The Gold Rush (1925)
Directed by Charlie Chaplin
Written by Charlie Chaplin
IMDB
It's really hard to be critical of silent films. They're so limited by their inability to have synchronized sound. These are historical documents at this point. You have to look at the movie in a different light.
Charlie Chaplin stars as his tramp character, who gets lost during a blizzard and ends up at a cabin with a prospector who has just found a mountain of gold. After the blizzard and many classic bits, Chaplin and the prospector head to town. They get into a fight and the prospector gets knocked silly. He wanders around aimlessly, now not remembering where his gold is. Meanwhile, Chaplin falls in love with Georgia, who uses his love as an opportunity to play a practical joke on him.
This is a great film. There are tons of classic comedy bits in this film and they're still funny. The transfer I saw was really good quality, much better than the old video store quality that was available when I was a teen. The piano music wasn't great; I'm not sure if it was the original score. Probably not.
This is a definite must-see film of the silent age. I know a lot of people my age and younger (and older, for that matter) are probably not going to go back and watch silent films or even movies from the 30s. These people are missing out on some truly great films and some amazing film making. Do yourself a favor and watch some of the old classics.
10/10
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