The quality of the source material varies. At times, the prints are relatively free of wear, but at other times, obviously well-worn segments appear. This is part of the nature of restoring works of silent cinema now over 80 years old. Scraps of films were frequently discarded as shorts were re-released. And negatives frequently were left to deteriorate in film vaults. Entire reels decomposed. However, thanks to the work of David Shepard of Film Preservation Associates, Chaplin's Essanay comedies have been pieced back together again from choice material discovered around the world. They haven't looked this good in many decades. This is the definite edition of these comedies.

Upon Chaplin's arrival at Essany, he immediately encountered difficulties with the producers, who weren't interested in giving him the freedom that he desired. He was even given scripts to work from. (Louella Parsons, who would become one of Hollywood's most famous gossip column writers, was the head scenario writer at Essanay at this time.) However, Chaplin rejected most tampering and worked with his own stories--although the pressure to produce a new comedy every two weeks frequently shows in the slight, directionless premises on display in many of Chaplin's Essanay comedies.

We also see growth of the tramp character in "The Bank." Charlie plays a janitor who develops a crush on a cashier (Edna again). But when he leaves her a present, she assumes it's from another co-worker named "Charles." Even after Charlie saves the bank from thieves and "Charles" is revealed as a coward (he cowers under a desk), Edna reconciles with Charles, leaving Charlie alone for the final fadeout. "The Bank" also features a wonderful opening gag where Charlie arrives at the bank and opens the main vault (the first lock combination is on his cuff and the second is on the waistband of his pants), looking very much like he's in charge. But when he emerges from the vault, he's carrying a mop and bucket.

Lest anyone feel too sorry for the little tramp, Chaplin provides many opportunities for the tramp to display a mean streak. In "Police," for example, the tramp encounters a preacher immediately after having been released from prison: "Let me help you to go straight," says the preacher. But Charlie soon discovers the preacher is actually a pickpocket. When he next encounters a street preacher (this time a legitimate one), Charlie angrily runs him off. Or in "The Tramp," Charlie's idea of helping out around the farm is to use a pitchfork to prod another farm worker who carries a sack of grain. Or in "Triple Trouble," when Charlie puts a noisy drunk to bed in a flop house, he carefully rolls down the bedding, sets the drunk in bed, and then clobbers him over the head with a bottle. Or in "A Woman," Charlie leads a blindfolded man to a lake and then he pushes him in.

In "A Woman," Chaplin also displays a great facility for working with dinner table props (a talent that would pay off big time in this classic comedy The Gold Rush): he serves doughnuts by spearing them with a foot-long knife. The doughnuts slide down the blade, over the handle, and (voila!) onto the plate. He thinks he's being sophisticated. "A Woman" also features an effective scene where Charlie dresses in drag in order to sneak out of a house; however, the father (and that's who he's trying to avoid) takes a liking to him/her.

Not all of the comedies in this set are as effective as "The Tramp" or "The Bank." In particular, "A Night Out" and "By the Sea" are somewhat tedious. And "Burlesque of Carmen" even plays its climatic scene straight (where Chaplin and Carmen apear to kill themselves with a knife), as if Chaplin had no idea how to approach this scene comically (the scene's weak punch line reveals the knife's blade is retractable). However, these are fascinating shorts because they allow us to see Chaplin at work developing and honing the character of the little tramp. And thanks to Kino and David Shepherd of Film Preservation Associates, we can now experience these early Chaplin comedies in remarkably sharp and detailed video transfers.