The Gold Rush (1925)

The Gold Rush (1925) is a silent adventure-comedy-drama that follows Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp as he heads to the Klondike in search of fortune. Stranded in a brutal winter landscape, he endures harsh conditions, hunger and slapstick misadventures — most famously the boiled-boot Thanksgiving and the precarious cabin-on-a-cliff sequence — while contending with burly rivals, claim-jumpers like the wanted Black Larsen, and the memory-stricken Big Jim McKay, who once found a rich vein of gold. In town the Tramp falls for the beautiful Georgia and tries to win her heart amid dances at the Monte Carlo hall and competition from a smooth ladies’ man, leading to moments of comic rivalry, tender longing and eventual reconciliation. Seeing the film is a blend of laugh-out-loud physical comedy and quietly moving drama: you’ll get Chaplin’s unmatched visual gags and choreography, sweeping snowy frontier settings, sharp situational humor, and sincere pathos as the Tramp oscillates between desperate hunger, hopeful romance and stubborn optimism. The movie builds to a triumphant, emotionally satisfying finish as fortunes change and the characters’ fates are resolved. Classic, heartfelt and inventive, The Gold Rush offers both timeless comic set pieces and poignant human moments that have made it one of Chaplin’s most enduring works.

Actors: Charles Chaplin, Mack Swain, Tom Murray

Director: Charles Chaplin

Runtime: 95 min

Genres: Adventure, Comedy, Drama

8.4 /10 90 /100 8.1 /10 8.5 /10