The Gold Rush

Let’s take a journey back to 1925 and the Alaskan Gold Rush with Charlie Chaplin!

1)      In class, we have started from the very beginning basically, of film and its origins.  Silent films were the big thing back in the day and people wanted more.  The year is 1925 and our nation was on the verge of an economic crisis.  But here comes along Charlie Chaplin with his comedy, The Gold Rush.  This was the year silent films boomed! People wanted a way to escape the reality in a way so, what they did was go to the movies.  In class we talked about the tramp, which in this case was the lonely prospector.  This character Chaplin created interested the general population because it reflected the little fellow, or the outsider.  America was a huge melting pot of immigrants and poverty and this film reflected reality, at the time, with a comedic twist that was extremely needed in that particular time in our country. 

2)      The article that I selected was from the following URL: http://www.charliechaplin.com/en/filming/articles/5-Filming-the-Gold-Rush

This is straight from Charlie Chaplin’s website.  This article is all about filming The Gold Rush.   The article talks about everything from the special effects, filming the actual film and a well written synopsis of the film.  In one scene in the film, you can see all the prospectors climbing up and down an mountain top which they went on location to Truckee in the snow country of the Sierra Nevada to film that scene.  It took about 600 extras.  That’s a lot! Back in California at the studio lot, Charlie had built a mini mountain that was about a quarter of a million feet made of chicken wire, salt, flour, burlap and plaster.  This drew great crowds of people wanting to see this marvelous sight.  This film took almost a year and a half to make it Chaplin perfection.  Chaplins personal life came into play into his work life (which he wanted to be separate) when he had a side affair with actress Litia Grey.  She was employed by Chaplin as a beautiful 12 year old girl in The Kid.  She found out she was pregnate with Chaplin’s baby six months into the filming of The Gold Rush.  The production was shut down for three months as Chaplin forced himself to an unhappy marriage for the both of them.  This film has been one of Chaplin’s most famous and tedious films with its special effects and complexity of more than one story line. 

   3)      This film has contributed to film history in many ways from the editing, sets, and especially the special effects.  It was truly far beyond it’s time.  This sets the standards of comedy in the film world.  This film as many extensive special effects that made the way of how something as simple as salt and flour can look like snow.  This film also made way for different camera angles.  It was really time for more than just one camera angle for a film.  The two story lines, editing, special effects made this film excellent and really far beyond the 1920’s.  Next time you go on a long journey, bring enough food for you don’t have to eat your own shoe!