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Charlie Chaplin Days in Niles


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June 6th & 7th, 2015: A great schedule of films and fun at the annual Charlie Chaplin Days to be held in the historic district of Niles (now part of Fremont, California)

For more information, visit the Niles Film Museum website.


New Release of Limelight by Criterion


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The Criterion Collection release of Limelight is now available!
DVD: http://amzn.to/1He1MQA
Blu-ray: http://amzn.to/1FwfFyz

Charlie Chaplin’s masterful drama about the twilight of a former vaudeville star is among the writer-director’s most touching films. Chaplin plays Calvero, a once beloved musical-comedy performer, now a washed-up alcoholic who lives in a small London flat. A glimmer of hope arrives when he meets a beautiful but melancholy ballerina (Claire Bloom) who lives downstairs. An elegant mix of the comic and the tragic, this poignant film also features Buster Keaton in an extended cameo, marking the only time the two silent comedy icons appeared together on-screen. Made at a time when Chaplin was under attack by the American press and far right, Limelight was barely distributed in the United States upon its initial release, but it is now considered one of his essential and most personal works.

Disc Features
- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
- Chaplin’s “Limelight”: Its Evolution and Intimacy, a new video essay by Charlie Chaplin biographer David Robinson
- New interviews with actors Claire Bloom and Norman Lloyd
- Chaplin Today: “Limelight,” a 2002 documentary on the film, featuring director Bernardo Bertolucci and actors Bloom and Sydney Chaplin
- Outtake from the film
- Archival audio recording of Charlie Chaplin reading two short excerpts from his novella Footlights
- Two short films by Chaplin: A Night in the Show (1915) and the never completed The Professor (1919) Trailers
- PLUS: An essay by critic Peter von Bagh


"The Circus" Soundtrack - Now Online


Chaplin returned to his early silent films later in life, to compose music to accompany them on soundtracks for new theatrical release. The Circus was re-released by United Artists in 1969. At the music recording session, a male vocalist was employed to sing Swing High Little Girl, which was to be played over the opening credits of the film as Merna Kennedy swings on a trapeze. His recording still exists in the Chaplin archives, but according to arranger Eric James, the interpretation, though good, was not quite what they were looking for. Chaplin was apparently always singing the song, and James suggested that they record him, just so that he and his family could have it to listen to with orchestral accompaniment. Chaplin happily complied… and his rendition was the one that was chosen for the film. He was 79 years old.

The full soundtrack from The Circus is now on youtube so you can listen from anywhere! Visit our Youtube channel or play the video above to listen.

You can also get the full soundtrack on:
- iTunes
- Spotify
- Deezer
- Amazon



In Charlie Chaplin's Footsteps – With Terry Jones


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Monty Python star Terry Jones, a long-time fan of silent comedy, presents “In Charlie Chaplin’s Footsteps – With Terry Jones”: UK Premiere 10:35 pm, 10th May 2015 on ITV1

Terry traces Chaplin’s incredible journey from abject poverty in South London to being one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood and running his own studio in Hollywood. Showing clips that span his film career he tries to get to the bottom of what made Charlie so special as an artist. With access to a wealth of home movie material, Terry Jones also looks at the troubled private life of the man: his loves, his politics, his obsessions.

He talks to Chaplin’s son Michael, biographer David Robinson and Kate Guyonarch from the Chaplin Office in his quest to get inside the skin of one of the true giants of film and comedy.

Directed/Produced by Francis Hanly


Chaplin Festival at the Musée d'Orsay, Paris


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On Saturday 16 May, the Musée d’Orsay is celebrating the 120th anniversary of cinematography, and will be transformed into the world’s most beautiful movie theatre for one night only. Projected on a giant screen installed in the nave of the former Orsay railway station, visitors will be able to watch for the first time or rediscover films from the great pioneers and illusionists of cinema, from Georges Méliès and his enchanting A Trip to the Moon to Charlie Chaplin, during a “Chaplin Festival” at 9 pm.

Charlie’s daydreaming silhouette will appear under the museum’s great clock.

Free admission! Check out the Musée d’Orsay’s website for more details.


The Gold Rush Soundtrack - Now Online




The Gold Rush originally premiered at Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood on June 26th, 1925 as a silent film. Though Chaplin resisted including dialogue in films for some years after the introduction of sound, the advent of sound nevertheless enabled him to compose complete synchronized scores for his films, beginning with the release of City Lights in 1931. Chaplin returned to The Gold Rush in 1942, and revised it by replacing the silent-era title cards with a narration and by composing his own musical score. In the coming days, we’ll publish a new track from the full score once a day on youtube so you can listen from anywhere! Subscribe to our Youtube channel or follow @ChaplinOfficial on Twitter to keep up with our daily posts.

You can also get the full soundtrack on:
- iTunes
- Spotify
- Deezer
- Amazon