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??