Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2026 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

The Bond (1918)

This promotional short features Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Albert Austin, Sydney Chaplin and Dorothy Rosher.

The film is presented with the established music score composed by Charles Chaplin.

Supplemental material includes an introduction by David Robinson.

For information about other films in this collection, see our The Chaplin Revue on home video page.

This being nearly identical in content to the 2004 Warner Home Video edition noted below, owners of that edition may not feel the need to acquire this Park Circus edition. This edition, currently the only high-quality edition in print, is recommended for those who want to add the film to their collection now. With no high-definition home video option, we recommend this edition.

North American collectors will need a region-free PAL DVD player capable of outputting an NTSC-compatible signal to view this edition.

This Region 2 PAL DVD edition has been discontinued and is . . .

Our first look at the discs reveals the high quality one would expect from video transfers utilizing 35mm prints and negatives from Chaplin’s own film collection. The detail and greyscale ranges are consistently excellent. However, we have had problems with the disc displaying properly to a 16:9 high-definition television when played from one of our DVD players. The picture fills the 16:9 monitor in width (already wrong for a 4:3 format picture) and crops the top and bottom of the picture to do so. No amount of manipulation of the picture settings ideally resolves the issue. Other DVD players will not have this issue.

Be aware that that isn’t the only issue with the production of this set. Despite how they are labeled, disc 1 is disc two and disc 2 is disc one. Confused? So were we.

The disc includes the option to view the films in the Chaplin Revue form that Chaplin assembled for release in 1959 (including Chaplin’s overview introduction) or as the individual films themselves — appealing to collectors who want the individual films presented as closely as possible to their original form.

Supplemental material includes the unreleased Chaplin film How to Make Movies, the war bond comedies The Bond and [Harry Lauder] (1918), outtakes from Shoulder Arms and Sunnyside, informal momento films, introductions by David Robinson, stills and posters galleries, and trailers.

For information about other films in this collection, see our The Chaplin Revue on home video page.

This Region 1 NTSC DVD edition has been discontinued and is . . .

The film is accompanied by a music score composed and performed on theatre pipe organ by Bernie Anderson.

This Region 0 NTSC DVD-R edition is available directly from REEL CLASSIC DVD through . . .

This DVD edition has been mastered from a fair Essex Films 16mm reduction print provided by Mark Roth that sports the alternate title, Charles Chaplin in a Liberty Loan Appeal. The print is contrasty, with nearly featureless highlights. Dust, speckling, and other print flaws are present.

The film is presented with a music score composed and performed on virtual theatre pipe organ by Ben Model.

For information about other films in this collection, see our American Slapstick on home video page.

Supplemental material includes a short film from the 1960s featuring clips from silent films (5 minutes) and a PDF copy of The Charlie Chaplin Book (1916).

Thie review was updated in 2026.

ALL DAY ENTERTAINMENT has discontinued disc sales and this Region 1 NTSC DVD edition is . . .

This DVD edition follows the suit of other Chaplin collections: put as few films onto as many discs as possible, regardless of print quality and sell them as cheap as possible. And don’t expect them to be mastered from anything but subpar 16mm and 8mm reduction prints.

For information about other films in this collection, see our The Essential Charlie Chaplin Collection on home video page.

Don’t consider buying this collection for the Chaplin Mutual films. The Mutual films have all been released on DVD home video in far superior editions transferred from 35mm prints. Cobra Entertainment (successor to Delta) rereleased remaining stock of this disc onto the market in 2010.

DELTA ENTERTAINMENT has discontinued business and this Region 0 NTSC DVD edition is . . .

Other SHORT COMEDY FILMS of the silent era available on home video.