Where can I silent Charlie Chaplin movies online

A.� There are several sites where you can purchase Chaplin films. Go to www.amazon.com or www.silentmovies.com as they've got a huge list of Chaplin classics. Grapevine video have four volumes from his work at the Keystone studios, including the first feature-length all-star comedy, Tilly's Punctured Romance, which was released in 1914.

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Q.� Why have so many Chaplin films survived

A.� Chaplin was meticulous about his work. He carefully saved and preserved as well as owned his own pictures, ensuring they were saved for posterity. His films have been the most accessible of all the silent movie artists. He regularly re-issued films to which he had the rights. The films that he did not own have become classics too and have been widely circulated among collectors.

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Q.� How many films did he make

A.� He was a hugely prolific artist.� During his silent career, he worked at Keystone, Essanay and United Artists..

In his first year at Keystone Studios, he made nearly 30 films, and went on to make over 100 during his life. He began making feature-length films for United Artists, the copmany he co-owned with Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford. Many of these have stood the test of time, including: The Kid (1921), The Gold Rush (1925), The Circus (1920), City Lights (1931) and Modern Times (1936).

Charles Spencer Chaplin was born in London in April 1889, but suffered a poor and lonely childhood, as he and his brother Sydney ended up in the Hanwell School for Orphans and Destitute Children, after his father left home and his mother had a breakdown. He made his debut in the Music Halls in 1894 when he sang a song because his mother was too hoarse. In 1903, Chaplin appeared for the first time as Billy in Sherlock Holmes. In February 1914 he made his first film Making A Living. Limelight in October 1923 was Chaplin's last great film.

His legacy lived on however when his daughter Geraldine, born during his marriage to third wife Oona, got a role in the epic Dr Zhivago.

In 1972, he was awarded a special honorary Oscar for "the incalcuable effect he has had on making motion pictures the art form of this century".

He died in Switzerland on December 25 in 1977.

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by Katharine MacColl