Review of The Gold Rush (1925) by Tommy 'See The Treasure' S — 02 May 2014

PART OF MY CLASSIC VIEWINGS OF 2014 LIST.

Note: There's two different versions of the film. One is the original silent version from 1925. The other, rereleased in 1942, is the same movie, but with sound effects and some narration from Charlie Chaplin himself. The version I ended up watching was the 1925 version, which was the version I wanted to see as it's the original cut of the film.

Silent cinema has become a growing interest for me. After decently enjoying the 1925 version of Phantom of the Opera and was captivated by Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times and George Meliles' A Trip to the Moon, I decided to give more silent films a look (as there's at least four on my classic viewing list, Phantom being one of them). Charlie Chaplin was definitely one of the comedians to watch in the silent films I chose, especially after loving Modern Times. It's very impressive to see someone dedicated to making a film, and Chaplin is definitely one of those people. Like with Modern Times, Chaplin not only starred in The Gold Rush, but he wrote, directed, and scored the film, and he does a fantastic job. I can honestly say that The Gold Rush is one of the funniest comedies I've ever seen!

In The Gold Rush, Charlie Chaplin plays his signature Little Tramp character, but at the same time, he's also called "The Lone Prospector", as he's in Alaska being part of the Yukon gold rush. Forced to share a cabin with two larger prospectors, Big Jim McKay (Mack Swain) and thief Black Larsen (Tom Murray), as due to a heavy storm. Chaplin finds himself starving and desperately looking for food. After the storm, Chaplin finds himself in love with the lovely dancer Georgia (Georgia Hale), but she's not interested in his charms. Chaplin then reunites with an amnesia-stricken Big Jim on a journey to look for more gold... and no matter the situations he gets into, the results are very, very entertaining.

This is my second experience with Charlie Chaplin (with the first being 1936's Modern Times, which I also loved). I don't know if it's my fascination for classic comedies, or my enjoyment for Modern Times, but I thought The Gold Rush was even funnier than Modern Times, funnier than some of Capra's films, funnier than The Three Stooges, funnier than any screwball comedy I've seen, and definitely funnier than so-called modern comedy!

The big success of the film definitely has to go to Charlie Chaplin, who's definitely one of the greatest comedians to ever live on this earth! No matter how obnoxious his character's situations, Chaplin makes every scene he's in a hoot! From blowing out the door due to the storm, to the infamous "chicken hallucination" scene, to Chaplin's bread-dancing dinner dream sequence, to a big, elaborate climax where Chaplin's cabin dangles off a cliff, every sequence is very entertaining and Chaplin nails what he does best, which is to be funny. There's a reason why Chaplin is arguably the greatest comedian ever, and it's that he has heart in what he does. He doesn't have to rely on raunchy sex jokes to be funny. He doesn't have to tell juvenile poop jokes to be funny. All Chaplin has to do is move a muscle, and he's immediately very, very hilarious to watch.

While I still have a long way to go in experiencing Charlie Chaplin's film library (or silent cinema, in that matter), I was very impressed with The Gold Rush. It's arguably the funniest comedy I've seen; Chaplin's comedy is fantastically hilarious to watch, the dramatic moments work well in building up to the comedy (it's called a dramatic comedy for a reason), every scene is extremely memorable, the pacing is brilliantly paced, and Chaplin's direction is flawless! The Gold Rush is a rare comedy that gets my highest score (along with Bringing Up Baby, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Great Race, and Modern Times), and, from what I've experienced, it's in my book "the comedy to top all comedies.".