An old film bought on eBay for £3.20 has turned out to be an unseen Charlie Chaplin movie.

Antique collector Morace Park from Essex received a shock when after buying a battered container which contained an "old film" from eBay, he discovered it was titled 'Charlie Chaplin in Zepped'. After finding no mention of the film after searching on the internet he teamed with his neighbour, a former head of education for the British Board of Film Classification, to unravel the mystery behind the film.

Seven minutes long, Zepped features a mixture of animation and live footage of Chaplin.

"It starts with live shots of Chaplin. It 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," explained Park.

Film history expert Michael Pogorzelski said after viewing the film, "It is an extremely interesting find. An unknown and uncatalogued Charlie Chaplin film."

It's believed the film was spliced together from out-takes and old Chaplin footage by Essanay - the film company which Chaplin worked for in 1914 before he left over a contractual and salary dispute.

Chaplin biographer, David Robinson, explained that Essanay tried several times to get mileage out of their former star after he left them by adding extra scenes to his previous films and then attempt to re-release them.

Chaplin tried to sue the company over these films, and it could explain why Zepped has never been seen by a wider audience.

The film has been valued up to £40,000.