THE GOLD RUSH:Grown up, grown tired of those Chaplin clips?
Written: Jan 16 '00 (Updated May 28 '05)
Product Rating:
Pros: A seminal comic feature film.
Cons: Avoid chopped up doctored copies or copies reproduced at the wrong speed.
The Bottom Line: THE GOLD RUSH hits the viewer with the poignancy of Chaplin's little tramp and, at the same time, compiles the greatest collection of examples of his genius for silent comedy.
. . . And so that little guy with the mustache and the bowler hat rocks toward you, twiddling his cane, for the 50th time ------
An old show biz adage opines that a droll character or funny joke is twice as pleasing to an audience the second, even the third time around, and continues to get funnier the more often repeated. However, that adage was formulated before the arrival of stereotypical media, such as motion pictures and television. Like Mickey Mouse and now, say, Robin Williams, Charlie Chaplin has appeared and been exploited in so many situations that he has begun to pall, has begun to be taken for granted.
This entertainment malady applies especially to his character of "The Little Tramp." Chaplin himself worked the character for over 15 years in silent motion pictures, and echoes of it recur in his sound films (e.g., MODERN TIMES, 1936). Several generations have grown up with Charlie on TV, and his figure, now part of Public Domain, complete with derby and cane, is widely mimicked and multiplied in a thousand commercial logos around the world.
Too many people are unfamiliar with the art of the silent film but too familiar with Charlie the Tramp. Too many have seen blotched, tattered copies of his short films, often run at the wrong speed. Too many have seen bad imitations. Too many were forced as kids to eat, not their boots, but their mush to Charlie's antics on a TV screen!
Hence, I do not recommend Charlie Chaplin's "immortal creation" with impunity. THE GOLD RUSH (1925) is an exception. It is both a formulation and a recapitulation of everything Chaplin had learned about the silent comedy medium.
Here, The Little Tramp makes his way into an epic setting, the Yukon of Alaska during the great Klondike Goldrush of 1998-99. We see his ridiculous methods for hunting gold, his inept courting of a dancehall girl (Georgia Hale), his poignant and often hilarious attempts to make friends with his giant grubstake partner (Mack Swain, familiar to any Chaplin fan). We have the comic climax and the happy fadeout. Everything we need to know about The Tramp, to enjoy him, is present.
There is no need to describe the inspired pantomime of the dancing rolls, the attempt to eat cooked boot, and a dozen other sequences which underlie much of what we call motion picture comedy.
Just see the movie.
In 1942, Chaplin corrected the film's speed for sound, added some narration and his own music score. This version is the one to get.
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UPDATE (August 12, 2003): This week a restored version of THE GOLD RUSH was issued as part of a DVD box set. Look it out, and if you like Chaplin, consider buying it.
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