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Unknown Chaplin in antique container

LONDON: A never-seen-before Charlie Chaplin film was found in an antique tin by a man who bought it on eBay for a meagre £3.20.

Morace Park was looking for antiques on eBay when he stumbled on an item that was listed casually as an “old film,” and even then, he was really more interested in the tin it was in, The Guardian reported.

Little did he know that the container included a previously unknown film by the legendary comic artist.

When the parcel arrived, Mr. Park opened a little of the film and saw the title Charlie Chaplin in Zepped. “I Googled it, but couldn’t find any sign of it on the internet,” he said.

The film, with a duration of more than seven minutes, has a mixture of footage of Chaplin and animation.

“It starts with live shots of Chaplin, and then turns into a dreamscape. We see a Zeppelin bombing attack. And then we see Chaplin taking the mickey out of the Zeppelin, at the time a powerful instrument of terror,” he added.

Mr. Park then contacted his neighbour, John Dyer, a former official with the British Board of Film Classification.

The pair dug deep into the pages of history to learn about the film, which was completely unknown to film historians and Chaplin experts.

Their research revealed that the film, shot on 35mm nitrate film, was put together as a World War I propaganda initiative to combat the scare of airship bombing raids, launched by Germany against Britain in early 1915.

David Robinson, author of Chaplin: His Life and Art, feels the footage’s value could be anything between £3,000 and £40,000. “There’s always the chance that there will be a brand-new Chaplin gag in the film,” he said. — PTI

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