The Gold Rush. 1925. Directed by Charles Chaplin.

(2/2/00)

This time around I found The Gold Rush consistently entertaining from beginning to end. It blended the hurmor and pathos in just theright proportions and seemed to glide from classic moment to classic moment.

It's bad enough battling the elements without having to put up with human cruelty. It really touches the heart in how "the little fellow" becomes the target of these callous people's jokes--from the moment Georgia asks him to dance in order to snub someone else until they go to his cabin on New Year's Eve to have some fun with him and see the elaborate preparations he has made for a dinner that no one took seriously. To the moment when Georgia's beau sends Chaplin the note of apology that was meant for the beau and not Chaplin.

Chaplin really conveys the sense of being an outsider. He looks so out of place in the dance hall. It's painful.

It's delightful when he dances with Georgia and ties the rope around his pants to hold them up, not knowing that it is attached to a dog. He can't understand why the dog is following him around and keeps trying to kick it away. Also wonderful is when he tries to earn money by shovelling snow and shovels it in front of someone else's door, thereby creating more business for himself.
Also worth noting are Chaplin's hiccups as the house is teetering on the edge of the cliff. More than humorous, that scene is a pretty exciting climax.

I really liked Mack Swain this time around. And I liked Georgia better than on previous viewings. I had always been conscious of her callousness and thought that the girl really wasn't worth the getting. But Chaplin took that into account and Georgia seems to redeem herself first when she is affected by seeing the dinner preparations. She feels shame and says, "The joke has gone too far." And then she redeems herself at the end, albeit unbelievably, when she offers to pay the tramp's fare when she believes he is a stowaway.

Chaplin's character is amazingly adaptable. When he comes into money his personality changes and he is completely prepared to take on the new role. He engages himself to Georgia without even asking her! He is in a different situation than earlier and becomes, in effect, a totally differnt person. It is bizarre.

(2/3/00)

P.S. I was also quite moved by the scene in which, after the women leave his cabin after accepting the dinner invitation, Chaplin cavorts in a fit of jubilation, only to be interrupted by Georgia who has returned for something. That was really exquisite.