The Gold Rush (Charles Chaplin, 1925, USA)

Seeing The Gold Rush with live piano accompaniment in a theater from 1921 is probably the best way to experience Chaplin’s classic film. Following the success of 1921’s The Kid, The Gold Rush brought Chaplin’s “Little Tramp” character to new heights. Inspired by photographs from the Klondike gold rush, Chaplin took his inspired physical comedy to new heights with this film. Striking both for its level of physical comedy as well as the humanity at its core, The Gold Rush is considered by many not only the pinnacle of Chaplin’s filmography, but perhaps the pinnacle of silent cinema.

Unfortunately, when the silent era began to be viewed with derision, Chaplin released the film in a truncated version with a constant narration throughout. Thus, many people never got to see the film in its true version. The original version gave more voice to Georgia Hale as Georgia, Chaplin’s love interest in the film. While there are tremendous set pieces of comedy (and some camera trickery that is quite impressive as well), the emotional core of the story is this relationship between Chaplin and Georgia. The role of Georgia was originally supposed to be played by Lita Grey, but she had to leave the production when she became pregnant with Chaplin’s child.

Mack Swain as Big Jim McKay is one of the highlights of the film as well, and the physical comedy between Chaplin and McKay is one of the delights of the film. The film also has some iconic moments that have transcended the film itself, including Chaplin’s famous “roll dance” that has been parodied and redone numerous times since. The new 4K restoration of The Gold Rush is the proper way to see the film, as it is as close to seeing the film in the original release as possible.

8/10