Silent discovery!

I love it when a movie from the silent era is found, since we have so few of them left. Recently, one was found on eBay.

Morace Park found a listing for an old film, and decided to bid on it. He found the container more interesting than the old film, but the contents have proven to be the real find here.

£3.20 bought the item. Inside the container, Park (who deals in antiques as a sideline) found a Charlie Chaplin film. The title read, "Charlie Chaplin in Zepped". Park searched online for this title, but drew a blank.


Park's neighbor, John Dyer, once worked for the British Board of Film Classification, so Park turned to him for help. The two of them investigated the film's history, and why nobody had ever even heard of it.


The film combines live-action footage of Chaplin and dreamlike animation; true to its name, it concerns an attack by a Zeppelin (very topical at that time, since Germany began attacking Britain by air in 1915, using the selfsame aircraft).

The film also bears a reference to the Essanay studio, where Chaplin worked eearly in his career, before various conflicts caused him to break with the company.

Hammad Khan, a documentarist, has gone with Park and Dyer to Los Angeles. The latter two are in town in a search for more information; Khan is (naturally!) making a documentary.

Michael Pogorzelski, director of the archive of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has also viewed the film, stating that "It is an extremely interesting find." He also refers to it as a previously unknown and uncataloged Chaplin film.

He thinks Essanay may have cobbled together the film by using footage from other films Chaplin made for the studio and adding newer footage of Zeppelins, as well as creating the animation. He refers to it as "either piracy or entrepreneurship – depending on which side of the fence you're on."

Film historian David Robinson has assessed the value of Zepped at anywhere from £3,000 to £40,000.

Pogorzelski states that the film (a 35mm nitrate print) must be transferred to safety stock, adding that the Academy has volunteered to do this work, though the film should stay where it was found, in the UK.