Review of The Gold Rush (1925) by Chris T — 30 May 2007

The Gold Rush has been presented in two versions, it's original silent film style, that Chaplin is known for, and a rerelease where Chaplin has added a narrative that is effective and helpful for viewers today. Unfortunately when TCM aired it a few days ago it was with the narrative included. While I don't think this was detrimental to the film, my attempts to see more silent films didn't really get completed by seeing The Gold Rush.

Chaplin is sweet, soft and humorous as usual in The Gold Rush with some very innovative writing and effects that still amaze me to be done in 1925, The Gold Rush is once again an adventure by The Tramp in which he finds a beautiful woman, this time played by Georgia Hale, but his attempts to find true love fail. He does although, get some luck with some good fortune along the way he might have a happy ending.

With some great gags, The Gold Rush keeps itself very light and fun, as you'd expect from Chaplin. His scenes of cooking shoes, hallucinations of chickens, fights with bears and a nice cliff hanging experience, Chaplin pulls off some of his best scenes with humor and grace. In a especially beautiful scene, Chaplin has taken two forks and stuck them through rolls. He sits at a table, quietly, and in a smooth, rhythmic manner he makes them dance around like legs. To me this might be the most beautiful scene I've seen Chaplin do, it's simple, it's not even really all that humorous, but his face, his actions, his movement are all done to such perfection, it truly shows how great Chaplin was not only at humor, or at body control, but at acting, and detail.