8mm Forum: The Rink-Blackhawk Sound Print

This is topic The Rink-Blackhawk Sound Print in forum 8mm Print Reviews at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Richard Bock (Member # 1926) on October 19, 2012, 10:12 AM:

Seriously funny Charlie Chaplin movie. Behind the physical comedy are truths about our our human condition. In this case it is secrets we hide from each other. Chaplin is the star, his acting and physical humor even of the subtlest kind is a wonder to behold. Eric Campbell, his rival, is physically adept for a very large lug and pulls off the skate comedy handily. One of the best films for physical slapstick. The rink scenes are very funny.

I've never seen my Blackhawk print with sound. As I've just gotten an amazing Elmo 1200 Sound Projector, I got to listen and watch. To see the subtleties of Chaplin is much better when it is on a large screen and thankfully one of the pleasures of watching real film is we can make the screen size quite large. Also, with comedy like this, the larger the audience the more laffs. However I laughed while watching it alone.

This is a very good sound addition Blackhawk made (I've heard some bad ones). Not only is the music non intrusive and supportive but the sound effects of roller skates and pratfalls are very good and don't take away from the impact of the comedy. In fact they add to it. Eric Campbell pictured with mustache is the big guy able to pull off the wonderfully sublime physical comedy. The restaurant waiter scenes in the kitchen by Chaplin are never to be forgotten funny, especially when Chaplin shakes a martini.

I highly recommend The Rink for being hysterically funny and appropriate for ages 1 year old-90 year old demographic only. [Smile]

[ October 19, 2012, 02:31 PM: Message edited by: Richard Bock ]

Posted by Gerald Santana (Member # 2362) on October 19, 2012, 12:41 PM:

Very nice review Richard, the "Chaplin Mutuals" are genius, try to collect all twelve. All were released with sound through Blackhawk and in some later prints, kept the original opening titles.

The man pictured with Chaplin is Eric Campbell, who stared opposite Chaplin and Edna Purviance in most of the twelve "Mutual" featured shorts. The only exception is "One A.M." -- which was Chaplin's solo tour de force.

Posted by Brad Kimball (Member # 5) on October 19, 2012, 01:07 PM:

I have "The Floorwalker" in the sound edition and both print and sound quality are handsome. I would never part with it. Blackhawk gets 3 cheers for the Chaplin Mutuals.

Posted by Richard Bock (Member # 1926) on October 19, 2012, 02:35 PM:

Thanks Gerald. I fixed my error of Swain and Campbell. They both have similar Bluto like qualities. Swain was the guy who wanted to eat the Tramp when he started to look like a chicken in The Gold Rush.

Brad thanks for the info on the Blackhawk Chaplin Mutuals. I'd like to get One AM w/ sound and The Pawnshop.

[ October 19, 2012, 05:48 PM: Message edited by: Richard Bock ]

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on October 20, 2012, 02:08 PM:

Looks like a great print Richard, I will have to look out for this one. I do have The Pawnshop and Easy Street , both of which are good quality Blackhawk prints. Kids love the Pawnshop, with all the slapstick with the ladder [Big Grin]

Posted by Tony Stucchio (Member # 519) on October 20, 2012, 08:22 PM:

FYI...

The soundtracks were not actually added by Blackhawk per se, but by the Van Buren Corporation in the 1930's. When Blackhawk restored the Mutuals in 1975, they added the Van Buren tracks back in, re-edited to sync to the picture, which now included all the inter-titles that had been missing from the Van Buren negatives. None of the titles, neither main nor inter, were originals, but created by Blackhawk.

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