A recently discovered 'lost movie' starring Charlie Chaplin failed to sell at a London auction.
The 1916 short film, titled Charlie Chaplin in 'Zepped', was apparently edited from outtakes of previous Chaplin shorts to boost support for England's involvement in World War I and it is unclear if the silent film star even knew the movie existed.
Scenes of Chaplin's manic foibles intercut with a giant zeppelin are thought to be one of the first examples of mixing live action and animation in cinema history.
All known prints of Charlie Chaplin in 'Zepped' were believed to have been destroyed, until a film collector found one copy inside a film canister he purchased from eBay for $5 (£3.20).
London auction house Bonhams expected the seven-minute Charlie Chaplin in 'Zepped' to fetch as much as $160,000 (£100,000) during a public sale last week, but no buyer could be secured.
A rep for Bonhams told the BBC: "Obviously we're disappointed the film didn't sell, but it's an unusual item and the nature of auctions means these things are always unpredictable."
Last year, a clip from Chaplin's 1928 silent film The Circus went viral after viewers noticed that it seemed to prove the legitimacy of time travel.
No comments:
Post a Comment