one of my absolute favorites!

Let's be realistic.

Just perfect...

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

'The Gold Rush (1925)' does very much feel like a film of two halves, though these differing segments do converge and realign somewhat towards its final movement. It's the fact that the more romantic aspects are essentially less interesting and exciting than the other more visually arresting and comically enchanting moments that prevents the piece from ascending past Chaplin's other most famous efforts. Yet the picture, of which I viewed a restored version that essentially recreates the initial 1925 release, has aged remarkably well and is as charming as you'd expect, managing to maintain a clear and consistent level of visual storytelling and some superb set-pieces that are as amusing as they are impressive. It's just a shame that the flick's final note is actually a secretly, and most likely unwittingly, downbeat one. 6/10

Copyright 16 August 1925 by Charles Chaplin Productions. Released through United Artists. New York opening at the Mark Strand: 16 August 1925. Sound version, eliminating most of the silent titles and substituting a narrative written and spoken by Charles Chaplin, copyright 6 May 1942 by Charles Chaplin. New York opening at the Globe: 18 April 1942. U.S. release: 17 April 1942. Australian release: 3 December 1942. 6,709 feet. 74 minutes. This version, slightly cut to 6,461 feet was re-issued in Australia in 1956. The same version at 6,480 feet, opened in England at the London Pavilion around September 1956 and was subsequently shown widely throughout the U.K. SYNOPSIS: Charlie, a lone prospector, is stormbound in a Klondyke hut with Big Jim, a successful miner, and Black Larson, a desperado.NOTES: The silent version ran 8,498 feet which, projected at sound speed, ran 93 minutes. Chaplin claims that he saved no less than 25 minutes, solely by eliminating the original inter-titles. As the film then ran only 68 minutes, Chaplin added 400 feet of previously discarded footage which he had been wise enough to keep in storage all these years. Chaplin's first film as actor-director for United Artists (of which he was one of the four founding partners). The most commercially successful of all Chaplin's silent films, coming in third at the U.S./Canadian box-office for 1925, with a domestic rentals gross of $2½ million. Location scenes filmed in the High Sierras. COMMENT: Not nearly as funny as its admirers would have us believe, The Gold Rush is too macabre, too grisly in its humor for my taste. True, Chaplin does wonders with seemingly depressing material. Indeed the whole movie depends for its effect on finding something to laugh at in the most horrifying situations. But I still find it hard to chuckle at the sight of a man so desperately hungry he is reduced to cooking his boot. Only a genius like Chaplin would think of turning this predicament into a classic comedy turn.

This movie will always have a special place in my heart. This was the first 'long' feature film made by Charlie Chaplin that I saw and the first time I got to see his familiar gags (like the Tramp eating his shoe or 'the dance of the rolls') in context. It surpassed all my expectations and left me speechless.For today's audiences a black-and-white silent film may seem hopelessly outdated, but The Gold Rush is truly a timeless masterpiece that has remained just as fresh, funny and moving as it once was. It's incredibly imaginative, wonderfully structured, and despite the countless laugh-out-loud burlesque moments, it's surprisingly poetic and tear-inducing. It is very reminiscent of Woody Allen's best bittersweet comedies (of course, Allen being an admirer of Chaplin's work, it's actually the other way round), so if you like Woody's perspective (and maybe enjoyed films like Zelig or Manhattan – shot in black-and-white - from Allen's vast catalogue), The Gold Rush is highly recommended to see where he is coming from.If it's just that you have never been brave enough to attempt a silent feature, well, The Gold Rush is the perfect starting point. May it be your first step into a larger world.

The Gold Rush is a film that shows Charlie at both his comedic and heart string pulling best, proving that hunkering down in an isolated cabin with a murderer while a snow storm rages outside is in fact a great situation for comedy. Back in town he falls for a woman named Georgia and pulls all the romantic strings - dancing with her whilst using the lead of a dog as a belt to hold up his trousers, entertaining her at the dining table using forks and bread as dancing feet (in his dreams), and after receiving a love letter, venturing back out into the wilderness to claim a mountain of gold for the two of them. However little did he know that the letter was intended for another man, and the dance was only an escape from one. The poor little tramp who can hardly catch a break and only had one shoe to wear after his other was eaten in a severe state of hunger, was being played the whole time.The story relies on quite a few coincidences and loose plot threads, and as you can imagine, leans very strongly on the edges of unbelievability. This is all easily forgivable for the first two acts, as the quality of gags is so entertaining that looking for continuity seems beside the point. Unfortunately however the third act, which sees the cabin Charlie and his mate are sleeping in blown precariously close to the cliffs edge, and the forgotten landmark of gold, really does push too far against those edges, and metaphorically shall I say, falls over the cliff. I guess it was done for the sake of metaphor - a visual of his life literally being on the brink of disaster - but the quality of gags here are not nearly as good as those that came beforehand, and Charlie was always better at gags than metaphor anyway. The chance (did I mention the story relies on coincidences?) encounter between Georgia and Charlie on the boat is even more awkward. With he now a millionaire, the two appear set to live happily ever after, but is it really happy if she is so undeserving?It is well worth watching however, as the first two acts contain some great material.