The Gold Rush
Chaplin once stated that The Gold Rush is the film by which he would like to be remembered; the costliest and longest comedy made up to that time (1925), it endures as his most celebrated film. Hard times vie with big dreams for the Lone Prospector (Chaplin) who journeys to the Klondike in search of gold. He finds tenuous shelter from a blizzard in a cabin inhabited by a hungry giant, a fellow prospector who, in his delirium, mistakes Charlie for a chicken. Our hero is himself reduced to eating his own shoe - with relish - in one of the great moments of silent cinema. “This movie was made during a rising national prosperity, and the title was a gentle jibe at the money-madness of the nation.... It showed that wealth is illusion, that the happy moments of life are those of anticipation....” (Lewis Jacobs). (JB)