Chaplin's treasures restored for new boxed set

Ten of Charlie Chaplin's most treasured films are to be released as a boxed set on video and DVD.

The films, which include The Great Dictator, Modern Times and The Gold Rush, have all been recently restored for the release on September 22.

Chaplin's daughter Geraldine said: "Now they've all been cleaned up and digitally restored, they look so beautiful, it's just like seeing new films."

The 10 DVD box-set will include a new documentary called Charlie: The Life And Art of Charles Chaplin.

The film had it's UK premiere at this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival and includes contributions from the likes of Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese and Geraldine.

Geraldine told Ananova she's delighted someone's finally come up with a way of getting the films out to the public again. She said: "The family had been squabbling like mad since my mother died over what to do with these films and none of us had the same idea.

"There was a faction of the family that wanted my father to be seen everywhere, myself included, and there were other factions who thought he should never be on television and his films should be seen in cathedrals with people on their knees."

Geraldine says she thinks her father is an icon who will remain in the public's consciousness forever: "We see our needs in The Tramp's needs. He wants a nice place to live, a meal and the pretty girl.

"My father was a real renaissance man. He acted, produced, directed, composed the music - he probably would have worked behind the camera as well if he could have done that as well.

"He invented the retake, he'd do it again and again and again, until he got it right, no-one else did that then."