The Gold Rush (1925 film)
 Theatrical release poster | ||
| Starring | Charlie Chaplin Georgia Hale Mack Swain Tom Murray Malcolm Waite | |
| Directed by | Charlie Chaplin | |
| Produced by | Charlie Chaplin | |
| Written by | Charlie Chaplin | |
| Editing by | Charlie Chaplin | |
| Music by | (1942 re-release: Charlie Chaplin Carli Elinor Max Terr James L. Fields | |
| Cinematography | Roland Totheroh | |
| Distributed by | United Artists | |
| Released | Jun 26, 1925 in USA | |
| Runtime | 95 minutes (original) 72 minutes (24 fps, 1942 re-release) | |
| Country | United States | |
| language | Silent film with English intertitles | |
| Budget | $923,000 | |
| Gross | $2.15 million (U.S. and Canada rentals) | |
The Gold Rush is a 1925 American silent comedy film written, produced, and directed by Charlie Chaplin. The film also stars Chaplin in his Little Tramp persona, Georgia Hale, Mack Swain, Tom Murray, Henry Bergman and Malcolm Waite.
Chaplin drew inspiration from photographs of the Klondike Gold Rush and from the story of the Donner Party, who, when snowbound in the Sierra Nevada, resorted to cannibalism or eating leather from their shoes. Chaplin, who believed that tragedies and comedies are closely connected, decided to blend these stories of hardship and horror into comedy. He envisioned his famous rogue character as a gold-digger teamed with a brave optimist determined to face all the dangers of searching for gold, such as sickness, hunger, cold, loneliness, or the risk of being attacked by a grizzly at any moment. The film includes scenes like Chaplin cooking and eating his shoe, or how his starving friend Big Jim sees him as a chicken.
The Gold Rush was critically praised upon its release and remains one of Chaplin's most celebrated works; Chaplin himself mentioned multiple times that it was the film he most wanted to be remembered for.[4] In 1942, Chaplin issued a re-release featuring sound effects, music, and narration, which earned Academy Award nominations for Best Music Score and Best Sound Recording. In 1958, the film ranked 2nd on the prestigious Brussels 12 list at the World Expo, just 5 votes behind Battleship Potemkin. In 1992, the film was chosen for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
In 1953, the original 1925 version of the film entered the public domain in the United States because the copyright was not renewed in the 28th year after its release.
Plot
The following is the plot of the 1942 re-release:
During the Klondike Gold Rush in Alaska, gold prospector Big Jim discovers a massive gold deposit on his land when a blizzard hits. The Lone Prospector becomes lost in the same blizzard while prospecting for gold. He stumbles upon Black Larsen's cabin, who is a wanted criminal. Larsen tries to toss the Prospector out as Jim also enters the cabin. Larsen attempts to scare both away with his shotgun but is beaten by Jim, and the three agree to a truce, allowing all of them to stay inside.
As the storm drags on and food runs low, the three draw straws to decide who must brave the blizzard to find food. Larsen loses and leaves the cabin. Outside, searching for food, he finds Jim's gold deposit and plans to ambush him when he returns.
Meanwhile, the two remaining inside become so desperate that they cook and eat one of Jim’s shoes. Later, Jim becomes delirious, imagining the Prospector as a giant chicken, and attacks him. A bear then enters the cabin, is killed, and provides them with food.
After the storm subsides, both leave the cabin, with the Prospector heading to the next gold boom town while Jim returns to his gold deposit. There, he is knocked out by Larsen with a shovel. While fleeing with some of the mined gold, Larsen dies in an avalanche. Jim regains consciousness and wanders into the snow, having lost his memory from the blow. When he returns to the town, his memory is partly restored, and he remembers finding a large gold deposit near a cabin where he stayed with the Prospector. However, he does not remember the exact location of the deposit or the cabin and thus looks for the Prospector, hoping he can lead him back to the cabin.
The Prospector arrives in town and meets Georgia, a dance hall girl, and falls in love with her. To irritate Jack, a man who is making aggressive advances toward Georgia and pestering her for a dance, she instead chooses to dance with "the most deplorable looking tramp in the dance hall," the Prospector. After they encounter each other again, she accepts his invitation for a New Year's Eve dinner but doesn't take it seriously and forgets about it. On New Year's Eve, while waiting for her to arrive at the dinner, the Prospector imagines entertaining her with a dance of bread rolls on forks. When she doesn't arrive by midnight, he listens at his front door and hears the community singing "Auld Lang Syne" down at the dance hall. He walks alone through the streets, feeling lonely and forgotten. Meanwhile, Georgia remembers his invitation and brings her friends to visit him. Finding his home empty but seeing the meticulously prepared dinner and a gift for her, she feels guilty and decides to stop toying with him. She writes him a note to apologize. When he receives the note, he goes out looking for her.
Jim finds him and drags him away to search for the cabin, giving the Prospector only enough time to tell Georgia that he will return to her as a millionaire. Jim and the Prospector locate the cabin and stay there overnight. During the night, another blizzard nearly causes the cabin to slide off a cliff right next to Jim's gold deposit. The next morning, the cabin is rocking dangerously on the edge while they try to escape. Jim eventually gets out and pulls the Prospector to safety just as the cabin falls off the cliff.
A year later, both have become wealthy, but the Prospector still hasn't found Georgia. They return to the contiguous United States on a ship, on which, unknown to them, Georgia is also traveling. When the Prospector agrees to wear his old clothes for a photograph, he falls down the stairs and suddenly encounters Georgia again. She mistakenly thinks he is a stowaway and tries to save him from the ship's crew, but once the misunderstanding is cleared up, they are happily reunited.
Notes
This article has been abridged and edited using Grammarly to make it more user-friendly, and to standardize spelling and text formatting. R/
External links
- Review The Gold Rush (1925 film) at the Internet Movie Database
- Gold Rush/ 0015864 at Box Office Mojo
- The Gold Rush (1925 film) at Rotten Tomatoes
- Review The Gold Rush (1925 film) at the Turner Classic Movie Database
- The Gold Rush (1925 film) at the American Film Institute Catalog
- More information is available at [ Wikipedia:The_Gold_Rush_(1925_film) ]
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