One of the few missteps in the superb region 2 "The Chaplin Collection" DVD releases comes with The Gold Rush. Pedants can get vexed at the fact that the outer packaging displays the title without the "The", but the real puzzlement comes inside. On disc one ("The Film") we're given what is listed as the "definitive" version... that version being the almost unlistenable and truncated version with Chaplin's narration.
Bizarrely the original silent itself is pushed onto the second disc as a "special feature", along with some off kilter extras. While the documentaries titled "Chaplin Today" are usually at worst interesting and at best compelling, this one seems wide of the mark. Here we get speakers imploring the seamlessness of that terrible toy doll stand in at the climax, or urging us that Chaplin is a genius for dressing up as a giant chicken. Anyone else would have just used a normal sized chicken, they urge us. Errrrrrr.... isn't it just that Chaplin wouldn't have been able to get inside the suit of, or manipulate, a lifelike chicken? I'm all for praising Chaplin's undoubted genius, but here it seems to be praising things that simply aren't there.
Yes, The Gold Rush is a very good film... for an extended short. But the vaunted artistry that gave us the political ramifications of Modern Times or the poignancy of City Lights and The Kid just isn't there. The dance of the rolls is extraordinary, the vague allusions to the Depression are to be applauded... but I'm just not seeing this as Chaplin's finest hour. In fact, from The Kid to The Great Dictator I'd see this as his weakest feature, save for A Woman In Paris.
Though of course a term like "weakest" doesn't really apply when it comes to a Chaplin film in his peak years. The Gold Rush is still a spectacular film... it's just that it's a fun movie that doesn't really tap into his greater sense of artistry.
Bizarrely the original silent itself is pushed onto the second disc as a "special feature", along with some off kilter extras. While the documentaries titled "Chaplin Today" are usually at worst interesting and at best compelling, this one seems wide of the mark. Here we get speakers imploring the seamlessness of that terrible toy doll stand in at the climax, or urging us that Chaplin is a genius for dressing up as a giant chicken. Anyone else would have just used a normal sized chicken, they urge us. Errrrrrr.... isn't it just that Chaplin wouldn't have been able to get inside the suit of, or manipulate, a lifelike chicken? I'm all for praising Chaplin's undoubted genius, but here it seems to be praising things that simply aren't there.
Yes, The Gold Rush is a very good film... for an extended short. But the vaunted artistry that gave us the political ramifications of Modern Times or the poignancy of City Lights and The Kid just isn't there. The dance of the rolls is extraordinary, the vague allusions to the Depression are to be applauded... but I'm just not seeing this as Chaplin's finest hour. In fact, from The Kid to The Great Dictator I'd see this as his weakest feature, save for A Woman In Paris.
Though of course a term like "weakest" doesn't really apply when it comes to a Chaplin film in his peak years. The Gold Rush is still a spectacular film... it's just that it's a fun movie that doesn't really tap into his greater sense of artistry.