arms and The Idle Class - perhaps more rights issues.	-
	Charlie Chaplin Collection Volume 8 See notes for vol. 7.	-
SVD5097	Charlie Chaplin Collection Volume 9 The Adventurer, The Cure, Easy Street, One A.M.
SVD5098	Charlie Chaplin Collection Volume 10 The Pawn Shop, The Floorwalker, The Rink, The Count.
SVD5085	Charlie Chaplin Super Box Set Three-disc set comprising of volumes 1, 2 and 3 of the above collections.

CDA Entertainment (MK2) back to index
These are two luxury editions provided by MK2 and are mainly the same as the Warner releases as far as quality and extras go, except for some deluxe extras, which are noted below.
Cat No.	Title	DVD
C201624	Modern Times Regular extras: click here. Deluxe extras: soundtrack on CD, a commemorative booklet, lobby card prints, a 35mm film frame.
C201617	The Great Dictator Regular extras: click here. Deluxe extras: soundtrack on CD, a commemorative booklet, lobby card prints, a 35mm film frame.

Delta Music PLC back to index
Cat No.	Title	DVD	VHS
82028	Charlie Chaplin Marathon This appears to be exactly the same (including the packaging) as the Laserlight Chaplin Marathon. Includes: The Rink, The Immigrant, Tillie's Punctured Romance, The Vagabond. The Laserlight edition had Tillie's being narrated á la Harold Lloyd and I presume this is the same.		-
82718 84154	Charlie Chaplin: His Life and Work I can't comment on this documentary as I haven't seen it.

Elstree Hill Entertainment back to index
Cat No.	Title	DVD
761069	Charlie Chaplin Collection Volume 1 Tillie's Punctured Romance, The Champion, In the Park.
761279	Charlie Chaplin Collection Volume 2 A Jitney Elopement, A Burlesque on Carmen, A Night in the Show, His New Job.
761399	Charlie Chaplin Collection Volume 3 The Floorwalker, The Rink, Easy Street, Police.

Orbit Films back to index
Cat No.	Title	VHS
ORB0002	Screen Classics Laughing Gas, A Burlesque on Carmen. This video has been around for years.

Fabulous Films Ltd back to index
Cat No.	Title	DVD
FHED1746	Charlie Chaplin: The Early Years This documentary used to be available on tape from Red Eye Entertainment (RED4110). Similair in content and concept to 'The Little Tramp' (MIA), sporting a variety of Keystone and Essanay clips, and a spoken/presented narration at the beginning (by Bob Sessions). Not highly enlightening, but a nice extract from 'The Masquerader' adds something otherwise unavailable.

Momentum Pictures Home Entertainment back to index
Cat No.	Title	DVD
MP121D	Chaplin Richard Attenborough's 1992 biopic starring Robert Downey Jr. as Charlie. Responsible for turning many people on to Chaplin, some love it, some hate it. I, for one, think it a very good attempt at a complicated story. The extras on this disc seem more for publicity (behind the scenes being the most interesting). Previously released on tape by Guild Home Video (GLD51442) and then 4-Front Video (0439623). Extras include a trailer, behind the scenes, production story, a director's view and a photo gallery.

Deleted and hard to find titles

Siren DVD back to index
Cat No.	Title	DVD
SIRE1001	Comedy Greats Chaplin probably comes off worst among the other two films on offer here as he's not represented at his best. Three films include Chaplin's Tillie's Punctured Romance, Buster Keaton's Steamboat Bill Jr, and, rather bizarrly, Danny Kaye in The Inspector General (from 1949).

Laserlight back to index
Cat No.	Title	DVD	VHS
82028	Charlie Chaplin Marathon The Rink, The Immigrant, Tillie's Punctured Romance, The Vagabond. Tillie's was narrated, á la Harold Lloyd. Deleted, now available from Delta.		-
82117	Charlie Chaplin Marathon Vol. 2 A Dog's Life, The Kid, Behind the Screen. The Kid contains the extra Edna/father scenes that were edited out by Chaplin in 1971. Deleted.		-
89003	Chaplin Special Edition Box Set Three tapes in a boxed set, the three tapes are also sold individually and are detailed below. Sometimes referred to as The Triple Pack.	-
83007	Chaplin Special Edition Tape 1 A Dog's Life, The Kid (includes extra Edna/father scenes that were edited out by Chaplin in 1971).	-
83008	Chaplin Special Edition Tape 2 Tillie's Punctured Romance, The Vagabond.	-
83009	Chaplin Special Edition Tape 3 The Rink, Behind the Screen, The Immigrant.	-

CBS Fox back to index
For a few years these were the main purveyors of Chaplin's classic full-length features on video. They were nicely presented in a royal dark blue box with silver lettering, and the production value on the tape was good quality as well. Each casette included a nice reproduction of the film poster on the back, and the trailers were well put together and entertaining in their own right. Superceded by the Warner set.
Cat No.	Title	VHS
3002	The Kid and The Idle Class
3004	The Gold Rush and Pay Day
3005	The Circus and A Day's Pleasure
3006	City Lights - sendit links to new MK2 edition
3007	Modern Times
3008	The Great Dictator - sendit links to new MK2 edition
3009	Monsieur Verdoux
3010	Limelight

Polygram Video back to index
Polygram provided Charlie Chaplin's Essanay and Mutual films, with four titles to a tape, each one preceeded by a little text piece on-screen that gave a bit of background to the film. Nicely presented, though the Essanay volumes were without music which isn't ideal. When the spines of the collection were lined up, they made up a portrait of Charlie (Essany vol. 2 was printed upside down). Superceded by the BFI discs.
Cat No.	Title	VHS
0873603	Essanay Volume 1 His New Job, A Night Out, The Champion, In the Park.
0884943	Essanay Volume 2 A Jitney Elopement, The Tramp, By the Sea, Work.
0887183	Essanay Volume 3 A Woman, The Bank, Shanghaied, A Night at the Show.
6300063	Mutual Volume 1 The Floorwalker, The Vagabond, The Fireman, One A.M.
0873623	Mutual Volume 2 The Count, The Pawnshop, Behind the Screen, The Rink.
0873583	Mutual Volume 3 Easy Street, The Immigrant, The Cure, The Adventurer.
0873543	Tillie's Punctured Romance

Academy Video (BFI) back to index
Before the Warner/MK2 DVDs came along, this video acted as the Chaplin fans' 'extras'. A single tape (only available on VHS) contained the three Thames Television documentaries broadcast in January 1983 by Kevin Brownlow and David Gill that featured never-before-seen footage of Chaplin at work behind the scenes, out-takes and home movie footage. Narrated by James Mason, with music by Carl Davis.
Cat No.	Title	VHS
CAV004	Unknown Chaplin

Sovereign Multimedia back to index
Cat No.	Title	VHS
SOV31	Tillie's Punctured Romance

Limelight (Sovereign Multimedia) back to index
Cat No.	Title	VHS
LIM1003	The Chaplin Shorts Vol. 1 Cruel Cruel Love, A Film Johnny, Triple Trouble. This tape contains a particularly bad example of a record used as a soundtrack, expecially when a vocalist starts singing during Leo White's patch-up Triple Trouble. Was there ever a volume 2?

VTS back to index
Cat No.	Title	VHS
13170	Charlie Chaplin 3 Video Box Set VTS produced (still do?) a few 3 box sets, Laurel & Hardy being another example. Despite the cover image, The Gold Rush is not included here. The music is quite good, livened up with a few comedy sound effects (which can get a little irksome after a while). Tape 1: The Tramp, The Bank, The Pawnshop. Tape 2: The Immigrant, The Adventurer, Behind the Screen. Tape 3: The Champion, Easy Street, The Rink.	-

NTV Entertainment back to index
Cat No.	Title	VHS
NTV0044	The Very Best of Charlie Chaplin The VTS 3 video box set is copyright NTV, so perhaps these are the same prints. Contains The Champion, Easy Street, The Tamp, The Floorwalker.	-

MIA Video back to index
Cat No.	Title	VHS
V3393	Charlie Chaplin - The Little Tramp An HBO special from 1980 hosted by Joel Grey. Not highly rewatchable and mainly consisting of a number of clips (good scenes - bad quality film) from Charlie's Keystone, Essanay and Mutual years (it goes no further). A very American production - the introduction includes the icky line 'his costume was as recognisable as the American flag, or a Model T Ford...'. Yikes. But it has its moments.

All photographs and the Little Tramp image are © Roy Export Company Establishment 2007. CHARLES CHAPLIN, CHAPLIN, the LITTLE TRAMP, the images on this web site, and the names of Mr. Chaplin's films are all trademarks and/or service marks of Bubble Inc. S.A.

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