The Gold Rush 1923 1924 1926 next previous
The Gold Rush Clippings 278/363
St. John Ervine, Observer, London, September 20, 1925.
The Gold Rush Scenes
& Charlie Chaplin in „The Gold Rush“
Gaiety Theatre Manchester
Commencing 11th January 1926 4 Weeks
theatre token, arthurlloyd.co.uk
„One of the few people whose personality survives the screen“
Editorial content. „At the Play
MR. CHAPLIN
On Thursday afternoon I was one of a large
crowd which filled the New Tivoli in the Strand to see Mr.
Charles Chaplin in his new film, The Gold Rush. It is notorious
that I am a melancholy man, incapable of more than
a harsh and rusty cackle on the merriest occasions. My readers,
aware of my habitual gloom, will realize, then, how
entertaining this picture is when I say that I laughed, not once
or twice, but many times, and in an uproarious manner.
There was quite a cheery note in my laughter, too, a sort of
rippling sound that greatly astonished me and caused
my companion to regard me with strange interest.
Mr. Chaplin is a genius, but he is not content, as some
men of genius are, to exploit his popularity. He knows,
what some of our most distinguished actors would be the better
for knowing, that it is not enough for him to be in the
picture, but that the picture itself must be of merit. The Gold
Rush is the funniest film I have ever seen. It is probably
the funniest film that anyone has ever seen. The story is not
of much account, but it is told with an ingenious mixture
of pathos and fun that puts it directly into the Shakespearean
and Dickensian line.
The fertility of invention displayed in this picture
is remarkable. The incidents are many and various, well
prepared, and, except one, never too prolonged.
The exception was the incident when Mr. Chaplin appears
to be transformed to a chicken in the eyes of his
hungry companion. The transformation was twice repeated.
One transformation would have been sufficient.
When the fun seemed finally to be flagging, a new incident,
that of a house rocking on the edge of a precipice,
was introduced into the picture, and it kept the audience
continually and loudly laughing. The preparation
for this incident was admirable. Mr. Chaplin goes to bed, having
drunk more spirit to restore his chilled circulation than
it needed, and wakes in the morning in the belief that he is still
mussy because the hut, which has been blown
to a perilous perch by a blizzard during the night, sways
every time he moves his position.
There was an insane sort of plausibility about
this part of the picture, as, indeed, there was about the whole
picture, that made it extremely diverting. Mr. Chaplin
gets a lot of his fun out of his habit of performing supremely
ridiculous things in a perfectly normal manner. When
the two misfortunate prospectors are reduced by their hunger
to eating a boot, the incident is treated as if it were
a fowl. It is dished up, to use the beautiful technical term of the
cooks, in a proper and respectful way. Mr. Chaplin
carves it as neatly as anyone could wish a chicken to be
carved. He twists the lace round his fork as if it were
spaghetti, and enjoys the nails as if they were the succulent
twiddley-bits!...
Mr. Bergson has defined laughter as the imposition
of the mechanical upon the living. Mr. Chaplin illustrates the
Bergsonian belief by his acting. The whole of this great
great comedian‘s method consists in treating the absurd as if
it were the commonplace. The more monstrous the fact
becomes, the more determined Mr. Chaplin is to treat it as an
ordinary event.“ (...)
„Mr. Chaplin is one of the few people whose personality
survives the screen.“ (...)
The Gold Rush By St. John Ervine from the Observer,
London, Sept. 20, 1925, is reprinted under the title
of TWO ENGLISH VIEWS OF CHAPLIN in The Living Age,
Nov. 14, 1925. The second contribution is Chaplin
and The Hicks By Henry King from the Adelphi, London
literary monthly, Oct. 1925.
The Gold Rush opens January 11, 1926
at Gaiety, Peter Street, Manchester.
The Gold Rush opens September 14, 1925
at Tivoli, 65-70½ Strand (at John Adams Street), London.
The Gold Rush opens June 26, 1925
at Grauman‘s Egyptian, 6712 Hollywood Bld., Los Angeles.
The Gold Rush opens August 15, 1925
at Strand Theatre, B‘way at 47th St., New York.
Redaktioneller Inhalt
The Gold Rush 1923 1924 1926 next previous
