''Zepped'' is a 1916 propaganda comedy short film about a German Zeppelin attack on London during the First World War.

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...

appears in the film, although it is unlikely he himself was involved in the production. Making use of

stop-motion animation Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

, ''Zepped'' may have used previously-unknown outtakes of three or four earlier Chaplin films: ''

His New Profession ''His New Profession'' is a 1914 American comedy silent film made at the Keystone Studios and starring Charlie Chaplin. The film involves Chaplin taking care of a man in a wheelchair. It is also known as "The Good for Nothing". Synopsis The T ...

'' (1914), ''

A Jitney Elopement ''A Jitney Elopement'' was Charlie Chaplin's fifth film for Essanay Films. It starred Chaplin and Edna Purviance as lovers, with Purviance wanting Chaplin to take her away from an arranged marriage her father (played by Fred Goodwins) had plan ...

'' (1915) and ''

The Tramp The Tramp (''Charlot'' in several languages), also known as the Little Tramp, was English actor Charlie Chaplin's most memorable on-screen character and an icon in world cinema during the era of silent film. ''The Tramp'' is also the title of ...

'' (1915), and according to Bonhams, '' By the Sea'' (1915). Two copies are known: one was unknowingly purchased by a collector who bought an old film reel tin on

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...

for £3.20 (about $5) in September 2009 and found the nitrate film inside. He put it up for auction in June 2011 but the sole bid did not reach the £100,000 ($160,000)

reserve price In economics, a reservation (or reserve) price is a limit on the price of a good or a service. On the demand side, it is the highest price that a buyer is willing to pay; on the supply side, it is the lowest price a seller is willing to accept ...

. The second copy was found in a tin of assorted items bought from a secondhand shop in Sheffield in July 2011. Although a 1917 advertisement in the ''Manchester Film Renter'' announced a trade viewing, it may only have been shown in Egypt. An October 1917 entry in the British Board of Film Censorship's Ledgers says it was "For Export Only", and a Ministry of Interior film censorship certificate displayed at the beginning of the film states it was "Passed for Exhibition in Egypt".

References

1916 films 1916 animated films 1916 comedy films 1916 short films 1910s American animated films 1910s animated short films 1910s rediscovered films American aviation films American black-and-white films American silent short films American World War I propaganda films Films set in London Rediscovered American films Silent American comedy films Silent war films Surviving American silent films {{short-animation-film-stub