Gold Rush...More Like Gold Mine!

I’m sitting in the biggest house in Australia. The Sydney Opera House. Just below the railing I am leaning on I see the orchestra quietly tunning their instruments as hundreds of smartly dressed men and women murmur gaily from their seats. I’m in love with Charlie Chaplin but I've never seen one of his feature length films before. The swelling of the strings mimic my own heart strings as a sense of inner ecstasy grows in the pit of my stomach.


I still remember the moment when the giant silver screen flickered to life. We see the Little Tramp in his most memorable movie entrance; out on the edge of a cliff unknowingly being stalked by a black bear. And the music! Oh! The music! Chaplin's music played the only way it should be played...by a 50 piece orchestra.


Chaplin himself said "This [The Gold Rush] is the picture I want to be remembered by". And what a film it is! The perfect blend of both comedy and pathos.


In the creation of comedy, it is paradoxical that tragedy stimulates the spirit of ridicule; because ridicule, I suppose, is an attitude of defiance: we must laugh in the face of our helplessness against the forces of nature - or go insane.


The laughter experienced in this film is so genuine! Some key scenes include the running against the wind gag, the cooking and subsequent eating of the boiled leather boot and the hilarious and profoundly memorable climax, in which the Tramp and Big Jim find their decaying old shack hovering over the edge of a cliff and any movement could mean death...cue the comic music and polished slapstick!


The edible shoe in the film was actually made from liquorice and since perfectionist Chaplin took 63 takes over a period of 3 days inevitably Chaplin and co-star Mark Swain discovered the laxative effects of eating too much liquorice. Swain stating later that he would of actually preferred to eat the leather!


But like many Chaplin films we can juxtapose these moments of hilarity with scenes of profound melodrama and tragedy.  It is truly heart wrenching to watch the way more dominant characters in the film repeatedly use and abuse the Tramp. When he celebrates his Thanksgiving alone and his true love rejects him for another lowlife! Tears pool in my eyes.


This is a truly remarkable and rememberable film! In 1925 the film cost Chaplin $923,887.45 to make...a hell of a lot of money back then however as the title of this blog suggests this money certainly wasn't wasted. The Gold Rush remains to this date the highest grossing comedy film ever! If you claim to be a fan of comedy...why haven't you watched this yet??

Missing A Rib

In Adam’s Rib domestic and professional tensions mount when a husband and wife work as opposing lawyers in a case involving a woman who shot her husband....zzzzzz....zzzzzzz....what? Oops sorry!

You are absolutely right reader...not as exciting as it sounds!

When a woman attempts to kill her uncaring husband, prosecutor Adam Bonner (Spencer Tracy) gets the case. Unfortunately for him his wife Amanda (Katherine Hepburn)... who happens to be a lawyer too... decides to defend the woman in court. Amanda uses everything she can to win the case and Adam gets mad about it. As a result, their perfect marriage is disturbed by everyday quarrels.

I was promised hilarious, witty repartee in this film but I barely chuckled! And I’m not going to knock Tracy or Hepburn, because they’re legends, I blame the writing! At the end of this film I wasn’t left feeling satisfied...or entertained. In the decades since the film's release, it has attracted the esteem of many critics. NOT THIS ONE!

Like my opinion matters anyway! Sidewards frowny face :(

In several scenes of the film, there are unusually long takes, where the camera does not move for minutes at a time. Most of these scenes happen when Tracy and Hepburn are arguing. Strange that this technique was the only thing in this Rom Com that peaked my interest.

If your one of those radical free thinkers’s known as feminists...you may enjoy this film. The story is a knowing commentary about women's inequality under the law in the 1940s and raises some very topical points still relevant for today’s audiences.

But will someone please shoot the neighbour!! If he lived across the hall from me I would go out of my way to push him over and go to the bathroom on him at least once every day.

In conclusion children, I don’t hate this movie. I didn’t think it was a complete waste of film...it’s considered a beloved classic by many! I just wouldn’t go out of my way to watch it again.

This Pianist Hits All the Right Notes!

Whether you believe the rape accusations against Roman Polanski or not, there's no denying that he is a remarkable director! [Wow that was a really serious statement to start on...]

Whilst enjoying the fruitage of my insomnia I look through the movie listings on Foxtel and I see The Pianist. Oh how excited I am! But it starts at 3:05am...RECORD THAT MOTHER FLIPPER!!

A brilliant Polish Jew pianist, [ha-ha sounds like penis...] Władysław Szpilman (Adrien Brody) witnesses the restrictions Nazis place on Jews in the Polish capital, from controlled access, to the building of the Warsaw ghetto. As his family is rounded up to be shipped off to the Nazi labour camps, he escapes deportation and eludes capture by living in the ruins of Warsaw.

Szpilman's experiences as a persecuted Jew in Poland during World War II were reminiscent of Polanski and his family. While Szpilman and Polanski escaped the concentration camps, their families did not, eventually perishing.

NOTE: Try not to be distracted by Adrien Brody’s HUGE nose. I’m pretty sure at parts I could see the flag Sir Edmund Hillary planted on top of it. But all that aside he is a fantastically dedicated actor. In order to connect with the feeling of loss required to play the role, Brody got rid of his apartment, sold his car, and didn't watch television. He also lost 14 kg (31 lb) for the role...like he wasn’t skin and bones already!

This film while hard to watch at times does not hold back whilst showing the persecution of Jews by Nazi scum. Incredibly graphic at parts...yes I had to turn my face from the screen...the violence will shock and anger you. Inwardly I found myself being worked up to the point where I had to leave the room and make myself some noodles. Mmmm noddles.

This is not just another holocaust film where the main character is persecuted and oppressed until he can’t take it anymore and fights back. No, instead we find the main character merely surviving. Taking every opportunity he gets to stay alive...with a little bit of pure luck thrown in there too.

Music was his passion. Survival was his masterpiece.