Let me start off first by saying that of all the 20th Century movie pioneers Charlie Chaplin is by far my favorite. The sheer amount of effort that is put into his movies shows through based on the sets, actions, and even the expressions. Chaplin uses visual story-telling very heavily for obvious reasons, number one being the fact that his film is a silent movie. This stems directly from his use of expressions as his “tramp” character. Along with the visual comes his use of special effects gags like the giant fan blowing him through the cabin acting as heavy storm winds.
The Gold Rush also illustrates early uses of the three-act story. The first act is Chaplin in the Wilderness and the Cabin, which is mostly visual gags, character gags, and prop-based gags. The second act takes place in the Town and shows the Tramp character interacting with other characters. The final act is half in the Town and half in the Cabin/Wilderness. Seeing this done, especially early on, illustrates that film started to take a turn to becoming story-based rather than documentary based.
Overall, Chaplin’s The Gold Rush is littered with gags and visual, vaudeville-esque jokes that have a clever twist put on them. Along with that it possesses a three act story that isn’t half bad and still holds up to this day.
The Gold Rush gets a solid 8/10 from me.
Zachary Dalton and Reviews 