Cheap The Gold Rush (2 Disc Special Edition) (DVD) (Charles Chaplin) (Charles Chaplin) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Gold Rush (2 Disc Special Edition)

Superior look, inferior version
Sometimes returning to a film and updating it for whatever reasons can almost ruin the original experience the film created (see Star Wars). That, unfortunately, is the case here. The Gold Rush in its original form is one of the greatest films--silent or otherwise--ever made. This DVD release, however, is of Chaplin's 1942 revision of his film. In this version, Chaplin has removed all the title cards and, in their place, inserted his own commentary and music. The commentary is manic, eccentric, and annoying--distracting enough to overshadow whatever visual humor there is. His music, likewise, is overly-cloying, sentimental, and cliched. Oh, and the ending is different: Chaplin merely walks off with the heroine, instead of kissing her and playfully waving off the camera as he does in the original version. The Chaplin Estate has released this version, probably because Chaplin saw it as definitive. Don't believe it for a second! If only someone could convince his estate to release the earlier version, then all us Chaplin fanatics could sleep better at night. One thing I can say for this release: the picture quality is fantastic! I never thought The Gold Rush could look so clear--it's almost like watching a different film. There's also an interesting interview with Lita Grey Chaplin, Chaplin's second wife, about life with Chaplin. Overall, though, a disappointing release of a truly great film. Don't mess with perfection!

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Please take off your boot, we're hungry
"The Gold Rush" has been delighting audiences for almost 80 years -- it's one of the flat-out funniest films made in the silent era or any other. This is the movie Chaplin wanted to be remembered for.

Like other films in the Chaplin Collection (at least so far) the "Gold Rush" enjoys across-the-board improvements in video and audio, including digital transfers from Chaplin family elements and Dolby Digital 5.1 mixes. Imaginative bonus features inform and entertain without wearing out their welcome.

But this is Chaplin and so there is controversy. Image and Fox Home Entertainment felt the wrath of the faithful a few years back when they released Chaplin's audience-friendly 1942 sound version of the film, ignoring the classic all-silent film.

MK2 and Warner didn't dare blow off the original, but their "Gold Rush" package relegates the 96-minute silent to disc 2, as an extra. The 1942 version gets the star treatment, taking up all of disc 1. It runs 69 minutes, as transformed by Chaplin when he recut the film, added narration and recorded an orchestral score.

The 1942 edition will be more accessible to mainstream audiences, but it's a shame that most viewers will bypass the original, probably the grandest silent-movie entertainment of them all. (A new piano track by Neil Brand adds even more zest to the silent.)

The Chaplin Collection's 1942 film looks great, with most of the wear digitally scrubbed out., but some videophiles will stay with Fox's 2001 release, which retains a bit more contrast and detail with the tradeoff of wear. The Warner silent sports a decent restoration job, from Kevin Brownlow and David Gill, but its images tend to be flat and inconsistent, with wear throughout. Warner's two versions are presented full-screen (1.33:1, as Chaplin intended), lacking a bit of picture information found on Fox's widow-boxed film, which runs 72-minutes. And the Warner silent employs some subtly different takes than the updated film.

A half-hour MK2 TV documentary retells the tale of the production, which started in the Sierra Nevada before retreating to an elaborate set in L.A., where 100 barrels of flour stood in for mountain snow. The docu points out that Chaplin's humor frequently revolved around hunger, the curse of his childhood. "The Gold Rush's" comic tale of starving prospectors was based, in part, on the real-life horrors of the Donner party. The DVD includes rare outtakes of Big Jim the miner chasing his hallucinatory chicken (Chaplin) through the woods.

The Chaplin Collection's next releases, due in early 2004, include "The Kid," "City Lights," "Monsieur Verdoux" and "The Circus." All but "Verdoux" are double-disc sets.

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"Fate guided them to a spot where all was calm."
Charlie Chaplin's "The Gold Rush" is a mixed bag. The film itself is uneven as it is entertaining for certain stretches and just adequate in others. Yet the general public as a whole still owe it a measure of thanks for its contribution of the wonderful "dancing bread rolls" sequence to cinema lore. Playing with one's food was never so visually amusing.

The Tramp (Chaplin) tries his luck at prospecting for gold but finds himself being harassed by the nasty weather, a criminal on the loose named Black Larson (Tom Murray), and a desperate and hungry man named Big Jim McKay (Mack Swain). Failing to strike it rich despite his best efforts, The Tramp treks to a nearby village to start over. A village woman named Georgia (Georgia Hale) catches his eye and soon The Tramp is using all the resources at his disposal to prepare a memorable New Year's Eve dinner for her.

In the pantheon of Chaplin works, "The Gold Rush" ranks behind "City Lights" (1931), and "The Great Dictator" (1940), and is generally on par with "Modern Times" (1936). In other words, this film is a serviceable Chaplin vehicle but nothing more than that. The silent comedian is his usual charming self from the moment he first appears and he marvelously displays that impeccable comic timing that made him so great at physical comedy in every routine he finds himself in. But "The Gold Rush" flounders because the material he is working with this time around is not that strong. The pathos and social relevance that define Chaplin's better efforts are in shorter supply here and the film suffers for it.