Gold Rush
While many scoff at the modern aesthetic value of silent movies, it must be remembered that the basic style of such films in their day and age was one entirely onto themselves and unique, presenting audiences with a world where a once still picture came to life, the figures within becoming living beings and an actual story coming to life before them, albeit without the use of spoken dialogue that we’re all used to and usually employing wildly gestating, over the top acting. While the silent era had its share of mostly forgotten B level fare (most of which is lost today) and an inordinately large number of throwaway short films that (depending on the actor involved who would usually be a comedian) sometimes captured greatness in their own brief way, it also had a good number of true artistic geniuses (not all of whom were American since the silent format allowed for worldwide distribution with little to no translation required) who created some genuine masterpieces in the format with names ranging from D.W. Griffith to Fritz Lang to Buster Keaton to Erich Von Stroheim to F.W. Murnau and many more. But the undisputed king of the art form of silent movies (and who believed in this specific style of filmmaking as being an actual art form) was of course none other than Charles Chaplin, a guy who seemed to be working on an entirely different level than everyone else at the time, effortlessly combining elements of comedy, drama, pathos and emotional depth in such a way that was unheard of at the time and in doing so guaranteeing that his own films would be the last to become lost from that era and the first for which every effort would be made to preserve them forever so that future generations can always enjoy them being that they are so readily available today. This 1925 release (over 90 years ago) is considered by many to be Chaplin’s true masterpiece (debatable) and is at least certainly amongst his top 3 or 4 greatest films (not debatable). The story depicts the gold mining era in Alaska and beyond at the turn of the century through the eyes of whom is known as “The Lone Prospector” (basically Chaplin still doing his Little Tramp routine as always complete with his derby hat and cane in the frozen tundra as this was an aspect of his films that he rarely changed up on) who encounters two others looking for gold in the wasteland, a wanted criminal named Black Larsen and a nicer prospector named Big Jim McKay (Tom Murray and Chaplin regular Mack Swain who both died within two days of each other ten years later). Turns out that the Big Jim character has already struck gold but wants to keep it for himself while Black Larsen is just biding his time waiting for his chance to screw over everybody. When Larsen leaves the cabin that the three of them are holed up at to go look for food, he winds up plunging to his death when a snowdrift gives out under his feet (but not before killing two cops whom he encounters), leaving The Tramp and Big Jim together starving, forcing them to cook and eat The Tramp’s shoe (actually a big piece of licorice which caused Chaplin to go into insulin shock) before they make their way back to civilization and go their separate ways (for the time being). Now while much of this is indeed funny and well done, it still lacks the undercurrent of relevant social and political commentary that defined this reviewer’s favorite works of Chaplin’s (Modern Times and Great Dictator) unless the life risking pursuit of wealth by prospecting for gold has been intended to be portrayed as being pointless and futile (not likely given the mega happy ending) so instead we are just given small doses of Chaplin’s faith in the power of humanity and kindness (including another kindly cabin owner who takes The Tramp in and provides ample food and shelter) in addition to the requisite romantic entanglement for The Tramp (and the requisite real life girlfriend of Chaplin’s who is playing the part) as embodied by Georgia Hale as “Georgia” (what a stretch) who is employed as a dance hall saloon girl (possibly a euphemism for “prostitute”) and appears to have an arrogant jerk of an on again / off again boyfriend (who just delights in torturing and bullying The Tramp) whom only seems to have the inside track on getting with her because he has MONEY, which is why the smitten Tramp needs to strike gold and do it soon. But we do get plenty of slapstick romantic moments that The Tramp was known for even as those elements were amongst the weakest part of Chaplin’s bag of tricks as his female co stars were obviously much younger than he (with the exception being the tragic blind girl from City Lights as that film’s emotionally packed ending might have been the highlight of Chaplin’s career). Even in his late thirties at the time, one can still see Chaplin’s peerless ability to use physical movement as an all out expression of his own life essence with his being able to jump around all over the place with such energy that he must have been in either outstanding physical condition or maybe just a naturally gifted athlete but that was always his real forte anyway in doing graceful, balletic slapstick routines that could always bring a house down in laughter even as they were carefully coordinated and seemingly designed by Chaplin himself without much in the way of formal training or assistance. And we do get plenty of that here, including side by side with Swain’s Big Jim, who reappears from the tundra with mild amnesia unable to remember exactly where he struck gold but also knowing that The Tramp is the only one with the knowledge to lead him back to the area so that he can get his bearings and rediscover the site, even offering to share the riches with The Tramp in exchange for his assistance, leading up to the climatic sequence of the film where the two of them spend the night in the cabin they were in at the beginning of the film before a storm strikes and the cabin is literally left dangling off a cliff. What follows is a hilariously tense masterwork of a scene as the cabin teeters this way and that while The Tramp and Big Jim teeter right along with it, leading to some amazing slips and slides combined with some 1925 era special effects that shows exactly why Chaplin was truly ahead of his time and also an avid showman in his own right by saving the best part of the film for last. Chaplin himself would strangely second guess his own work on the original 1925 release version, going back to the film in 1942 and rereleasing it with scenes taken out, a new music score and worse of all, his own spoken narration playing over the film (in place of title cards) where he even attempts the bizarre tactic of speaking The Tramp’s words within the narration at exact points when The Tramp is shown speaking onscreen. Sadly, this shortened, revised version would become the only one available for several decades before the original would once again be allowed to be viewed by the public. As for Georgia Hale, her affair with Chaplin would all but destroy his marriage to his second wife as even though she stayed on his payroll until the 1950s, her career was pretty much over with the advent of talkies, never marrying while becoming wealthy through real estate investments and living with a “companion” who never knew of her connection to Chaplin until she participated in a documentary about him in the early 80s, eventually dying herself in 1985, but not before even going so far as to write an autobiography that was more about her relationship with Chaplin than anything else. Chaplin himself would state that this was the film for which he wished to be remembered more than anything and in many ways it is, a triumph when it comes to filmmaking prowess and technical achievement, albeit one which lacks his well known social commentary and comes off more as being just an unpretentious, straight up comedy that has been showered with numerous accolades in the years since. Is it one of the best comedies of all time? Not absolutely. Is it one of the best comedies (or films) of the silent era? Most definitely, as the limitations of enjoyment in silent cinema for a modern audience can be a critical issue when deciding what to watch, but the constant trumpeting of this film as a must see for all generations is justified if for nothing else than it being not only one of the best but also still being among the most watchable films of its era which when it comes to silents is probably one of the greatest compliments it can be paid as to why it still holds up today…
8/10