I have two. My answers will not be surprising to long time Chaplin fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Gentleman Tramp and Unknown Chaplin. Gentleman Tramp is a biography, and Unknown Chaplin is a “behind the scenes” doc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I baffled my family growing up with the number of times I have watched these. And I have baffled my kids equally as much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Mom, you’re watching that again?<\/em><\/strong>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like his films, these docs are fun and comforting. And I appreciate the tons work that went into them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By the way, these are listed in order of release date, not a ranking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First, The Gentleman Tramp, written and directed by Richard Patterson, narrated by Walter Matthau, released in 1975. One of the things that makes this interesting is that it was made while Chaplin was still alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I first saw it listed in David Robinson’s book. And then in the early 90s in my baby Chaplin fan days, I saw the VHS while browsing around one of my favorite stores, Media Play, and grabbed it up right away. And continued to watch it numerous times. Then many years later I saw it at Amazon from Patterson himself. The DVD has two versions of the doc: one is the version that was on the VHS, and another longer version with a introduction by Matthau and his son, Charlie as they traveled to Chaplin’s Switzerland home, and a couple alternate takes (for example: during the Joan Barry court case). The DVD also came with a booklet written by Patterson talking about the ups and downs of making the doc (Chaplin had some disagreements with him with how the doc was being put together). I usually watch the version that I first saw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can buy it from Amazon here<\/a>. Or you can watch a couple clips from it that was put up by the official Chaplin YouTube Channel:<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Gentleman Tramp<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n