Kate Beaton + Charlie Chaplin + Criterion = Hark, A Poster!
June 22, 2010 8:43 AM Subscribe
To promote their upcoming Charlie Chaplin releases, Janus Films asked Kate Beaton (of Hark! A Vagrant fame) to produce a poster. In her LiveJournal thread announcing the job, a commenter linked to this story about the discovery of an unknown Chaplin film called "Zepped." [hat tip to Rosie Shuster]
Whoa. That's one hell of find.
posted by brundlefly at 8:49 AM on June 22, 2010
posted by brundlefly at 8:49 AM on June 22, 2010
Durr.
posted by Madamina at 9:02 AM on June 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Madamina at 9:02 AM on June 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
Neat. It's a little deflating* to find that the film is probably a post-contract amalgam of a couple of other films, but still really cool.
* deflating . . . zepplins . . . WORDPLAY!
posted by Think_Long at 9:06 AM on June 22, 2010
* deflating . . . zepplins . . . WORDPLAY!
posted by Think_Long at 9:06 AM on June 22, 2010
You mean it's like there's a party in your mind and everybody's invited?
Ah, bother. I think mathowie just left the room.
I look forward to seeing this on Archive.org or YouTube (considering it conveniently fits under YT's general 10 minute cut-off). And then, throw some Yakety-Sax in the mix!
posted by filthy light thief at 9:13 AM on June 22, 2010
Ah, bother. I think mathowie just left the room.
I look forward to seeing this on Archive.org or YouTube (considering it conveniently fits under YT's general 10 minute cut-off). And then, throw some Yakety-Sax in the mix!
posted by filthy light thief at 9:13 AM on June 22, 2010
It makes me happy when we properly preserve any of the silent classics.
posted by Theta States at 9:34 AM on June 22, 2010
posted by Theta States at 9:34 AM on June 22, 2010
It's a cool story, to be sure. I have a hard time believing the nitrate film actually survived intact.
The description of Park "...unfurled a little of the film and saw the title..." also seems improbable, especially given how, later in the story, the film is described as a "desperately fragile nitrate print". The two descriptions seem very incongruous. If the film is, indeed, "desperately fragile," one would expect that "unfurling" the film would have rendered it into pieces.
I'm going to accept that the "unfurling" description is a bit of hyperbole, and that Park, in fact, carefully inspected the first couple of end frames.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:44 AM on June 22, 2010
The description of Park "...unfurled a little of the film and saw the title..." also seems improbable, especially given how, later in the story, the film is described as a "desperately fragile nitrate print". The two descriptions seem very incongruous. If the film is, indeed, "desperately fragile," one would expect that "unfurling" the film would have rendered it into pieces.
I'm going to accept that the "unfurling" description is a bit of hyperbole, and that Park, in fact, carefully inspected the first couple of end frames.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:44 AM on June 22, 2010
Sounds like a fake.
posted by Henry C. Mabuse at 10:07 AM on June 22, 2010
posted by Henry C. Mabuse at 10:07 AM on June 22, 2010
So great.
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:09 AM on June 22, 2010
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:09 AM on June 22, 2010
I'm pretty sure it's just discarded footage of Natalie Portman in Leon.
posted by shakespeherian at 10:19 AM on June 22, 2010
posted by shakespeherian at 10:19 AM on June 22, 2010
Park, from Essex, enlisted the help of a neighbour, John Dyer, the former head of education for the British Board of Film Classification
This is the type of coincidence that I would call "bullshit" on if they didn't seem to occur so frequently.
posted by Think_Long at 10:30 AM on June 22, 2010
This is the type of coincidence that I would call "bullshit" on if they didn't seem to occur so frequently.
posted by Think_Long at 10:30 AM on June 22, 2010
What an awesome find! Incidentally, the American Cinematheque here in Los Angeles has been screening the all-new prints all week long.
posted by estherbester at 10:41 AM on June 22, 2010
posted by estherbester at 10:41 AM on June 22, 2010
The typography on that poster is originally from an older Chaplin poster called Modern Times. Also it's my understanding that the grey in the poster will actually be a pantone silver, so like, probably pretty sexy.
posted by tuck_nroll at 12:41 PM on June 22, 2010
posted by tuck_nroll at 12:41 PM on June 22, 2010
Want poster now.
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:04 PM on June 22, 2010
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:04 PM on June 22, 2010
Kate Beaton really is more or less exactly the perfect artist to be illustrating Chaplin, isn't she.
posted by Faint of Butt at 2:03 PM on June 22, 2010
posted by Faint of Butt at 2:03 PM on June 22, 2010
Hear, hear on the appropriateness of Beaton being the perfect choice. I'm actually sort of amazed at how evocative of different time periods her stuff can be, given it's apparent simplicity. On the other hand...I'm a profoundly ignorant judge of art. It could very well be that there's some really subtle stuff that she's doing that I'm missing altogether. I just think it's great.
posted by Ipsifendus at 3:29 PM on June 22, 2010
posted by Ipsifendus at 3:29 PM on June 22, 2010
Very nice poster.
And wow, what a cool find! Even if it is just previously filmed scenes attached to a little animation, there's still the chance that totally unknown footage could be in there. Like Chaplin outtakes that were rescued from Essanay's cutting room floor.
posted by Kevin Street at 8:34 PM on June 22, 2010
And wow, what a cool find! Even if it is just previously filmed scenes attached to a little animation, there's still the chance that totally unknown footage could be in there. Like Chaplin outtakes that were rescued from Essanay's cutting room floor.
posted by Kevin Street at 8:34 PM on June 22, 2010
She does a lot of planning for the drawings, certainly, but she is also just a real natural talent at capturing gestures in a few lines. She is a seriously seriously good artist, and that's why she's become so crazy popular in the last year or two -- I mean, her jokes are good and whatnot, but I really think that people get hooked because they see her stuff and respond immediately to its very great artistic merit. She is like Al Hirschfeld or someone like that, where she can use just a few lines to get across something very complex.
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:36 PM on June 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:36 PM on June 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
« Older New Pornographer's show goes horribly right | RC Helicopter filming Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by The Whelk at 8:46 AM on June 22, 2010 [9 favorites]