It is the stuff that film historians’ dreams are made of: discovering a movie that was thought to be lost. This is what happened to Paul Gierucki when he stumbled across an early Charlie Chaplin film at an antiques’ fair in 2009.
The silent movie, A Thief Catcher, dates from 1914. Charlie Chaplin's three-minute cameo was only his second or third screen appearance and he had yet to become a household name.
In the film he plays a bumbling Keystone cop, but his moustache and physical twitches, for which he later became famous in movies like The Tramp, are already very much in evidence.
Film Historian Dumbfounded at Charlie Chaplin Find
Gierucki paid $100 for the film, but didn't watch it for several months, thinking it was another Keystone Cops movie. When he finally rolled the 16 mm reel, he was surprised to see what looked like Charlie Chaplin make an appearance midway through the 10-minute running time. He asked another historian, Richard Roberts, for a second opinion and he confirmed that it was indeed Charlie Chaplin.
Gierucki described his reaction to the find as dumbfounded. “It changes his filmography; it changes the history of his work and it kind of gives you hope that there may be more material out there that isn't documented, because a lot of his films are missing from that era,” he said in an interview with BBC News.
A Thief Catcher Premieres in Arlington, Virginia
A Thief Catcher 'premiered' during the four-day Slapsticon comedy film festival in Arlington, Virginia. It was screened on July 17, 2010 as part of a Chaplin Rarities Program, alongside a recently recovered reel of Chaplin outtakes from his Mutual Comedies.
Film festival organisers believe the Keystone comedy had not been seen since its original release in 1914.
A Thief Catcher was never listed in Charlie Chaplin's filmography, either by the British-born actor himself in his autobiography - although he did mention playing bit parts as a Keystone cop in several movies - or by the British Film Institute. A Thief Catcher is Charlie Chaplin’s 82nd film.
Film Festival Hopes Chaplin Film Will Boost Numbers
Slapsticon, now in its seventh year, is a small niche festival which has previously attracted a couple of hundred classic movie fans each edition. There is a good chance that this cinematic find, which has received international media coverage, will help swell the film festival’s numbers in future years.
A Thief Catcher is expected to be released on DVD later this year.
Cecily Layzell - Cecily Layzell is a food and travel writer and founder of restaurant review site www.eat-amsterdam.com.
