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the Chaplin-Keystone films (1914) 45
To cash in on Chaplin's popularity his Keystone pictures were frequently reissued under new titles to deceive the public into believing they were new films. Some thus acquired as many as four aliases. Hence the confusion about the number of films and their titles. A complete and accurate list will be found in the index. They were also cut and spliced into a composite thirtyreel serial called "The Perils of Patrick," burlesquing, with the help of subtitles, the adventure serials of the period.
Unfortunately, the Keystone films have passed through many and sometimes mutilating hands. When Sennett went to Paramount in 1917, he relinquished the name Keystone as well as the film rights. Many of the Keystones, and particularly the Chaplins, have been added with extraneous subtitles to "pep them up" and lengthen their playing time. The original films contained only a few, amusingly succinct titles; the padding process resulted in a profusion of anachronistic, overdecorated and tasteless titles.
Another reason for this retitling is that the original negatives were packed in small rolls and, for the needs of the international market of silent pictures, the English titles were not permanently inserted in the negatives. Titles were photographed from cards with black letters on white backgrounds and the negatives were spliced direct into positive prints. Many title cards were misplaced and retitling was frequently necessary. Rarely does one come across an unmutilated Keystone original. These titles are done in a style similar to Biograph titles; the word Keystone, lettered in an arc, appears in the upper left corner and a circular border encloses the main title. The name of the picture above and two Keystone trademarks in the lower corners with "Part One" or "Part Two" between, are found on the interior subtitles. This elaborate use of trade-marks was a precaution against duping.