The Gold Rush (1925)

Originally posted to Facebook on 12/24/2017

The Gold Rush was our third film from 1925, and our fourth feature starring Charlie Chaplin -- the third which he directed. By this time Chaplin was deep into auteur mode, obsessively re-shooting scenes and pouring enormous resources into something that by design was going to be received as essentially light-hearted. This of course is not unique to Chaplin -- the same is true of the Marvel movies and many other films -- but it does sometimes intrude on the viewing experience when you realize that a joke which barely registers was the result of weeks of shooting and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Although, given the amount of care that was given to the film, it is a little surprising that the plot is as ramshackle as it is -- being basically an excuse for a series of set pieces. It involves a search for gold, a romance, and a story about surviving the elements -- but they are awkwardly integrated, and the romance -- if it even rises to that level -- seems particularly perfunctory. (Chaplin re-edited and re-released this film in 1942 -- and perhaps tightened things -- but in the spirit of this project, we watched the 1925 version.)

I think, too, that The Gold Rush is a victim of its own fame. Many of the bits have become so well-known and endlessly copied that it is difficult to see them fresh. It is impossible that Chaplin eating a shoe, or turning into a giant chicken in the eyes of his cabin-mate, or pantomiming dancing dinner rolls, would register in the same way as it did to an audience in 1925. One thing that I did learn on seeing this film for the first time, though, is that the dancing dinner rolls sequence literally occurs because Chaplin's character explicitly announces that he is now going to do a funny bit involving dinner rolls -- and in a dream sequence at that. This brazen approach seems worth copying; there's no need to invest in lengthy set-ups if a character can just announce, "Now here's a funny bit!"

The foregoing notwithstanding, I enjoyed the film -- and perhaps would have enjoyed it more if I'd seen it outside the context of its status as a classic. Alli remarked that a scene where the female lead, Georgia Hale, and her friends stood Chaplin up for dinner made her feel sad -- so I guess Chaplin's pathos still has some power, as manipulative as it can be. (Georgia Hale, BTW -- whose character's name is "Georgia" in this film, possibly for the same reason that Tony Danza's characters were often named Tony -- had a very short career, but, in addition to this film, also had a significant role in one of the missing silent-era films that I most hope is rediscovered: 1926's The Great Gatsby.)

Next week we see Ben Hur, our fourth film from 1925, and our second film starring Ramon Novarro. It is also the second time in this project we've seen an adaptation of this story, the first being a short from 1907. The list, as always, is here: https://bit.ly/2lZtfmT