The Gold Rush

Sharing a small cabin in a Yukon blizzard are three men: a scruffy lone prospector (Chaplin), Big Jim (Mack Swain), and Black Larson (Tom Murray). After several days, hunger dictates that one of them go out to get food. They cut cards, Larson loses, and he goes off in search of supplies, which he obtains by killing a man. When the storm abates, Big Jim and the little fellow shake hands and go their separate ways.

Meanwhile, Larson has discovered Jim's claim. When Jim arrives at the site, they fight over the gold. After knocking Jim unconscious and fleeing the scene, Larson is killed in an avalanche. Simultaneously, the little tramp arrives in town and visits the local dance hall, where he encounters and falls for its most attractive employee, Georgia (Georgia Hale). That night our hero is taken in by a kindly man named Hank Curtis (Henry Bergman). When Hank leaves on an expedition, he entrusts his cabin to the little fellow.

One day Georgia and three other dance-hall girls pass by the cabin and the little fellow asks them in. He invites them back for a New Year's Eve dinner and they accept. When midnight arrives on New Year's Eve and the girls still haven't shown up, the little fellow sadly goes out into the night. Meanwhile, Georgia, who has been wildly celebrating the holiday, remembers the little tramp's invitation and, in a prankish mood, visits the cabin. When she sees the carefully set table and party decorations, she is chastened.

Big Jim is in town suffering from amnesia. "Help me find my gold," he tells the little fellow, "and I'll make you a millionaire." Having received a written apology from Georgia, the little fellow declares his love for her, promises to return and take her away from all this, and goes off with Jim. After passing a hazardous night in Larson's old cabin, the two prospectors stumble on Jim's cache of gold.

The next time we see the two partners they are rich men on a ship leaving Alaska for home. A reporter suggests that the little fellow pose for human-interest photos in his shabby old clothes. Meanwhile, Georgia, who is also on board, overhears rumors of a stowaway. When she sees the tramp in his old outfit she mistakes him for the stowaway and tries to protect him from discovery. When the truth is revealed, all ends well as Georgia and the little fellow prepare to embark on a happy life together.

There's a reason why THE GOLD RUSH is the most familiar of all Chaplin's films. Because it was his personal favorite, he deliberately allowed it to lapse out of the haven of copyright and into the public domain so that successive generations of moviegoers would always be able to see it. Complete with a thoroughly happy ending--a Chaplin rarity--THE GOLD RUSH is a delight from beginning to end, boasting several of its maker's most memorable gags and Chaplinesque interludes, including the scene where the little tramp cooks one of his outsized boots for his and Big Jim's Thanksgiving dinner. Another standout is the moment when the tramp tears the cabin apart in a frenzy of joy after Georgia agrees to meet him for a date. Among the casualties of his elation are some down-filled pillows. When Georgia unexpectedly re-enters to retrieve something she has left behind, she surprises the tramp with feathers (and egg) on his face, the picture of embarrassed chagrin. Another unforgettable moment, one that was much copied by later screen comics, is the dream sequence in which our hero spears a pair of rolls with two forks, tucks the forked rolls under his chin, and extemporizes a marvelous piece of after-dinner entertainment.

In 1942 Chaplin re-edited and re-released THE GOLD RUSH, discarding its intertitles and adding sound effects, a score, and narration written and spoken by himself in a somewhat prissy, oddly Victorian, child-friendly voice. Even if one prefers this edition of the movie to the original silent version, one mourns the loss of everybody's favorite introductory intertitle: "Georgia!" (Violence.) leave a comment