Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

A Thief Catcher (1914)

In Charles Chaplin’s fourth film, he takes a supporting role as he makes his only appearance as a Keystone Kop.

Unknown as a Chaplin film for decades, A Thief Catcher (1914) was recovered in an incomplete 16mm reduction positive copied from a decomposing 35mm nitrate print entitled His Regular Job as rereleased by Tower Film Company in 1918. The print was recovered by Paul E. Gierucki at a Michigan antique sale in June 2010.

This DVD edition has been mastered from a 16mm reduction print of the 1918 rerelease version held by CineMuseum. The print is very-good but incomplete, with the ending missing.

The collection’s supplemental material includes Charlie et sa Belle [Charlie’s White Elephant] (1916), Inside the Keystone Project (2010) documenting the Chaplin Project (10 minutes), Silent Traces: The Keystone Locations (2010) with John Bengtson, author of Silent Traces (12 minutes), and a stills gallery.

Overall, the improvement in quality over previous home video editions is so great that you’ll toss your other Keystone Chaplin discs when you see this collection. Highly recommended!

USA: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.com. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
Canada: Click the logomark to purchase this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition from Amazon.ca. Your purchase supports Silent Era.
This Region 0 NTSC DVD edition is also available directly from . . .

Other KEYSTONE comedy films available on home video.