The Gold Rush Review

“The Gold Rush” is a silent film that was produced in 1952. Its unique portrayal of the Klondike Gold Rush was created by Charles Chaplin. Chaplin was and remains to be a cultural icon, but his reputation as an actor contains a comedic element (which is almost impossible to ignore.) How could he, as a seemingly light-hearted, comedic artist mimic a world full of strife and desperation? The reliably innovative “Charlie” Chaplin made the simple decision to add nothing other than a comedic element. Though this was a simple decision, however, it could not have been a simple process. Tragedy and comedy are not exactly complementary colors.

Taking a look at his personal life, we can begin to understand how he was able to accomplish such a feat. According to the Official Charlie Chaplin Website, his parents were talented performers, therefore, he had a natural taking to acting beginning at a young age. Not only did he have experience with performance, but he also had experience with devastation. Before he reached ten years, Charlie’s father passed away, and his mother became ill shortly thereafter. As a result, Charlie and his brother Sydney were forced to fend for themselves. This need to survive and deal with heartache and sudden independence quickly afforded Charlie attention from the public for his ability to dance.

We fast-forward in time to when Charlie embarks on making this comedic tragedy, “The Gold Rush”. In order to do this, Chaplin had to use his long-lived independence and light-heartedness to his advantage. By adding an essential element to the film, romance, he was more successful at achieving his desired tone. Chaplin’s character, “The Lone Prospector” falls in love at a dance with the character, “Georgia.” “The Lone Prospector represents not just any man who endured the hardship of the Gold Rush, but a benevolently aimless man traveling with an eye of wonder. Even when the prospector is given a large amount of gold, he still isn’t quite satisfied without the woman whom he adores. This would be a direct contrast to the character of a typical person desperately searching for riches in the cold Arctic mountains.

                  Pretending to scale Arctic Mountains, however, was not the personal hardship Charlie had to mask. In his search for a lead lady, he chose the fifteen year old, Lillita MacMurray, whom he had worked with in a previous film of his, “The Kid”. After shooting for “The Gold Rush” began, however, Lillita (Lita Grey) found out she was pregnant with Charlie’s child. Shooting had to be postponed for three months, and Charlie had to find a new lead woman. His love life’s affect on his work life may have provided some of the real emotions permeating through the film.

 This character development urges viewers to speculate that the Prospector was never actually searching for material riches. The aimless wanderer may have been searching for riches within all along (the riches of love). With this implication and with the help of comedic elements and his enigmatic, romantic personality, Chaplin probably intended for his audience to understand a theme to this story: that no external richness can compare to the internal richness felt for another person.