The Gold Rush (1925): A Year at the Movies Day 1

In a rather strange effort not to lose my writing chops, I have decided to give the year 2025 to writing some capsule reviews of a random assortment of films that I like; not the greatest films ever made, but movies I like on one level or another.

And it is fitting that here, on New Year’s Day, we begin with Chaplin’s The Gold Rush which turns 100 years old and, today, enters into the public domain – meaning that it now leaves the confines of any copyright.

The Gold Rush was the very first Chaplin film that I saw, and now that my journey to become a completist of his work is complete, it stands out. It is not overly sentimental, there isn’t a general message, there isn’t really much development. The story follows the poor tramp on a wilderness survival trip while searching for gold in the unforgiving snowy landscape of the Klondike (that’s in northwestern Canada).

This is unusual especially for a man known for slathering his work with pathos and sentimentality. What comes to The Tramp is simplicity – it’s his survival tactic. How does his simple manner fight back against the brutality of the elements, lack of food, insufficient shelter, and ever-growing delirium of fellow prospector Big Jim McKay, played by burly Mack Swain?

The difference between The lonesome prospector and his companion is seen in the film’s most famous sequence, in which our hero makes a dinner our of his shoes, chewing blissfully on the leather and slurping up the laces like spaghetti before picking his teeth with the leftover shoe nails. It hits the notes of Chaplin’s genius. Yeah, it’s funny but it reaches the levels of sad desperation without aiming directly for it. It’s an incredible tragicomic dance.