Gold Rush, Movie Review Example

Charlie Chaplin made the silent film ‘Gold Rush’ in 1925 and this was intended to be a classic piece of comedy of that period.  Chaplin declared that this was the film that he would most like to be remembered for.  The Film was nominated for an Academy Award and tells the story of the Yukon Klondike gold rush.  Chaplin plays the part of a tramp caught up in the goldrush and he becomes stuck in a mountain cabin with a gold prospector,  who has discovered a large gold deposit,  and an escaped fugitive.  They end up fighting over the claim and ultimately the death of the prospector. The tramp ends up in a town deciding to finish with prospecting and meeting a lonely saloon girl who he falls in love with. By mistake he thinks the girl feels the same about him.

The film relates that the quest of money and riches does not offer the same wealth and happiness of falling in love and achieving the heart’s desire.  This is a fairly genuine sentiment I would agree with.  The acquisition of material wealth or gain can be very fleeting and whilst it may bring momentary happiness it is neither sustained or enriches the soul with a sense of purpose and satisfaction.  The journey of life should not be about the acquisition of material possessions but the concept of giving happiness to others and contributing to society. In many regards love is the catalyst of this concept. Despite the comedy overtones it is in this sense that Chaplin is portraying moral values and overtones to the plot.

It was extremely clever being a silent movie how such moral overtones could be conveyed in the film. This speaks volumes to the character acting and personality of Chaplin as both being a genius of comedy but equally can introduce a more serious and moral overtone to his performance.  This has more recently been demonstrated in the  black and white silent movie ‘The Artist’ and inspired by the works of Chaplin