The good news is this dual-format (Blu-ray and DVD) version of Chaplins definitive film is restored and here in two versions, the 1925 original and 1942 re-edited version, and looks splendid it really has cleaned up a treat. The bad news is that it includes the 1942 version which Chaplin insisted on adding a narration and score for. His score is fine he became obsessive about music its his narration that is the problem. When has having a joke explained ever improved it? Never, thats when, and on a couple of occasions, like when Chaplin announced There stands Georgia, looking radiant its tempting to shout at the screen: I KNOW, I CAN SEE HER!
At least this dual-format disc gives you the choice, and the one without Chaplins invasive words is clearly the superior. And Gold Rush does still contain some genuinely marvellous moments, visual gags and advanced trickery, especially when he makes a whole cabin slide down the side of a mountain. For 1925 its pretty advanced stuff.
The story is pretty simple, Chaplins little tramp ventures out to the wild yonder where there is a gold rush on. He of course is having little luck, and ends up sharing a freezing log cabin with a fellow prospector and, at one eye-popping point, a bear. They are so hungry they eat Chaplins shoe with the laces as spaghetti but his luck changes when he meets Georgia (Hale), a nightclub dancer. She however is in the clutches of a richer man, so will romance blossom?
Some of the sight gags here are really fresh and funny, such as the moment when Chaplin is dancing with Georgia and, worried his trousers are falling down, ties them up with some rope which is, of course, attached to an enormous dog. His romance with her is very reminiscent of Modern Times, the tramp meets the dancer, suggesting Chaplin was slightly running out of ideas of how to grab an audience by 1936. Their dance routines here are funny though and expertly handled, and still raise a laugh.
History has Chaplin right at the top of the silent comedian era, vying for top spot with Keaton and Harold Lloyd, but for some Chaplins tramp has a lack of warmth and is too sentimental. He certainly lays it on thick here, and his constant looking at the camera and twitching does get a little irritating. His love life may have had something to do with it he actually cast his wife, Lita Grey, but when she fell pregnant he cast Hale and immediately started an affair with her.
By the time he did his 1942 re-edit he was long finished with Hale, and trimmed their lingering kiss at the end of the film. Perhaps his slightly cold use of women comes through in the films, who knows?
Overall verdict: Beautifully cleaned up version of one of Chaplins definitive Little Tramp films, with two versions of the film available.
Special Features:
1925 restored version
Introduction by David Robinson
Trailer reel
Photo gallery
Chaplin Today: Gold Rush
Reviewer: Mike Martin