- Title: UK: Unearthed Chaplin film to go under auction
- Date: 24th June 2011
- Summary: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM (JUNE 22, 2011) (REUTERS) HEAD OF ENTERTAINMENT AT BONHAM'S AUCTION HOUSE, STEPHANIE CONNELL LOOKING AT A CATALOGUE DETAILING THE CHAPLIN MOVIE (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF ENTERTAINMENT AT BONHAM'S AUCTION HOUSE, STEPHANIE CONNELL, SAYING: "The Charlie Chaplin film set that we're selling in our forthcoming auction is important for several reason
- Embargoed: 9th July 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: United Kingdom
- Country: United Kingdom
- Reuters ID: LVA6EIC72V28BTCZ89OTGF8GB55R
- Story Text: A previously unknown and unique Charlie Chaplin film discovered on an internet auction site for a few pounds is set to go under the hammer at a London auction on Wednesday (June 29).
"Charlie Chaplin in 'Zepped,'" believed to be a propaganda film made in Britain during World War One, was discovered inside a battered old film reel tin which collector Morace Park bought for GBP 3.20 (approx USD 5.00) on the online auction site eBay.
"It's such a lovely old tin and it just looked as though it's seen so much life, and that's what attracted me to it and I put my bid in and I felt I just had to buy it." Park said, "I had to get that tin...I'm really pleased I bought it and obviously it contained as we know now 'Zepped' which hadn't been seen for nearly 100 years."
Park showed the film to his friend, film expert John Dyer who was initially sceptical that it was a rare Chaplin film.
"I thought how can this be a Charlie Chaplin film that hasn't been found yet, all of Charlie Chaplin's films have been found and discovered, so I didn't take it too seriously, but after doing a bit of research on my own I found out that there was no record of this film called 'Zepped' it didn't appear to exist anywhere." Dyer said.
With the film being on highly volatile and flammable 35mm nitrate film stock, Park and Dyer began to try and find more information on the mysterious movie.
"We knew it was a Charlie Chaplin film but we didn't know how rare it was. We knew it was called 'Zepped' after looking at the inside of the film because it was back wound, and then we had access to libraries and we had access to the internet, we couldn't find it any where."
Drawing a blank with enquiries in the UK, the pair decided to take their research further afield in a bid to check the authenticity and rarity of the film they had. Their journey took them to Hollywood and even to Chaplin's house in Switzerland to look though the personal Chaplin family film archives.
Park and Dyer enlisted the help of friends to document their global travels and have produced a documentary of their investigative adventure which they hope will be broadcast later this year.
According Stephanie Connell, head of entertainment at auction house Bonham's, the seven-minute film which shows Chaplin taking on a German Zeppelin aircraft, features some of the earliest animation in cinema history.
"The Charlie Chaplin film set that we're selling in our forthcoming auction is important for several reasons, firstly it was a previously unknown Chaplin film, it was recorded in the 1916-1917 period being shown on trade viewings, getting a certificate etc., but since then it's never been recorded since so it's believed to be unique and the only remaining copy of the film." Connell said, "The actual content of the film is unique for several reasons, firstly previously unseen Charlie Chaplin footage not available anywhere else, it features footage of a zeppelin which is potentially the only known film footage of a zeppelin attack, a zeppelin World War One attack over London, and also it has extremely early animation techniques that they weren't aware existed prior to this film."
Park and Dyers investigations have discovered that an anonymous maker had put together out-takes from three earlier Chaplin pictures -- "His New Profession" (1914), "A Jitney Elopement" (1915) and "The Tramp" (1915) -- and included sequences of stop-motion animation and other effects. It is thought that Chaplin himself probably never knew of the movie's existence.
Park came across an advertisement for a trade screening of the film in the publication Manchester Film Renter and discovered that it was probably sent to Egypt on a morale-boosting mission to British troops stationed there.
German Zeppelin airships attacked Britain during World War One, and Bonham's says "Zepped" was probably designed to defuse the unease caused by the raids.
The film was never widely distributed, however, possibly reflecting the sensitivity of the attacks at the time of its release in 1916.
Being the earliest film known to combine real action sequences with animation, it is expected to fetch a "significant six-figure sum" when it is offered at an entertainment memorabilia sale in London on June 29. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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